What are the best cryptocurrencies to invest in? Which virtual currency-related projects are the strongest in the market as of August 2023?
Watching cryptocurrency quotes is the first step to take to understand which are, in fact, the best ones, that is, the leading cryptocurrencies on the market, the ones that are worth the most and, consequently, the ones to carefully consider investing in, with all the risks that characterize this sector.
A ranking of the best cryptocurrencies based on market capitalization is important. Still, it is incomplete, as this is meant to provide those interested in the sector with a general idea of the most solid cryptos with the highest value. Still, there is also a need to look at the ranking of the best cryptocurrencies that have risen the most in the last 30 days, regardless of market cap.
Market capitalization, or market cap, refers to that value expressed using the market standard, in dollars-that is obtained by multiplying the current price of the cryptocurrency by the total amount of the same cryptocurrency available in the market at the same time.
Let's take an example: if a Bitcoin is currently worth $28,910 and has 19,444,768 Bitcoins in circulation, then the market capitalization of Bitcoin will be approximately $562 billion.
Let's look at the four cheapest cryptocurrencies in the market in August 2023 according to Forbes.
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1. Bitcoin
Bitcoin's price first surpassed $100 in April 2013, and since then, the cryptocurrency has continued to gain notoriety and value. Enthusiasm grew more vigorous in early 2017 when Bitcoin surpassed $1,000. Its rise pauses before resuming fast and shocking in the late 2020s, ushering in a path that will lead Bitcoin to hit its absolute highs on Nov. 10, 2021, the day it touches 67,000.
From there, the descent begins; the price plummets to $16,000 in response to the industry crisis triggered by the failure of the FTX exchange.
In contrast, 2023 is a bullish year: the value per BTC has risen from $16,688 since the beginning to today's high of $30,000. In the past 30 days, its value has risen 45.31 percent.
As of August 2023, Bitcoin remains the undisputed leader in ranking the best cryptocurrencies by market capitalization.
2. Ethereum
The Ethereum project dates back to 2013 from the idea of Vitalik Buterin, a Russian boy born in 1994 and living in Canada, who officially launched the platform in 2015, and Joe Lubin, founder of blockchain software company ConsenSys.
This cryptocurrency today is used a lot, especially by young people, who enjoy paying online in cryptocurrencies everything they can: from playing casino slots with Ethereum to buying at major e-commerce stores that allow them to pay in cryptocurrencies.
Ethereum's price first surpassed $100 in May 2017, on the heels of the rally that featured Bitcoin. After reaching the then-all-time high at $1,397 in early 2018, a long sideways phase is triggered for the cryptocurrency that will see a decisive upward break only starting in the fall of 2020, when all the top cryptocurrencies in the market fly to record levels.
The all-time high on Ethereum was touched in November 2021 at $4,724, after which a physiological descent was triggered, exacerbated in the fall of 2022 by the so-called “crypto winter,” which brought the cryptocurrency dangerously close to $1,000 again.
After benefiting from the bullish market phase ushered in at the beginning of the year, which brought it close to $2,000 in April 2023, Ethereum was confirmed as second in the ranking of the best cryptocurrencies by market capitalization in August 2023. However, the bullish trend has now lost power.
3. Tether
Tether's founding year was 2014, although the basis of the original idea is the Mastercoin protocol of J.R. Willett, the inventor of ICO (Initial Coin Offering, the initial cryptocurrency offering). Brock Pierce and Craig Sellars, official members and CTO of the Mastercoin Foundation, respectively, are the co-founders of Tether, joined by Reeve Collins, co-founder of SmartMedia Technologies.
Initially, the Tether cryptocurrency was known as Realcoin, as if to emphasize from the outset the difference from other cryptocurrencies. Four months after the founding act, Realcoin was replaced by Tether.
As a stablecoin, the price of Tether has not varied much since its inception: always keeping around the value of one dollar, the all-time low was reached in March 2015 at $0.6051, while the all-time high was born in May 2017 at $1.0432, in the wake of the well-known cryptocurrency rally at that time. As of August 2023, Tether is third in the ranking of top cryptocurrencies by market capitalization.
4. BNB
Binance Coin was launched in 2017 as an exchange coin for use on Binance with a market value of around $1.27. After gradual growth in the following years that brought the cryptocurrency close to 2020 at $38.95, BNB flew with the crypto rally starting in early 2021, reaching its all-time high at $676.35 in May 2021.
After a highly volatile 2021, a descent was triggered that brought BNB back below $200, only to recover to current levels in July 2023 at above $300.