With a slow start to the market in 2018, spurred by heightened uncertainty surrounding Korean regulatory framework, large sell-offs in Asian countries to prepare for Lunar New Year celebrations, and several other market scares, blood is in the streets.
But, it’s only temporary.

Unfortunately, too many “investors” in crypto are looking for a quick buck, failing to research and invest in what matters most for mainstream and sustainable adoption; a project that actually fills an important need and has the capability to do so.

Below is a list of 10 innovative blockchain projects to put your mind at ease and get you through the month of February. Rest easy knowing that a fundamentally sound project, and perseverance, trumps the short-term gains, and euphoria, of a flawed and useless one.

1. Waltonchain ($WTC)

What is Waltonchain?

At first glance, one might think Waltonchain is paying homage to Walmart founder, Sam Walton, due to its association with retail and supply chain management, when it’s actually derived from Charlie Walton, the inventor of the RFID (radio frequency identification) device. Waltonchain strives to bridge the gap between physical and digital ecosystems by combining RFID and blockchain technologies to achieve a realization of the Value Internet of Things (VIoT), where businesses can effectively identify, track, position, monitor, and manage the entire lifecycle of a product via a decentralized public ledger.

At present, Waltonchain is seen as a supply chain management solution for the retail industry, but also stands to revolutionize the execution of smart contracts and real-world interconnection, and data collection and analytics, through its traceable and transparent RFID business ecosystem.

Why you should keep an eye on it

In January, 2018, Waltonchain announced an agreement to work with the China Mobile IoT alliance, with the details of a partnership still being finalized. The China Mobile IoT Alliance boasts members such as China Telecom, China Unicom, China Mobile, Huawei, and over 140 of the world’s top IoT organizations, positioning Walton for mass-scale adoption in what could be the largest-scale cryptocurrency operation and integration to date.

Additionally, for loyal Waltonites, Walton utilizes Proof-of-Stake & Trust (PoST), an upgrade of Proof-of-Work and Proof-of-Stake. PoST rewards loyal and high quality nodes in the form of WTC, incentivizing honest and senior nodes to remain on chain, and increasing overall security. Coupled with a recent beta-wallet release just a few weeks ago, 2018 is shaping up to be truly Herculean for Walton.

2. SingularityNET ($AGI)

What is SingularityNET?

From the creators of Sophia the Robot, the world’s most expressive humanoid robot, SingularityNET is a decentralized open market and unifying protocol for “companies, organizations, and developers to buy and sell AI at scale”. As of 2018, there are still significant barriers to AI functionality and real-world implementation, including: lack of data communication channels and industry fragmentation, an unestablished marketplace for discovery, and a limited number of individuals and organizations who can actually afford to create and bring AI to market.

SingularityNET disrupts proprietary AI marketplaces by decentralizing it, allowing anyone to monetize AI. Such model reduces service costs by linking various AI services together, all while increasing communication and coordination processes, ultimately powering future AI capability and growth.

Why you should keep an eye on it

In 2017, SingularityNET received countless integration offers with various blockchain projects, multinational corporations, and leading AI developers. Most notably, they partnered with Nexus as their go-to provider of AI services, a 3D blockchain protocol, to address fundamental weaknesses in blockchain (scalability, consensus, encryption) through implementation of virtual machine architecture, a 3D chain, and satellite network.

With all signs pointing towards the future running on AI, SingularityNET, and it’s 100,000-plus strong community, are at the center of an international AI race. According to a recent SingularityNET blog post, 2018’s partnership with Nexus has potential to result in the “most scalable, censorship-resistant blockchain infrastructure in existence,” further fortifying their stronghold in the estimated $3 trillion AI economy by 2025.

3. Raiden Network ($RDN)

What is Raiden Network?

Everyone has heard of CryptoKitties, a virtual craze for crypto-pets, accounting for nearly 15% of Ethereum’s network traffic, and a major contributor to a six-fold increase in pending transactions and costs on the network. On top of kitten rearing and an easy-access introduction to blockchain technology, CryptoKitties has shed light on one of Ethereum’s core limitations, a lack of scalability.

Raiden Network is “an off-chain scaling solution for ERC20-compliant token transfers on the Ethereum blockchain,” and Ethereum’s version of Bitcoin Lightning, eliminating the need for global consensus and lengthy block confirmation waiting times, and enabling instantaneous, low-cost, privacy-preserving payments. Slow and costly transactions times jeopardize Ethereum’s wide-scale adoption, and as of 2018, it handles a paltry 10-15 transactions per second (tps). A video on Raiden’s official website notes in order to successfully permeate mainstream, Ethereum needs to be able to facilitate 100,000,000 transactions per second (tps), and avoid blockchain bottleneck, both of which are solved by Raiden’s leveraging of payment networks off-chain.

Why you should keep an eye on it

According to a 2016 McKinsey article, the global payments industry is expected to grow 5% per year over the next 5 years, an industry already generating nearly $2 trillion in revenue annually. Bringing blockchain-based payments to the masses may never fully be realized without scalable technology at a competitive price, and Raiden making strides towards doing so, partnering with one of the largest energy companies in Germany in late 2017 and Chinese tech company, SmartMesh.

And, in December, 2017, Raiden deployed a streamlined version, referred to as “Micro Raiden,” on the Ethereum blockchain, instilling confidence in their ability to meet deadlines, and generating excitement for a future full version release in Q1, or Q2 of 2018.

4. Wanchain ($WAN)

What is Wanchain?

Still yet to be released on exchanges, Wanchain is a distributed financial infrastructure connecting blockchain networks, allowing the exchange of assets cross-chain and without the need of a trusted third-party. Wanchain’s proof-of-concept privacy protection allows individuals and organizations to establish their own virtual teller to provide services such as credit payments, transaction settlements, loan origination, and asset exchanges. Think of Wanchain as a one-stop financial clearinghouse for established, and future digital assets, all at low, reasonable costs.

Why you should keep an eye on it

If you’ve heard of Factom, currently sitting at a near $300,000 USD market cap, you’ve probably heard of Jack Lu, the CTO and founder. Lu is also the founder of Wanchain, instilling a sense of confidence in established success and partnerships, leading to the “digital bridge” being hailed as one of the most anticipated ICOs of 2017.

In November, 2017, Wanchain joined the Blockchain Interoperability Alliance (IOA), furthering its goal of connecting isolated blockchain platforms, and in January, 2018, launched their Mainnet, Wanchain 1.0, offering smart contract functionality and a wallet. That’s just the first step. Wanchain’s white paper aims to release Wanchain 2.0 in June, 2018, providing cross-chain trading on the Ethereum platform with a multi-currency wallet, and 3.0 going live by year’s end, tackling Bitcoin cross-chain trading. And, if you missed the first sentence, Wanchain is still yet to go live on exchanges as of February 1st.

5. Theta Token ($THETA)

What is Theta?

Theta is a decentralized video delivery network set to disrupt the modern online video industry by providing end-to-end streaming infrastructure at reduced costs, while circulating revenue back to content creators and establishing a sustainable streaming ecosystem.

Powered by users, viewers are rewarded with Theta tokens for sharing bandwidth and other resources, ultimately acting as “caching servers” and cutting out expensive middlemen. Additionally, Theta allows for vertical DApps to be built on the platform to run music, television and movies, education, peer-to-peer streaming, esports, and enterprise conferencing.

Why you should keep an eye on it

Raising $16 million in equity funding in Q2 of 2017, and a successful pre-sale of tokens in Q3, Theta’s initial success wasn’t just a fluke. Theta boasts an established team, and more impressive advisory board, consisting of co-founder and CTO of YouTube, Steve Chen, Shoucheng Zhang, founder of Danhua Capital, and Justin Kan, co-founder of video game streaming platform, Twitch. Chen, founder of Youtube, noted the expedited rate at which the live streaming market is growing, surpassing all other video content formats in terms of revenue and an already $3 billion industry in China alone.

Also, with an already successful next-generation eSports platform established (Sliver.tv), upcoming Theta token integration into the platform in early Q1, and blockchain development starting soon, Theta has quite a 2018 ahead. Not to mention this is all leading up to the actual network launch in Q4, followed by a 2019 Theta Network debut of “premium on-demand content.”

6. Oyster Pearl ($PRL)

What is Oyster Pearl?

Billing itself as the future of website monetization and distributed storage, Oyster Pearl aims to combine IOTA Tangle (to mitigate data loss) and the Ethereum blockchain (to produce the Oyster Pearl token), enabling “websites to silently generate traffic revenue as visitors perform Proof-of-Work for a decentralized storage ledger.”

Simply put, websites are able to generate revenue without employing privacy invasive and annoying ads by having website visitors contribute part of their GPU, or CPU, to store user files on a decentralized, anonymous ledger. In reward, website owners receive indirect compensation, while website visitors enjoy a seamless, ad-free experience.

Why you should keep an eye on it

As of February 1st, 2018, Oyster Pearl announced its first major milestone and step towards anonymous, decentralized storage, in the form of a successful Testnet launch, allowing users to upload files to IOTA Tangle and retrieve them. With their exposure and reach rapidly increasing, expanding from one to four exchanges in a span of just three weeks, increased daily volume (peaking at $10 million), and recent full-rebranding of their logo and website, Oyster Pearl is an ambitious and simple solution to an age old problem, and worth keeping an eye on this February.

7. SONM ($SNM)

What is SONM?

Supercomputer Organized by Network Mining, also known as SONM, is a universal fog supercomputer, powered by the Ethereum blockchain, providing general-purpose computing power as a service. Metaphorically, fog computing, a feasible alternative to cloud, is closer to the ground (like fog), utilizing all devices and resources at ground-level, from personal computers, to smartphones, to even your refrigerator (as long as it can act as a computational unit).

As a marketplace for computing power, SONM and fog computing offer real-world value for website hosting, CGI and graphics rendering, applications and games, streaming services, and scientific research and calculations, by decentralizing data storage, keeping computational costs at low, strengthening security, and increasing output quality.

Why you should keep an eye on it

On Christmas, 2017, SONM launched their MVP, Minimum Viable Product, on the Ethereum network, containing its core infrastructure and debuting their computing open market to buy and sell resources. MVP is only the foundational layer, providing a needed framework before a functional platform-as-a-service (PaaS) goes live in the second half of the year. Once live, SONM’s PaaS will allow users to define their computing applications and have SONM automatically scale and schedule it.

SONM has also partnered with Aion, a multi-tier blockchain platform addressing the scalability, privacy, and interoperability of blockchain technology, supplying computational power for Aion’s Proof-of-Intelligence algorithm, helping deter DoS attacks and increase network security.

8. Nano ($NANO), RaiBlocks ($XRB)

What is Nano/RaiBlocks?

Created as an answer and remedy to several fundamental issues plaguing Bitcoin (poor scalability, high latency, and power inefficiency), Nanois a trustless, low-latency high-performance cryptocurrency. It boasts (1) split-second, (2) zero-fee transactions, and (3) unlimited scalability, making it an ideal and practical candidate for peer-to-peer consumer transactions.

Moreover, unlike traditional blockchains which typically distribute and share the entire ledger across all nodes, Nano utilizes a block-lattice data structure. Block-lattice effectively creates an individual account-chain for each user, which can only be updated by that respected user, allowing for asynchronous and immediate updates, and thus decreasing transaction times.

Why you should keep an eye on it

Other than the obvious rebranding as Nano, and recent listing on Binance, the artist formerly known as RaiBlocks has set its 2018 standards high, already rolling out Nanex (RaiExchange), and NanoWallet (RaiWallet). Nanex allows users to instantly exchange Litecoin for Nano, minus complicated sign up and ID confirmations, while NanoWallet keeps users in control of their private keys.

To date, Nano has processed over 4 million transactions, currently sits as a top 25 cryptocurrency by market cap, is in talks for new exchange listings, and has weathered the current market storm, leaving us to wonder whether 2018 will be their year of mass adoption.

9. Ardor ($ARDR)

What is Ardor?

Building upon the blockchain technology of NXT, Ardor is the first scalable blockchain-as-a-service (BaaS) platform for business, allowing companies to build products and services using “child-chains,” an individual blockchain, while enjoying the overarching parent chain security and processing courtesy of the Ardor main chain.

Ardor’s unique child-parent architecture solves two key issues in the blockchain ecosystem, specifically, (1) blockchain scaling and bloating, and (2) business customization issues. Ardor addresses scalability by (1) separating security and functionality through the creation of multiple chains, with complete child chain pruning (keeping the blockchain size smaller), and (2) providing easily customizable and ready to use building blocks, similar to WordPress, to businesses.

Why you should keep an eye on it

Ardor’s blockchain-as-a-service model, and use of Java (one of the most widely used programming languages in the world), will serve as a catalyst for easier business permeation of the blockchain ecosystem, and ICO incubation. What’s noteworthy is that Ardor has already launched its first child chain, Ignis, offering a P2P asset exchange, monetary system, and marketplace. Furthermore, additional child chains are on the docket for this year, ultimately, leading to more real use cases and separating itself from other BaaS projects such as ARK, LISK, and STRATIS.

10. Waves ($WAVES)

What is Waves?

Waves platform is an open-source blockchain platform for custom token and asset issuance, allowing users to not only create and launch new tokens via smart contract, but transfer, distribute, and trade those tokens on a fully functional, built-in decentralized exchange.

Although Waves’ primary focus is the quick and easy creation of tokens, meeting the growing demand for tokenization of assets, where they go above-and-beyond other platforms is in their two-tier scaling architecture, allowing new transactions to operate as plugins, and thus, not altering the core software. This keeps transactions lightning fast and low cost. Additionally, Waves provides a platform for companies to decentralize crowdfunding and fundraising by creating their own custom crowdfunding portal.

Why you should keep an eye on it

In just one year, Waves launched a decentralized exchange, mobile wallet, numerous ICOs, acquired several strategic partnerships, and laid the critical framework for one of the most ambitious Q1, 2018, roadmaps of the projects discussed. In 2018, Waves platform is set to implement smart contracts, hardware wallets, decentralized voting, simple messaging, off-chain messaging, and Turing complete smart contracts, further readying the platform for mass-scale adoption.

Disclaimer: We are stating our vision and opinions, we are not giving you financial advice and if you invest in this project it is your full responsibility. You are investing at your own risk. Always invest only what you can afford to lose and try to diversify your investments. Finally, do your own homework and learn about the project use case, roadmap and team.

The post 10 Altcoins and Platforms to Hold You Over in February 2018 appeared first on ChipIn.

But, with over 1300 cryptocurrencies listed on CoinMarketCap, and almost 700 deceased coins and abandoned projects, it can be an arduous and overwhelming process sorting through the good and the bad. We’ve gone through them and compiled a list of our favorite projects that have a strong backing team, support clear and transparent roadmaps, and strive to fill a needed gap in today’s socio-economic, and blockchain, climate.

Below is a list of 10 altcoins and tokens that are set to make waves in Q1 of 2018, and should definitely be on your radar.

1. ICON ($ICX)

What is ICON?

Often referred to as “Korea’s Ethereum,” ICON is so much more, striving to build one of the largest decentralized networks and hyperledgers in order to “hyperconnect the world.” Like Ethereum, ICON supports decentralized applications, including Blockchain ID and payment and exchange. However, where ICON differs is in their built in decentralized exchange (DEX), real-time transactions, and interoperability with other blockchains, providing a single platform for communities of different governance structures (financial, security, insurance, educational, healthcare) to connect and transact.

Why you should keep an eye on it

After a successfully deployed Testnet in 2017, ICON’s Mainnet launch (a live, working product) is fast approaching, and slated to launch January 24th, 2018. Their partnerships already include several top-tier Korean universities, Ripple Asia, the Korea Financial Investment Association, and several other government-backed agencies, and all of their Blockchain consortiums are already supporting live market-ready services and pilot programs, reducing Mainnet uncertainty and speculation.
For Koreans, ICON stands to be the first of its kind to connect their entire country, as Korea has been a driving force behind the crypto-boom since its inception, pushing an estimated 35-40% of Ethereum’s global trade. Up until now, Korea has been without a platform to call their own, and accompanied with fervent Korean nationalism, ICON has the potential to cause global waves with its Mainnet release at the end of the month.

2. Dragonchain ($DRGN)

What is Dragonchain?

Although developed in 2015 as Disney’s attempt at creating their own private blockchain platform, Disney abandoned the project not long after and released it as open source software, part of their Open Source Program. Dragonchain was taken over by the Non-Profit organization Dragonchain Foundation, who has since built and cultivated a scalable, server-less, platform for businesses to protect data, create and leverage a pre-built library smart contract ecosystem of general purpose languages (Java, Python, C#, Node.js), and provide project incubation for future tokenization ecosystems.

Why you should keep an eye on it

Dragonchain has already had a Cinderella run since its ICO close back in 2017, surging nearly 64x and passing the market cap billion mark. However, it’s not finished just yet. In Q1 of 2018, Dragonchain is set to roll out smart contract protocols and APIs, launch a third incubator project ICO pre-sale for companies, and a commercial serverless platform, all well-timed with an upsurge of cloud computing and blockchain solutions looking to move beyond the proof-of-concept stage.

3. OmiseGO ($OMG)

What is OmiseGO?

Vitalik Buterin and Gavin Wood supported, and sporting the slogan “unbank the banked,” OmiseGO is Thai-based Omise’s blockchain project and an Ethereum-rooted financial technology allowing “real-time, peer-to-peer value exchange and payment services.” Simply put, OmiseGO is set to disrupt traditional financial institutions by providing an all-in-one, agnostic, financial clearinghouse for peer-to-peer exchange across jurisdictions, organizations, fiat money, and decentralized currencies.

Why you should keep an eye on it

OmiseGO seeks to revolutionize our financial ecosystem as we know it, establishing a borderless, singular global currency, connecting the world at the drop of a dime. Their 2018 roadmap includes the continued growth of strategic partnerships (not already including McDonald’s, Bose, Allianz, and Thai Airways), wallet release, and an up and running proof-of-stake (PoS) mechanism.

On December 30th, 2017 OmiseGO founder Jun Hasegawa tweeted, “My first milestone for Q1 2018 will be secure [sic] enough transactions for #OMG network validators (OMG token holders) for participate [sic] OMG PoS,” linking to their blog’s December, 6th article on network staking returns.

4. Kucoin Exchange/Kucoin Shares ($KCS)

What are Kucoin Shares?

Founded in 2011, it wasn’t until early 2017 that this Hong Kong-based digital exchange came into the crypto forefront, quickly becoming one of Asia’s highest trafficked exchanges. Distinguishing itself from the likes of Poloniex, Kraken, and Bittrex, Kucoin touts itself as “the people’s exchange,” implementing a daily incentive bonus for users holding Kucoin Shares $KCS), the exchange’s token, equal to 50% of the total daily trading fees.

Why you should keep an eye on it

While other exchanges are closing new registrations, Kucoin’s doors remain open, welcoming over 30,000 new users at the start of January, and boasting a trading volume of over $135 million USD.

With increasing volume and reputability amongst exchanges, Kucoin’s token, KCS, is an attractive option for investors looking to diversify their portfolio, due to daily payouts in the form of whichever coin or token was traded that day. As a liquidity attraction tool, KCS incentivizes increased volume and liquidity, resulting in increased payouts for KCS holders and a “sky is the limit” opportunity (depending on the exchange’s growth).

5. UFO Coin ($UFO)

What is UFO Coin?

Although the name seems silly, and an ode to our intergalactic friends, UFO is actually short for Uniform Fiscal Object, a “decentralized peer-to-peer protocol” authorizing the safe transfer of value on a global scale. UFO coin utilizes Neoscrypt, a next generation proof of work (PoW) algorithm enabling for stronger and more efficient encryption, by adding an extra layer of protection and security to the network. On top of heightened resistance to brute force attacks, Neoscrypt reduces computational resources and costs, creating a lightning fast network, with low transaction fees, ultimately leading to a seamless transfer of value.

Why you should keep an eye on it

2017 proved UFO to be much more than a gimmick or silly cryptocurrency, as it made significant strides towards catching up with present Bitcoin technology through their implementation of features such as dynamic transaction fees, faster synchronization, and improved signing security.

In 2018, UFO aims to unveil a new client every month until its on par with “the first decentralized digital currency,” and has two upcoming forks, most notably, their CHECKLOCKTIMEVERIFY (CLTV) fork. CLTV eliminates transaction hash malleability and establishes a secure payment channel between merchants and customers, a key issue that plagued disgraced Japanese Bitcoin exchange, Mt. Gox, further readying UFO for launch on other exchanges and significant growth in 2018.

6. NEO ($NEO)

What is NEO?

Formerly known as “AntShares,” NEO, like Ethereum, is China’s answer to utilizing blockchain technology to digitize assets, automate those assets, and establish a “smart” economy across a distributed network. Although both NEO and Ethereum are open source, fueled by crypto-assets (GAS for NEO, Ether for ETH), and designed to host smart contracts, DApps, and ICOS, where NEO separates itself from Ethereum is in its accommodation of governmental regulation and staying regulatory compliant.

Smart economies will leverage digitized physical assets (houses, gold, food, and anything you can think of) allowing individuals and companies to sell and trade them via smart contracts, and thus subject to government regulation. NEO accounts for all of this by providing a regulatory compliant platform for verifiable digital identities and digital asset certificates.

Why you should keep an eye on it

NEO is on the rise, and it has been for quite some time. If history has taught us anything, it’s that protectionism is deeply rooted in the Chinese economy, and…it’s working. Ali Baba has drastically closed the gap with Amazon, and WeChat has overwhelmingly cornered the Chinese social media market, highlighting an inclination to favor Chinese technology, networks, and goods, over outside forces.

When China, and its 1.4 billion strong population, decides to utilize blockchain technology, and it’s looking quite soon, NEO’s interconnected network, impressive partnerships, and vow of governmental compliance, could potentially catapult it into top spot as China’s smart economy. And, for investors looking for passive income, NEO pays out dividends in the form of GAS, an alternate token, and fee, paid to the Blockchain for consummation of resources, which can be exchanged for other tokens and coins.

7. EOS ($EOS)

What is EOS?

Hailed as the “Ethereum Killer,” EOS is a consensus blockchain operating system and architecture enabling the vertical and horizontal scaling of DApps, providing accounts, authentication, databases, asynchronous applications, and the scheduling of applications, which fundamentally improves the efficiency of smart business development.

Unlike Ethereum, transactions on the EOS Blockchain don’t have to queue and are all processed simultaneously (not sequentially), empowering the rapid deployment of thousands of DApps, the elimination of user fees, and ability to execute millions of transactions per second. For reference, Ethereum’s highest number of transactions in a day was roughly 1.4 million on January 4th, 2018.

Why you should keep an eye on it

Although the EOS ICO began all the way back in July 2017, it hasn’t actually ended, with a set end date scheduled for July 2018. The EOS ICO is unique in the way that it spans 341 days, with hopes of encouraging users and investors to familiarize themselves with the project before hastily investing. To date, EOS has raised over $700 million USD, with over $1 billion as the end goal.

What’s worth noting about the EOS team is their CTO, Dan Larimer, is an established and accomplished visionary in the blockchain world, known for founding blockchain-based financial real-time platform, BitShares, and blockchain social media and blogging platform, Steemit. As a blockchain veteran, Larimer has identified core weaknesses in various blockchain platforms and helped solve them through EOS delegated PoS, effective scaling, and software interoperability, causing some to wonder if EOS could actually be the true “Ethereum Killer” in 2018.

8. Universa ($UTN)

What is Universa?

Universa is a blockchain cryptographic protocol using a distributed state ledger and contract execution machine aiming to improve on Bitcoin and Ethereum technologies, with an emphasis on token representation and contractual agreements. Where Universa differs from traditional blockchains, which predominantly transact in currencies, is in their tokenization of the real sector of the economy, allowing you to put real-world assets on the Blockchain; ranging from passports to gym memberships, to bus tickets and taxi fares.

Additionally, Universa sports high-speed transactions (up to 22,000 per second), coupled with “enormously low” costs (roughly ten times cheaper than Ethereum’s), making it a promising alternative to Bitcoin and Ethereum.

Why you should keep an eye on it

With a successful, $28 million USD, ICO in early December, 2017, numerous awards and recent Chinese partnerships, superior transaction speeds with low (fixed) costs, and backing by a seasoned team and advisory board, including Lithuanian venture investor and CEO, Alexander Borodich, Universa has fortified an exciting 2018 ahead.

9. Espers ($ESP)

What is Espers?

One area still undeveloped in the blockchain ecosystem is the hosting of websites on the blockchain itself. Espers is the blockchain project and concerted effort of crypto enthusiasts and collective, Cryptocoderz, offering secured messaging and the hosting of websites on the Espers Blockchain. The Espers Blockchain seeks to act as a safe harbor for websites, revolutionizing current website safety and security standards, all while supporting expedited server times and the assurance your website will never be taken down or removed, for example, due to government censorship.

Why you should keep an eye on it

Espers have a big road ahead in 2018, still having yet to put out their white paper and a mobile client, but prioritized for Q1 of 2018. Most notably, Espers is a hybrid Proof-of-work (PoW) and Proof-of-stake (PoS) system, almost entirely eliminating the chance of a 51% network attack, and giving users the option of whether they want to mine Espers, or stake it. This hybrid system creates a harmonious balance by preventing potential PoW centralization, and unequal early adopter staking rewards. Moreover, users have reported up to 25% staking returns per year, making it a great coin for passive income.

Espers also support an extremely active and supportive community, and developers can be found answering questions on their Discord channel daily. As one of the only cryptocurrencies using a hybrid PoW and PoS, 30 million USD market cap, and growing daily volume, Espers has a promising 2018 ahead.

Note of caution: When buying Espers, steer clear of the exchange, YoBit.net, who is running the old Espers chain (ESP1), which is no longer associated with Espers.

10. DeepBrain Chain ($DBC)

What is DeepBrain Chain?

Based on the NEO Blockchain, DeepBrain Chain is the world’s first artificial intelligence (AI) computing blockchain, distributing computational power, costs, and requirements for AI across the world. As a decentralized neural network, DeepBrain Chain leverages blockchain technology to provide low-cost, flexible, private, and secure AI computing to meet worldwide enterprise demand, all while acting as a secure data trading platform and establishing a clear separation of data usage and ownership rights.

Why you should keep an eye on it

There’s no question about the global push for AI, with a June 2017 report by McKinsey affirming such, noting, in 2016 companies invested between $26 billion USD to $39 billion USD and an estimated compound annual growth rate ranging from 20 percent to 63 percent over the next 3 years. Additionally, between 2012 and 2016 the global AI market saw an increase of over 5,000 AI startups. If you’re curious about AI market predictions, here’s a compiled list of forecasts from venture capitalists, technology execs, and market research firms, with some valuing AI as a trillion dollar industry by 2035.

As of January 11th, 2017, DeepBrain Chain’s market cap stands at $350 million USD, all with minimal marketing and exposure. They were awarded first prize (of 30 participants) in the enterprise sector of SMP2017 – a Chinese man-machine evaluation contest, boast such corporate clients as Microsoft, Siemens, and Samsung, and just recently went live on Chinese exchange Huobi, all pointing towards it being substantially undervalued at present and a sleeping giant of 2018.

Disclaimer: We are stating our vision and opinions, we are not giving you financial advice and if you invest in this project it is your full responsibility. You are investing at your own risk. Always invest only what you can afford to lose and try to diversify your investments. Finally, do your own homework and learn about the project use case, roadmap and team.

The post 10 Altcoins and Tokens To Keep an Eye on in January 2018 appeared first on ChipIn.