wiser's favorite coins

I thought it would be fun to do a roundup of explainer/promo/pitch deck videos for my favorite coins. So if you ever wanted to know what my portfolio looks like, here it is. I've included a video for each coin and a bit of my own commentary. I have holdings in every single coin mentioned here. If you like a coin I hold and think you want to invest in it yourself, please do your own due diligence. Please see this post for more specific information about what due diligence entails.

DNotes

This one is my personal favorite, though not yet my most profitable. Read: the coin is still WAY undervalued, but I don't think it will be for much longer. I've been involved with this coin pretty much since it launched in February of 2014. Alan Yong, who has a glowing resume in the more traditional industries of computer technology and farming, founded DNotes because he saw the amazing potential blockchain technology has to completely change the way finances work for the better. He also noticed some of the big problems that were already endemic to the fledgling cryptocurrency industry including lack of professionalism and leadership, and he believed that a coin project that could overcome these issues would be a sure winner. Today, DNotes Global is tackling the big challenge of being the first cryptocurrency project to operate in full compliance with US financial regulations. In doing so, DNotes aims to be the bridge currency joining the decentralized blockchain world with the current financial infrastructure. If they manage to pull this off, and they actually are executing a carefully laid plan to do just that, then I predict DNotes to be a household name in the next ten years. In the mean time you will have a hard time finding a more cordial and professional group of developers anywhere in our industry. I hold up DNotes as the gold standard for how to launch and maintain a solid cryptocurrency project. One very important factor driving DNotes' solidity is the deliberate creation of value added infrastructure around the coin, including a financial and cryptocurrency education site, a cryptocurrency news service, a how to book on business success and a for profit company, with more in the works.

DMD Diamond

I came across DMD Diamond after it had been around for a couple years while doing some research on cloudmining for a writing gig. At the time, a DMD wallet was minting at 25% APY, which is phenomenal. I immediately saw the two main features this coin is known for: store of wealth and source of passive income. I started earning, buying and minting them as quickly as I could. One fun way to earn DMD is to participate in the project's annual cake decorating contest each July. You can also mint them in your wallet, or if you can get your hands on 10,000 of them, you can earn pretty well by running a masternode. DMD Diamonds are scarce--there will only ever be 4.38 million of them--and they are designed to be valuable. The development team is very proactive about keeping one step ahead of the rapidly evolving cryptocurrency technology. The DMD Diamond technology has the capability of supporting smart contracts, for example, although it won't be publicly deployed until there is an actual need. Security is another top priority. Before starting its masternode program, DMD ran as a hybrid proof of work/proof of stake system, mitigating some of the known security flaws in POS only systems. I have found DMD wallets to be by far the easiest to operate and keep updated. The technology underlying DMD Diamond is solid. The development team also recognizes the importance of value added infrastructure in supporting the coin's price and usability, and although not as far along that path as DNotes, it is definitely on the DMD Diamond roadmap.

NEM (XEM)

NEM got its start back in 2015 as an improved clone of NXT. Early in the development process the developers decided to forget the whole NXT clone business and instead build its technology from the ground up. The result has been a blockchain backbone on which other tokens and coins can run--think Ethereum that actually works consistently. NEM is a public blockchain, but the team has also developed a system for private blockchains knowns as Mijin and there are several large enterprise clients using it in Asia. Mijin integrates fully with the public block chain. NEM is also working on the Catapult wallet, which will allow banks to use the NEM (or Mijin) blockchain without having to change their existing financial technology, including the dated SWIFT financial messaging service. In terms of market penetration, NEM seems to be everywhere with meetup groups all over the world and the NEM leaders being invited to speak at numerous financial and technology events. There are also several groups consistently producing high quality videos explaining various aspects of the NEM technology and its many real world applications.

Smart CASH

This is my most recent coin acquisition and while I find this an interesting project, I'm not nearly as enthusiastic about it as the above three. SMART Cash is pegged as a community coin and as such has a major appeal to Liberatian and Voluntaryist types. It uses masternode technology and probably has the most nodes of any coin, around 12,000 to date. It also has a minting algorithm where all you need to do is hold at least 1000 coins at an address with no withdrawals for a month. You do not have to actually run a wallet to collect this reward. The minting formula is set up such that the majority of minting earnings goes into a fund called the SMART hive. Anyone with a project idea can submit a proposal for SMART Cash holders to vote on whether or not it should be funded. Each coin is worth one vote. People have used their SMART Hive funds to complete a number of interesting humanitarian projects around the world. As far as decentralized governance goes, SMART Cash seems to have figured out how to do it successfully, at least for the SMART Hive. Judging from the sheer number of masternodes (known as SMART nodes) as well as SMART Hive recipients, this coin has wide appeal and support. My main concern with it is that due to its Voluntaryist philosophy, it may not be as diligent as it needs to be on complying with financial regulations, which could spell trouble down the road. It also promotes privacy features (though the zerocoin protocol got removed for technical reasons), which to me is a red flag as the financial world is moving towards embracing AML/KYC laws.

STEEM

I'd be remiss to not mention STEEM and of course this platform Steemit. Steemit is a decentralized social media platform. This accomplishes two things: first, there is no ability to censor content (although people have certainly organized downvoting campaigns against authors and content deemed offensive), and second, the rewards from posting are distributed back to the users based on the upvotes they receive for their work. I typically earn a dollar or two from upvotes on my posts here which is not exactly a living wage, but it's way more than what I would earn on Facebook or Twitter. There are plenty of people who apply some Internet marketing strategies and earn way more. Beyond the obvious, the STEEM network supports all kinds of other applications and ways to earn, my favorite one being MinnowBooster. Steemit is a great example of value added infrastructure which goes a long way to support a coin's price. It seems to work very well, though if you hang out here long enough you'll find we all have complaints about various aspects here and there. One thing I especially enjoy about Steemit is that the community is generally very polite. I've seen heated debates where people clearly feel strongly about their differing opinions but never lose sight of treating the other with respect. I think knowing that your comments could be upvoted or downvoted impacting your bottom line helps a lot with that, but I also think there are a lot of great people who hang out here.

So there you have it: my five favorite coins and their explainer videos. Do you have a favorite coin I didn't include? Feel free to post a video and blurb in the comments section.