Three crypto's I have recently discovered

It amazes me at how much progress the crypto-community has made since I became aware of Bitcoin in mid-2012. In this post, I would like to go over some new crypto's that I find particularly exciting. I have only recently became aware of these ones and I would like to share some knowledge and spread awareness about them. If you choose to invest in crypto's, diversification is important. However, from the outset I will say that investing in crypto-currencies is extremely risky business and should never be a decision based on someone else's paradigm of the world.

CureCoin

The initial plan was to make CureCoin a self-susatinable system that funds the folding@home project. CureCoin was designed to mint like Bitcoin and have a similar number in circulation. Instead of solving complex mathematical problems, miners of CureCoin engage in protein folding. As you may remeber from Biology class, proteins are formed from amino acids and take certain shapes to perform specific functions. When proteins do not fold correctly, this can lead to serious diseases. By gaining a better comprehension of how and why proteins mis-fold, scientists can develop better drugs and therapies to combat illnessess such as Alzheimer's disease, AIDS and many types of cancer.

After the minting period, it is hoped CureCoin will be used just like Bitcoin and will hold epistemic value, that is value derived from knowledge and understanding. So the Coin will be valued in terms of the research it has helped to drive and the diseases it has helped to eradicate. A promising investment indeed!

In the first months it launched, CureCoin broke every world record in computational research speed. This aspect of the network also evades the risk of an oligopoly of miners having majority control. While Bitcoin's miners are aggressively competing with each other and upgrade mining quipemnt every few years, CureCoin can be CPU-mined from the comfort of your home. 

Cancer is not the only application of research into protein structures; further possiblities include exobiology and biofuels. Proteins are like elements, with new ones are always being discovered . This means that the possiblites for advancements is wide open in this field of research. Consequently, Curecoin will help fund new projects to combat diseases that aren't even being addressed yet. While it has a small market capitalization of $650,998 at present it is nonetheless one cryptocurrency to watch out for; the market's small size at present could represent a great point of entry into investing in this ethical venture. 

You can get protein folding straight away and contribute to this community by starting here. 

Lisk

This cryptocurrency was brought to my attention by a few users of TradingView, a charting website for stocks, currencies and commodities. I would always see one particular member posting charts about Lisk, talking about trading Lisk on exchanges and that sparked an interest within me to learn more about this cryptocurrency. 

Lisk has gained more acceptance and attention as seven exchanges recently listed the cryptocurrency. Folowing the recent hack on the DAO and the damage it has done to Etherueum and Ether's price, people are looking to Lisk as a substitute to Ethereum. Similarly, it is also a smart contracts platform but boasts ease of development as existing Javascript programs are compatible. Also, applications built with Lisk can be supported by mutliple platforms from Raspberry Pi to high-end systems like VPS. Discover allows artists to monetize their art and Prototype, a decentralized shop, are two Lisk projects worth mentioning. 

Lisk has swiftly established itself as one of the cryptos with a huge potential. Lisk is currently ranked 10th in terms of market capitalization, just under $14 million, an impressive feat for a cryptocurrency that only started trading live in April 2016. Also, as the chart below ilustrates, the fluctuations in Lisk-Ethereum can make for some good potential profits. Notice how LSK-ETH appreciated as the DAO attack became apparent. It now looks to be reversing as ETH-USD recovers and continues to push higher above $10.00. It looks as if LSK-ETH is heading for the most recent fractal buy level at 0.02465.

Steem

Now this is the one you've all heard of. The phenomenal growth of Steem over a short period of time is fascinating; excess of 500% of growth in price over the past week and has overtaken long-term incumbents such as Dogecoin, Dash and NXT in terms of market capitalization. Steem is now the 5th largest crypto-currency, out of nowhere. 

Steem is not yet listed on any major crypto-exchanges but with the recent growth should see it widely adopted by the crypto-community. When it does eventually get listed on major exchanges, expect the phenomenal performance to continue. While many people missed out on mining Bitcoin in the early days and missed out on the immense gains over the past 6 years, Steemit aims to allow users to earn Steem through contribution and assigning value to user's creations. Through this idea, Steem hopes to avoid inequalities and the problem of distribution associated with Bitcoin. This could be the train to catch for those who missed the Bitcoin train. Steemit to me so far is like a combination of Twitter, Wikipedia and Bitcoin. Amazing right?

The price of Steem has broken above parity with the US Dollar, currently at $1.64. Volume is also painting a pretty picture with almost $500,000 worth of transactions in the past 24 hours. However, Lisk has 1.10% of the total 24 hour volume in cryptocurrency markets at the time of writing, Steem still has a lot of catching up to do. Nevertheless, I think it is fit for the task. 

As I follow cryptocurrencies and blockchain technology more and more, the opportunites and possiblities seem to become endless. It is a very exciting time we are living in and I encourage everyone to learn a new skill and contribute to a crypto-project. This is something I am priortising as I really believe in the philosophical underpinnings of Bitcoin and its associated technoligies. It will be very intriguing to see how the sector will continue to evolve with new crypto's such as CureCoin, Lisk and Steem now part of the ecosystem.