The cryptocurrency market ended Week 31 with a total market capitalization of $1.80 trillion and the sector is now eying to reclaim the $2 trillion valuation. Bitcoin, the world’s largest cryptocurrency is up by more than 15% in the last 7 days and is trading above $45,000 for the first time after May 18. Ether on the other hand is successfully riding the wave caused by the London hardfork, which introduced a fee burning mechanism, resulting in ETH growing by more than 20% in the last 7 days. However, we have eyes on three different altcoins this week. Without a doubt, altcoins are a riskier investment than top tier coins, but the greater risk is compensated by higher potential returns on investment.
1. Terra (LUNA)
The Terra blockchain, which acts as the basis of the algorithmically governed stablecoin platform called Terra, is developed by a South Korean-based company Terraform Labs. The platform is built on the Cosmos technology and utilizes a Proof-of-Stake (PoS) consensus mechanism. LUNA is the reserve currency of the Terra platform. It has three key functions. These are ensuring the price stability of Terra stablecoins, mining Terra transactions through staking and providing incentives for the blockchain’s validators.
Users and Holders have High Expectations for the Upcoming Columbus-5
Terra users, LUNA holders and speculative investors are expecting to benefit from the upcoming massive Terra network upgrade called Columbus-5. The highly anticipated upgrade, often referred to as a game-changer for the Terra platform, will simplify the system’s tokenomics, introduce a LUNA burning mechanism, as well as allow integration with other blockchains. After the upgrade, Terra will be able to support interchain assets from Cosmos, Polkadot, and Solana blockchains. Holders, investors, and developers are hoping, that this will increase the platform’s use cases and boost its adoption. Even though the Columbus-5 upgrade is currently scheduled to launch sometime in Q3 2021, the high expectations are already affecting LUNA’s price. LUNA, which is currently changing hands at a price of $14.30 per coin, is up by almost 100% in the last month. I think you can see the reasons why LUNA is repeatedly being named as one of the altcoins with the highest potential in 2021. In more recent news, Bitfinex launched LUNA margin trading on August 5.
2. Voyager Token (VGX)
The Voyager Token (VGX), formerly known as Ethos (ETHOS), is rewarded to the users of the Voyager crypto broker ecosystem. The token has a circulating supply of 220 million VXG and a total supply of 222 million tokens. When staked through the official Voyager app, the held VGX generate 7% interest. VGX can also be stored in its native wallet, the Ethos Universal Wallet which supports another 150+ cryptocurrencies. The Voyager team has plans to soon launch their own loyalty program with rich cashbacks and other rewards.
VGX Surged after Voyager’s Acquisition of the Crypto Payment Processor Coinify
Voyager Digital has recently announced the acquisition of the Danish cryptocurrency payment processor Coinify. Coinify’s crypto payments infrastructure allows merchants to accept digital assets while receiving pay-outs in traditional currencies. The platform supports more than 20 different fiat pay-outs and is available in Europe, Asia, North America, and South America. The attempt to expand Voyager’s range of services cost Voyager $85 million and was reportedly paid in cash and stock. Stephen Ehrlich, CEO and Co-founder of Voyager, thinks that this was a good deal, as he thinks “payments are the next frontier” in the cryptocurrency space. Investors and VGX holders seem to agree with Ehrlich, as the VGX token gained more than 50% last week, making it one of the most profitable crypto assets to hold among the top 100.
In addition, the Voyager team is in the process of rolling out the new Voyager Token, VGX 2.0. The official VGX token swap date is August 12. If you hold VGX on the Voyager app, your tokens will be swapped automatically on that date. In case you hold the tokens on unsupported exchanges or wallets, follow the instructions published here. After the competition of the swap, the Voyager token will continue trading under the same ticker – VGX. Furthermore, the much-anticipated launch of our Voyager Loyalty Program (VLP) featuring cashbacks and other rewards for users has been scheduled for September this year.
3. Kava (KAVA)
Developed by Kava Labs the Kava blockchain boasts with the title of the first multi-blockchain DeFi lending platform. Users are eligible for rewards in the form of KAVA tokens for depositing various cryptocurrencies to the protocol’s multi collateral CDP system. The Kava blockchain utilizes the Tendermint consensus and is secured by numerous validators. However, only the top 100 validators are eligible to receive staking rewards. In addition, Kava has established close partnerships with industry leaders such as Binance, Kraken and Ripple.
Kava Team is Preparing for the August 30 Kava Swap Mainnet Launch
After successful launch of the Kava Swap Incentivized Testnet on July 12 and extensive testing, which took place until August 5, Kava team is now getting ready for the Kava Swap mainnet launch. On August 13, the team will publish the Kava Swap Testnet Retrospective, which will include a full list of the winners of the $120K testnet prize pool, in-depth statistics, and key project updates. Nevertheless, the date of the full mainnet launch of Kava Swap has already been revealed. The novel product from Kava Labs is essentially a cross-chain Autonomous Market Making (AMM) Protocol will go live on August 30. Once fully launched, Kava Swap will allow users to swap between tokens and earn rewards for providing liquidity to the protocol’s liquidity pools.
