Cryptos to sell are becoming a hot topic despite the fourth Bitcoin (BTC-USD) halving and the possible approval of Ethereum (ETH-USD) ETFs this year.
Bitcoin, the industry bellwether, is up just 15% over a 14-day period despite the halving on April 19. If BTC wants to hit Samson Mow, Blockstream’s CSO and Pixelmatic’s CEO’s 2024 $1 million price target, it has its work cut out.
Analysts at Kaiko say that the recent split of Bitcoin could increase stress on miners as the halving cut miner rewards to 3.125 bitcoins from 6.25, prompting a selloff of holdings, putting downward pressure on BTC.
Regulatory pressure, notably from the SEC, persists. In January, the regulator approved 11 spot Bitcoin exchange-traded instruments, but legislators criticize its “regulation-by-enforcement” approach. The SEC fined crypto companies $2.89 billion in 2023, adding to the $5.8 billion worldwide crackdown.
Amid this environment, the first pick among cryptos to sell is a meme coin lacking a clear utility or development roadmap, such as Ethereum. Next is a token linked to the volatile NFT market. This is risky because the amount of the NFT market as a whole has cut in half since last year. Finally, we explore why investing in Bitcoin and Ethereum directly is better than pouring capital into derivatives.
Shiba Inu (SHIB-USD)
Shiba Inu (SHIB-USD) is up 186% in the last year, putting it at number 12 among the big cryptocurrencies, but it lacks a development roadmap like Ethereum, getting ready for the “Pectra” update in Q4 2024, or solid use cases like Bitcoin.
Speculative hype can only go so far. Hence, Shiba Inu’s team is working on “Shibdentity,” a decentralized identity project that will make it easier for Web 3.0 users to be found.
The development team is also working with Zama, a business that makes security tools, to create a new privacy-focused network, complimenting Shibarium and giving people who own SHIB tokens more protection.
But for me, the question of usefulness still stands, compared to Ripple (XRP-USD), for example, which provides solutions in the remittances industry, set to grow to $181.6 billion by 2028 from $150.8 billion in 2024.
Plus, even if Shiba Inu decides to fully change its focus to privacy, having raised $12 million for privacy-focused blockchain projects, keep in mind that Binance (BNB-USD) recently delisted Monero (XMR-USD) because privacy coins, meant to make transactions more anonymous, are facing regulatory stress around the world.
ApeCoin (APE-USD)
ApeCoin (APE-USD) is a governance token in the APE environment, which includes the Bored Ape Yacht Club and other related NFT projects. NFT holders who owned BAYC and Mutant Ape Yacht Club (MAYC) NFTs were among the first people to get ApeCoin, given out as part of a larger effort to recognize community members and include them in the ecosystem’s control and usefulness.
ApeCoin got a shot in the arm recently when Binance Japan announced it’ll list the token, increasing accessibility in a key market, with 8.82 million crypto accounts in 2023, up from 6.4 million the year before.
However, ApeCoin is down 63% in one year, and it’s still among the cryptos to sell in my book, thanks to its connection with the weakening NFT space. NFT volume in 2023 was less than half of what it was in 2022, going from $26.3 billion to $11.8 billion, CoinGecko says.
During this slump, sites such as Unsellable and Harvest.art have sprung up to help NFT buyers get rid of their low-value NFTs.
ApeCoin will not thrive in such an environment, and unless there are regular upgrades and an expansion beyond its niche uses, such as staking, investors will keep marking it out among cryptos to sell.
Bitcoin Gold (BTG-USD)
Bitcoin Gold’s (BTG-USD) goal is to make mining less controlled by switching Bitcoin’s proof-of-work method from SHA-256 to Equihash, which lets people mine with normal GPUs instead of specialized ASICs, spreading out the miner network.
BTG may be used for peer-to-peer transactions and mining like Bitcoin, with a maximum of 21 million coins. The focus on decentralized mining makes it appealing despite issues like 51% attacks.
However, while Bitcoin is up 145% over the past year and Bitcoin Gold is up 165%, the close correlation is more of a problem than a bonus feature. Bitcoin benefits from catalysts like the fourth halving and the January ETF approval, but what about Bitcoin Gold?
The situation is similar to Ethereum Classic vs. Ethereum; the former’s price gained handsomely from Ethereum’s move to a proof-of-stake (PoS) system. Moving forward, the possible approval of Ethereum ETFs, will also lead to a corresponding move higher.
But if I want to profit from the possible acceptance of an Ethereum ETF or the situation after the split, it seems smarter to invest directly in Bitcoin and Ethereum rather than in assets that are similar to these big names.
On the date of publication, Faizan Farooque did not have (either directly or indirectly) any positions in the securities mentioned in this article. The opinions expressed in this article are those of the writer, subject to the InvestorPlace.com Publishing Guidelines.
