Crypto adoption is growing by the day as several investors looking to maximize returns from the burgeoning industry. According to a Crypto.com report, the adoption of virtual currencies has nearly doubled since the remarkable rally of Bitcoin to $65,000. However, how do you know the cryptocurrency to buy for long term gains given the flurry of digital assets available? This article would answer this question.
1. Bitcoin (BTC)
This top cryptocurrency is a clear favorite of investors, having been around for the longest time.
Bitcoin has surged more than nine million percent since launching in 2009, marking its entrance into our top cryptocurrency to buy for long term returns.
The world’s oldest virtual currency is the largest crypto asset by market cap and the most traded by investors. This popularity has seen Bitcoin being adopted by a growing number of businesses and even countries.
Leading a Bitcoin adoption charge, Latin American nation El Salvador is the first country to list Bitcoin as one of its legal tenders after the US Dollars. This decision has drawn controversies given Bitcoin’s volatility but the second-largest US financial institution Bank of America (BofA) has recently backed the decision.
According to a statement of approval released by the American bank, El Salvador’s Bitcoin adoption was right based on the economic outlook. According to the BofA, Bitcoin adoption would engender more financial inclusion to the unbanked masses in the country, enabling seamless remittances, digitalization, and business operations.
#ElSalvador El Presidente @nayibbukele comparte esta mañana algunas de las oportunidades que @BankofAmerica ve en El Salvador, tras la adopción del #Bitcoin pic.twitter.com/08D1RuGFYI
— Diario El Salvador (@elsalvador) August 1, 2021
Not exclusive to countries, Bitcoin adoption has also spread into corporate circles. Institutional adoptions from Tesla, MicroStrategy, Square, Visa, and MasterCard have served as catalysts for more crypto adoption.
According to a report by Irish Independent, payments giant PayPal is building an all-star Bitcoin team as it expands further.
Bitcoin is currently trading at $40.802, having gained 5.19% in the last 24 hours. The asset is on a bullish trend, as seen on the 20-day Moving Average (MA) price of $40.782.
2. Polkadot (DOT)
Blockchain interoperability platform Polkadot has witnessed growing adoption in recent times. This has positively impacted its native token DOT, making it a cryptocurrency to buy for long term gains.
Polkadot’s sister network Kusama started auctioning parachain slots this year to enable blockchain platforms to launch on the Polkadot ecosystem. The first parachains slot auction was completed in June with parachain, Statemine emerging as the winner.
Meanwhile, other Polkadot parachains are making big moves. The United Nations recently selected one of Polkadot’s parachain projects, the Unique network, to run a nonfungible token (NFT) initiative against climate change.
The Polkadot ecosystem is already brimming over with creative startups and smart solution-oriented platforms with more to come. At press time, the total number of Polkadots projects stood at 481.
Price-wise, Polkadot is currently trading at $18.85. The asset’s 20-day MA is at $18.98, signaling an uptrend. DOT’s RSI is at 67.82, almost at the overbought zone.
3. Ethereum (ETH)
Ethereum is next on our list of cryptocurrency to buy for the long term. Unlike Bitcoin, Ethereum allows developers to create their own protocol and cryptocurrency.
The network has been working on major upgrades in a bid to transition from the proof-of-work (PoW) consensus mechanism to the proof-of-stake (PoS) mining protocol.
One of the network’s upgrades, code-named London, went live on Thursday, causing the Ethereum price to surge. The London hard fork consists of five Ethereum Improvement Proposals (EIPs) which all contain a set of code changes to the network.
Ethereum’s London upgrade aims to address several issues on the network, particularly scalability and high network fees. The entire PoS upgrade isn’t expected to be fully realized until 2022.
Ethereum’s London upgrade reportedly helped the token price record gains of 20% over the last week. The cryptocurrency climbed up to $2,620 on Thursday. At press time, Ethereum was trading at $2,778 after gaining 3.72% over the previous 24 hours.
Ethereum’s 20-day MA is at $2,775, with its RSI over the oversold area at 38.07.
4. Chainlink (LINK)
Popular decentralized oracle network, Chainlink is another cryptocurrency to buy for long term returns. Chainlink is a network that provides real-world data to smart contracts on the blockchain. It facilitates the transfer of data from off-chain sources to blockchains.
Several blockchain platforms have since adopted Chainlink’s Oracle nodes. Through Chainlink’s oracle nodes, blockchain firms can continuously send data from off-chain sources into the Chainlink network.
This data is then merged and made available in aggregated form for blockchain applications.
The latest firm to incorporate a Chainlink oracle node is Swisscom, Switzerland’s largest telecommunications provider. Swisscom’s move to become a Chainlink node operator marks its entrance into the decentralized finance (DeFi) sector.
The LINK token is presently trading at $23.51 and is up by 1.54% in the last 24 hours. The 20-day MA shows a bullish price of $23,946, with the RSI above the oversold region at 54.77.
5. Polygon (MATIC)
Another cryptocurrency to buy for long term returns is Ethereum scaling solution Polygon.
Polygon has grown remarkably this year and has emerged as a top Ethereum virtual machine (EVM) based project in recent months.
This year has seen the integration of several decentralized applications (dapps) on Polygon. Some of which have launched on Polygon are DeFi platforms Aave, Curve, and Balancer.
In addition, centralized exchanges like Binance, Coinbase, OKEX, and Huobi have also announced support for Polygon wallets.
Moreover, Polygon has attracted more than 125,000 active daily users and has $8 billion in total value locked.
DeversiFi, a Layer 2 decentralized exchange built on Ethereum, recently launched a bridge with Polygon for cross-network transactions.
According to the project, users can now transact three stablecoins namely USDC, USDT, and DAI on a new bridge connecting the exchange to Polygon.
Polygon is also moving into the NFT sector. The Ethereum scaling solution has launched a gaming and NFT studio called Polygon Studios. As the market for crypto gaming is growing rapidly, Polygon plans to bring more development to its network with the new gaming and NFT studio.
Furthermore, Polygon’s MATIC token is trading at $1.05 today and is up 2.81% in the last 24 hours.
The 20-day MA shows a price of $1.053 and an RSI of 33.32. Now might be a good opportunity for investors to add MATIC as a cryptocurrency to buy for long term returns.
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