7 cryptocurrencies to watch in 2018 if you’re on the hunt for the next bitcoin

Litecoin (LTC):

Market cap, as of Jan. 3: $13.95 billion

Performance over last 12 months, as of Jan. 3: +6,025%

Monero (XMR):

Market cap: $5.95 billion

Performance in 2017: +2,596%

Neo:

Market cap: $5.86 billion

Performance in 2017: +83,570%

Cardano (Ada):

Market cap: $20.21 billion

Performance in 2017 (since start of trading in October): +3,296%

Ripple (XRP):

Market cap: $95.45 billion

Performance in 2017: +41,040%

Iota (MIOTA):

Market cap: $11.10 billion

Performance in 2017 (since start of trading in June): +525%

Bitcoin Cash:

Market cap: $45.61 billion

Performance in 2017 (since start of trading in July): +623%

Bitcoin is the fastest-growing asset in the world this year, but the virtual currency does not appear to have many users in London’s tech district. It has been more than a month since bitcoin was used to buy a flat white or craft beer sold at the Old Shoreditch Station, according to the hospitality manager at the east London bar.  Bitcoin is a digital currency, also known as a cryptocurrency, that emerged after the financial crisis and is not underpinned by a central bank. It allows people to bypass banks and traditional payment methods for goods and services – an idea that has evidently caught the imagination of some investors, because its price has surged by more than 900% in 2017. Bitcoin – created by “miners” who use high-powered computers to solve complex mathematical problems – must be stored online using a digital wallet, and can be bought or sold using exchanges such as Bitstamp, Bithumb and Kraken.

Bitcoin drops $2,000 in value as South Korea announces planned trading ban

The value of bitcoin plunged 13.5% in the early hours of Thursday after news hit that South Korea is planning to ban cryptocurrency trading.

News of the ban follows the raiding of local cryptocurrency exchanges by police and tax authorities over alleged tax evasion, as one of the key nations driving the demand for bitcoin and other virtual currencies attempts a clampdown.

“There are great concerns regarding virtual currencies and the justice ministry is basically preparing a bill to ban cryptocurrency trading through exchanges,” justice minister Park Sang-ki said.

The 50 percent decay of Ripple's XRP token from the record  highs may have fortified the bears, however graph examination demonstrates encourage drawback might be constrained.

According to information source OnChainFX, the world's third-biggest cryptographic money by showcase capitalization has devalued by 16.85 percent over the most recent 24 hours. As of composing, XRP is exchanging at $1.88 levels.

ome portion of the value drop from $3.36 to $2.07 saw on Monday can ascribed to information supplier CoinMarketCap's unannounced choice to avoid three Korean trades, making its worldwide normal all of a sudden drop. The subsequent selloff came to stop after the adjustment in normal figuring philosophy wound up noticeably open, taking into account a fractional recuperation in the XRP cost to $2.46.

Be that as it may, the help was brief. XRP fell underneath $2.00 yesterday and hit a 12-day low of $1.71 today.

The decrease in costs in the course of the most recent 48 hours features the bearish undercurrent over the more extensive crypto markets.

Stellar lumens has dropped by 15 percent over a 24 hour time frame; NEM and cardano are down 13 percent and 15 percent, separately; while TRON has lost a robust 24 percent in esteem.

Battling the pattern, the best entertainer is ether (ETH), which hit another unequaled high of $1,417 today. ETH has picked up around 11 percent more than 24 hours.

Warren Buffett, a US billionaire and investor, said he believes the last of the virtual currencies will be "bad."

The 87-year-old Buffett, who is said to be the richest third person in the world, has been evaluating virtual currency like Bitcoin on the US CNBC television channel.

Buffett, in his statement, stated that "there is no information about how and when this happens, while using the phrase" I can say strictly about crypto money, which will result in bad. "

Indicating that he did not make purchases in Bitcoin futures, which was presented to the market last month, Buffett also said he did not take long or short positions in these futures.

In a statement he made at the end of November, Buffett stressed that Bitcoin is not a value-producing entity, and that Bitcoin is a real value, "joke" and crypto money market as "balloon".

Experts warn that virtual currencies have risen so fast that they have become popular last year, warning that investors of hard falls in crypto paranoids may soon suffer huge losses.

My TOP 5 Alt Coins UNDER $0.01 To Make You RICH in 2018!

1. NYC: http://nycoin.net/

2. XP: https://www.xpcoin.io/

3. Mooncoin: https://www.mooncoin.eco/

4. Dentacoin: https://dentacoin.com/

5. Lindacoin: http://lindacoin.com/

Coinbase made a significant announcement this afternoon regarding, but not mentioning specifically, Ripple (AKA $XRP.) As the announcement was made, the price of Ripple ($XRP) fell, there was a dead cat bounce, and the coin’s worth continued to tank in a downward direction. If there’s one single reason why an investor’s worth in USD or BTC today is halved, it’s because they put a whole lot of faith in the future of XRP.

The Coinbase announcement today doused previous rumors that the coin buying and selling platform was adding another new coin in the near future. They’d recently released a list of coins that might, someday, possibly be added to their ranks, but never specifically said which coin would be added, if there would be a move to add for certain, or when said add would take place.

Coinbase officials attempted to clear that all up this morning with a simple note. “A committee of internal experts is responsible for determining whether and when new assets will be added to the platform in accordance with our framework,” said Coinbase PR. “These individuals — and all employees at Coinbase — are subject to confidentiality and trading restrictions. Coinbase will announce the addition of new assets only via our blog post or other official channels.”

Coinbase also noted that as of the date of the statement (today, January 4th, 2018,) they’d “made no decision to add additional assets to either GDAX or Coinbase.” They made extra clear, also, that “any statement to the contrary is untrue and not authorized by the company.”

Whether they end up adding any coin in the future is currently irrelevant. As it is with all coins in this current cryptocurrency craze, the rule remains: “Buy the rumor, sell the news.”

Lets first analyze Litecoin. It is different from Bitcoin in 3 major ways. It runs under a different algorithm, the block speed is much faster, but the network power is not as strong as the one of bitcoin. Back in the good ol days Litecoin was peaking at $45, but what happened now? The simplest explanation is that the hype died. Litecoin was hyped to be ASIC resistant with it’s Scrypt mining algorithm and because the confirmation arrive much faster it seemed like an improvement upon bitcoin. However, we have since seen the release of the GridSeed which is an ASIC miner for litecoin. The release of the ASIC miner ruins the hype that litecoin is in fact ASIC resistant because GridSeed proves otherwise.

The other hype that surrounded litecoin was it’s faster transaction speeds and how it must be a better network. Wrong, just because a block can be solved faster and the confirmations arrive faster does not mean that the network is faster. Think of it this way, litecoin’s blocks take 2.5 minutes to be solved on average, and bitcoin blocks take 10 minutes to be solved. So in other words, 4 litecoin confirmations = 1 bitcoin confirmation security wise. So just because a confirmation arrived earlier does not mean that the transaction is just as secure as that of a longer arriving confirmation (hope that made sense).

So since litecoin is not asic proof and faster transaction speeds do not equal the same security, the hype has died. There is no real use for litecoin now because it is just another version of bitcoin with a few differences. It falls in the category of all the other litecoins which do not have any significant difference or improvements.

I can't conclude this as the next BTC run just yet. For that I would first want to see a close and some consolidation over the first fib level / previous triangle high. Then the chances for a rollover are most likely gone. If we at some point retest the all-time high of 20 000 USD, we should eventually break through and confidently resume the BTC bull-run.

In the meantime I would not be surprised if we went back to 16 000 before finding the strength to pass the 16 500 fib resistance.

I believe Bitcoin and Altcoins will become phasic...in other words, both go start going up in tandem. If this is the case, then the below chart shows BTC doing a brief interlude of consolidation before likely moving up to tag higher highs! Once the run towards $23k starts, I believe the Altcoins will join and start making vertical; parabolic; Orgasmic lunges to never seen levels!!