The 12 best cryptocurrency and blockchain stocks to buy make good investments due to their direct involvement in the currently booming cryptocurrency market and because their products and services have tangential use in a new market whose future is uncertain. In the second case, the companies represent good investments because they allow some exposure to the cryptocurrency and blockchain industry, but don’t carry the entire risk associated with it, as they are well-established companies.
While most of us have heard only about a handful of cryptocurrencies, like Bitcoin, Litecoin, and Ethereum, there are in fact over 900 of them out there, most of which were developed from 2014 onwards. The most popular cryptocurrency is Bitcoin, which was the first one introduced, in 2009 by Satoshi Nakamoto. Ethereum is another well-known cryptocurrency, which enjoys corporate support due to its smart contract capabilities.
However, Bitcoin, which is followed closely and serves as a benchmark for the cryptocurrency industry, continues to be the 7 Most Profitable Cryptocurrencies and Coins to Mine in 2017. It has been making waves lately, as its price has surged to over $7,450, before retreating to around $7,390. The total value of all Bitcoins currently stands at around $123.17 billion based on some 16.66 million coins in circulation. Bitcoin also amasses the bulk of the total cryptocurrency market, which stands at slightly over $200 billion. On the second spot is Ethereum, which has a total value of $28.66 billion with 95.53 million in supply, while on the third spot is Bitcoin Cash, a spin-off of Bitcoin formed on August 1 after bitcoin miners couldn’t agree on how to increase Bitcoin’s popularity. Total Bitcoin Cash in circulation stands at 16.76 million coins with a total value of $10.50 billion.
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The rapid growth of cryptocurrencies, particularly the most popular ones, has prompted many companies to take notice and tap into the new market by developing products and services designed specifically for cryptocurrencies. Some hardware makers released graphics cards and chipsets, while cloud providers have introduced Blockchain-as-a-Service. Many investors also took notice of cryptocurrencies, with some even considering it as an emerging asset class. Marc Andreessen, Mike Novogratz, and Chamath Palihapitiya are among the 7 Largest Well Known Bitcoin Investors in the World.
Another investor that is betting on cryptocurrencies is Murray Stahl of Horizon Kinetics. In its third-quarter commentary, Horizon explained that it believes that Bitcoin has a big growth opportunity, because it can be a good store of value, similar to cash, which has a much higher value based on the money supply.
“Specifically, the U.S. money supply, a measure known as M2, is $13.7 trillion5, while as of Saturday, October 14th, the market value of bitcoin was about $94.6 billion6. In order to fulfill that much demand, the value of bitcoin would have to rise to $13.7 trillion. That would be a 145-fold increase. If the same sentiment were shared by the citizens of just the Euro Area countries ($9.2 trillion of M2) and Japan ($8.6 trillion of M2), bitcoin would appreciate 333x. This doesn’t include demand from any other nations, nor the trillions of dollars of sovereign debt worldwide that trade at zero or negative yields, nor the demand that owners of gold might represent, and so on,” Horizon said.
Of course, Horizon’s comparison was just a “thought experiment” as they put it, because it’s highly unlikely that Bitcoin will rise that high. Nevertheless, the cryptocurrency has a lot of potential and the recent recognition of Bitcoin by some central banks is a sign of that.
“I call it an emerging, historically and sociologically unique asset class that, if accepted, will change society, and before it does that, will be enormously valuable, and which could also act as a hedge against index-based systemic risks that concern me very much,” the commentary added.
With this in mind, let’s proceed to take a look at the 12 best cryptocurrency and blockchain stocks to buy, starting on the next page.
