With so many different crypto projects floating around these days it can sometimes be hard to weed out the legitimate ones from the pump and dump schemes just trying to make a quick buck and cash out. I’ve been following this space heavily since 2014 and here are my top 3 favorite projects (other than BTC, ETH, LTC and XLM) in no particular order.
XYO
The XYO project is attempting to build a ground based dynamic cryptographic geolocation network as a compliment to GPS. That is kind of a mouth full so let us break it down. GPS relies on satellites to relay information to ground based systems to determine coordinates. For the most part it works really well but it does have some limitations and vulnerabilities. Being a centralized network there is potential for it to be disrupted by space debris, or spoofed in a military engagement. There is another issue of Earth’s constantly shifting magnetic poles that diminish the accuracy of GPS. It is also not cryptographically anonymous, opening up greater potential for a malicious attack on the system.
By using low frequency Bluetooth, as well as near field communication (NFC), XYO is creating a blockchain based geolocation system that provides cryptographic anonymity and decentralized network security. Possibly the best thing (currently) about the project is their COIN app. It’s an easy to use virtual landscape that rewards you in XYO tokens for using your phone to provide location data to the network. It is free to use and you get paid for helping to build the network. It’s kind of like PokemonGo for location data. In PokemonGo players use their phone and travel to different locations to capture virtual creatures. The “pokemon” are only able to be found in the virtual world by physically going to a location and then using the phone app. In COIN users are physically traveling to different locations and collecting virtual tokens for using your phone’s location data to validate a “tile” in the virtual world. In a nutshell you can leave the app on and collect tokens by walking around to different locations or while you’re driving in the car.
The really exciting thing about XYO is the abundance of potential use cases. From contact tracing, to navigation, to automated payment upon delivery, to virtual reality integration and enhanced privacy and control over your location data, I believe XYO has the staying power to emerge as one of the leading crypto projects in years to come. If you’re interested in learning more about the XYO network, or making some extra crypto on the side with the COIN app, check out these links: https://xyo.network/ – https://coinapp.co/
Blockstack
This is truly one of those game changing projects that is going to help build the backbone of the Web 3.0. By running as a “layer” on top of the Bitcoin blockchain, Stacks looks to benefit from the security of the Bitcoin (BTC) chain, while utilizing a novel validation method, proof of transfer (PoX) to build additional apps and functionality. PoX works by having miners compete by sending a transaction to approved recipient addresses which are visible to all participants in the network and simultaneously recorded on both chains, Stacks and Bitcoin. Miners commit to locking up a certain amount of BTC to mint Stacks Tokens (STX). By using this method to validate blocks and issue rewards to participants in the network you make it easier for more people to participate. You only need a small amount of crypto to participate in the network. Another major upgrade that Stacks is bringing to the industry is a superior language for writing smart contracts, called Clarity, on Bitcoin to help eliminate bugs and enhance security. Unlike other smart programming languages Clarity is decidable and interpreted, meaning it is not compiled. This makes it easier for programmers to read and audit. To learn more about the novel properties of Clarity click here.
One of the key concepts of the project is to change the way we use and access our personal data by, in a sense, taking it with you. To access and use applications built on the Stacks chain you log in with a set of cryptographic keys, just like a wallet. This gives you a unique identity that you can use to log in an out of apps instead of storing the data in the app itself. This gives you additional security while at the same time reducing redundancy by not having to enter in all of your information each time you use a new app. While there are many novel features and benefits that Blockstack brings to the Bitcoin ecosystem, their focus on changing the concept of data ownership is one of my favorites. If you’re interested in getting a glimpse of what the future of the internet is going to look like, learn more about Blockstack, as they are one of the organizations at the forefront of building the Web 3.0 – https://www.blockstack.org/ for some more technical informaiton about how Blockstack works check out this link.
Filecoin
In the projects own words: “Filecoin is a decentralized storage network designed to store humanity’s most important information.” That right there is enough to get me excited. I do consider myself a Dataist so I’m maybe a little biased. Filecoin allows you to store and retrieve data on their decentralized cloud network. By using the InterPlanetary File System (IPFS) and allowing anyone to participate by either storing data for others, or paying to have data stored, they are creating a decentralized free market for the price of data storage. Available storage, and the price of that storage, is not controlled by any single company. Instead, Filecoin facilitates open markets for storing and retrieving files that anyone can participate in. This allows users to store their files at competitive prices. At any time, users can verify that their files are being stored correctly by looking at proofs on Filecoin’s blockchain.
While there is much more to this project than simple data storage, the enhanced security of a cryptographic decentralized cloud network, in comparison to a typical centralized server farm alone, is enough to make Filecoin stand out. Just think about your personal data that’s already been compromised. In this past year alone I’ve personally received at least half a dozen notifications from banking institutions, social media sites and retailers telling me that there was a security breach in their data storage network and some malicious actor now has some of my personal information. In the computing world, centralization equals a prime target for hackers looking to exploit a system. A decentralized storage network run off a blockchain provides greatly enhanced security that makes it nearly impossible for someone to retrieve the data without permission. If you are even the least bit interested in how blockchain technology has the potential to change the way we use and store information I encourage you to read more about Filecoin – https://docs.filecoin.io/