Litecoin, DigixDao, and BlockMason Credit Protocol: The Top Performing Cryptocurrencies of February 2018
February 2018 began with the tail end of a massive correction that recently plagued crypto markets since the middle of December. Keeping this time frame in mind, three coins stood out among the rest as the top percentage gainers for the month. These include Litecoin (LTC), DigixDao (DGD), and BlockMason Credit Protocol (BCPT). Will March provide similar gains for these three February winners?
2017 and January
2017 was an incredible year for blockchain technology and cryptocurrencies. The result of a booming market for almost an entire year resulted in a major correction beginning in December and continuing until early February.
January had very few “winners,” but they were highlighted in last month’s report on the top cryptocurrencies for January. February, on the other hand, provided the rebound for which so many crypto traders were longing. The result was a profitable recovery for the majority of cryptos with a few leading the pack.
Major news, a fork or two, and technological advancements provided the following three coins the necessary catalyst to be the top gainers for this month.
1. Litecoin (LTC)
Litecoin has had one of the more interesting February’s when compared to many of the other cryptocurrencies. From the beginning of the month until the February 28 LTC experienced a gain of over 50 percent.
On February 1, LTC was priced at $130, dipping as low as $106 on February 6. LTC ended February just over $200 at approximately $202. This move solidified a 50 percent gain for LTC and almost a 100 percent gain from its February low.
(Source: Coinmarketcap)
There were two major catalysts for the LTC price spike: Litecoin Cash (LCC) and LitePay. Charlie Lee came out and said LCC was a fraud. However, the reality was it was a fork not supported by the LTC team.
Lee’s comments do not necessarily equate to fraud as LCC is now trading on many exchanges and would have provided a dividend to all those that transferred their LTC from exchanges to wallets to attain the LCC. LTC was driven North by both LCC and LitePay. With so much negative news regarding LCC, it is more likely the driving factor was LitePay.
Utility creates value, and prior to LitePay, LTC had limited utility. It could be transacted and exchanged similarly to every other cryptocurrency. The question remained what set it apart?
LitePay was launched on February 26, 2018, to the excitement and displeasure of many. The most exciting feature was to allow users to spend LTC via the debit card feature at ATMs and in stores. The day of the release, however, LitePay announced they were rolling out the software as planned except the highly sought after debit card feature.
LitePay claimed their debit card feature was delayed, “due to hostile card issuers.” Hopefully, they resolve this issue as it was what drove many people to attain LTC. The feasibility of being able to send your debit card LTC from an exchange and be able to use it in a store or ATM is revolutionary, even for this industry. LTC was highlighted as one of the Best Cryptocurrencies to Own for the week of February 26 and multiple other weeks this month. As their utility increases due to mass adoption by stores and consumers the value of the currency will skyrocket. With LTC up almost 100 percent since its February-low, look for it to continue its rally when the issues with LitePay are resolved. LTC has more developers than practically any coin with a community that rivals BTC’s. If there was a Top Five Crypto by Market Cap to make major waves in 2018, it is Charlie Lee’s.
With a market cap of under $12 million, LTC should climb the rankings from fifth to fourth or third cryptocurrency by market cap. LTC should be one of the Top Gaining Coins of 2018 following their very impressive February.
2. BlockMason Credit Protocol (BCPT)
BlockMason Credit Protocol (BCPT) was valued at $0.53 with a market cap of $24 million on February 1, 2018. One month later, on March 1, 2018, BCPT was valued at $1.22 with a market cap of $46 million. This 28 day period provided returns of over 110 percent for holders of BCPT. The more prominent questions that remain are: What is BCPT, and what caused the spike?
(Source: Coinmarketcap)
BCPT had exciting news in February, but the ticker symbol also very similarly resembles one of the most researched coins of February, BTCP (Bitcoin Private). As such, many unsuspecting individuals may have purchased BCPT expecting it to be a completely different crypto. However, even with individuals not paying attention flocking to the wrong ticker symbol there had to be solid reasons for BCPT’s gains. If people intended to buy BCPT, it is likely the reason was that of the LNDR launch. On Blockmason’s website, there is a countdown to the release of one of their first Dapps. BCPT specializes in building Dapps surrounding credit owed on the blockchain. This allows individuals to collect debts and pay similarly to Venmo.
Currently, the most significant hindrance is payments cannot exceed $200 weekly (in ether). However, a major benefit of these Dapps is they track all payments and, as incremental payments are made, they can be deducted from the total amount. BCPT is set to launch a host of Venmo-like apps to the blockchain. BCPT had a February that saw it gain over 100 percent. The current price of BCPT at $1.05 is more than 50 percent lower than it was on February 28, when it approached $1.60.
Look for BCPT to approach the $1.50 mark if LNDR is launched successfully and the markets continue their momentum North. Some individuals were intending to buy into the ZCL and BTCP fork and ended up with BCPT. However, BCPT turned out to be an excellent play for February with exciting events occurring in under 72 hours.
3. DigixDao (DGD)
DigixDao (DGD), which is a cryptocurrency based on the Ethereum blockchain (ERC-20), gained a staggering 130 percent this month. DGD currently has a value of $480 per crypto with a market cap of $961 million. On February 1, 2018, DGD was priced at $241 per crypto with a market cap of $22 million.
March started with DGD approaching $600 with a price of $594 although it has since settled down. DGD was initially launched as the first ever crowdsale on the Ethereum Blockchain. The purpose was to create the first “Distributed Autonomous Organization.”
(Source: Coinmarketcap)
The team working on DGD is shifting their focus to releasing a new token called the DigixGold (DGX). There has been significant publicity regarding DGX and DGD as the plan for the new token came together in February. DGD has propelled itself into the top 25 largest market cap cryptos having had such a fantastic run in February. DGX intends to be backed by one gram of LBMA-approved bullion. This backing will provide another crypto with a real-life tether to a physical store of wealth. The current roadmap projects DGX to be released by the end of quarter one.
The surrounding publicity leading up to the DGX launch has provided DGD a significant bump in value during February. The purpose of the DGD is to provide voting abilities to the members of the distributed autonomous organization. This mechanism allows holders to approve or reject project proposals while receiving a prorated share of DGD’s transaction fee on Digix Gold.
DGX will not be available for purchase with fiat currencies, but holders of DGD will receive DGX as their prorated dividend from transaction fees. If it has been said once, it can be said one hundred times: Utility builds value. Now the DGD token has a utility; it will provide a dividend to its holders as more individuals purchase DGX. This dividend will only continue to increase as volume builds.
As the profit builds and the DGD organization releases new projects, the value of DGD should similarly increase accordingly.
Conclusion: February Was a Great Month for Some
February was a month that saw BTC dip to under $6,000 while peaking back to almost $12,000. However, one thing remained evident among all three of the top winners: Utility. LTC’s utility increases dramatically with the ability to use LTC in stores and at ATMs.
The paradox of utility and scarcity. pic.twitter.com/YDmyKe73qo
— Jameson Lopp (@lopp) June 25, 2017
DGD is excellent if you enjoy voting on projects, but the reality is one of the biggest projects to date is about to go live, and holders of DGD will receive dividends in literally digital gold. A significant dividend provided to what had previously been a relatively useless token is a considerable change.
BCPT may have taken off due to its name similarity to BTCP (Bitcoin Private) or because of their launching of their new Dapp. Either way, these three coins all attained returns of close to 100 percent during a turbulent month. LTC, BCPT, and DGD all increased the utility of their underlying cryptocurrency exponentially in February. The value of the underlying cryptocurrency responded to their increase in utility by dramatically increasing in value. It’s that simple and should be used as a measure of value for all projects in this space.
Look for the majority of cryptocurrencies to recover during March leading up to TokenFest on March 15, 2018. The coins that create the most utility for their currency in March should correspondingly increase their value the most next month as well.
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