If 2017 was the year of Bitcoin, 2018 will be the year of altcoins.

The market dominance of Bitcoin as of this writing is 37.3%, down from 84.7% at the beginning of 2017. This is simply because new investors/speculators see smaller cryptocurrencies showing far greater potential for growth, and want a piece of the pie. And since we can safely say the crypto-sphere will continue to explode in 2018, these altcoins are ripe for the taking!

Full disclosure, this is just speculation and should not be taken as investment advice. Also, I wanted to mix some rather unknown cryptos in here so that this list doesn't look like every other list floating around. So the point of this list isn't a forecast on the top performers for 2018, merely ones that hold great potential.

Okay, enough chitchat!

In no particular order, here's my Top 5 Cryptocurrencies for 2018!

#1 Crypto20 (C20)

What It Is

Crypto20, as the image says, is the first tokenized crypto-only index fund. Essentially, this means that the C20 token is the "fund", and its value is directly tied to the performance of the top 20 coins according to their market cap.

Why To Invest

Purchasing the C20 token allows you to invest in the high performers with lower risk. Not to mention, you don't have to manually re-balance your portfolio as it does this autonomously just like the traditional index funds do. And index funds have been outperforming fund managers since their inception!*

As John C. Bogle, founder of The Vanguard Group and inventor of the index fund, aptly said:

Don’t look for the needle in the haystack.

Just buy the haystack!

Other Information

This token will be available on its first exchange, HitBTC, on Jan 15th.

A heads-up on it's performance: during the ICO it was selling for between a tiered $0.95 - $1.10 a month ago. As of writing, the tokens NAV (net asset value) is standing at $2.88, and this will be surely to only go up as the crypto market is still only 0.5% of the S&P Index!

For more information, visit their website:
crypto20.com

#2 Request Network (REQ)

What It Is

Request Network is a decentralized network for payment requests built on top of Ethereum. This might sound dull, but the underlying use-cases for Request hold massive potential. One of the main ones for consumers would be using Request as a payment method. So, instead of paying with paypal, or having to use your credit card (or any centralized third party), you could pay with Request avoiding high payment fees.

Other use cases include:

• Invoicing
• Audit & Accounting
• Public Budget Transparency

Why To Invest

Payment services are a massive industry. As of this writing, Request has a market cap of just over $530 million, while Paypal has a market cap of over $88 billion. It's early days, and Request has plenty of room to grow. Watch this one closely!

Other Information

The thing that initially attracted me to Request is that it's being supported by Ycombinator. For those of you who don't know: Ycomb is an incubator (or, formally known as a "seed accelerator") that invests in early startups and helps them accelerate their growth. Some of the companies they invested in early are Reddit, Dropbox, AirBnB, and Coinbase.

Being a part of Ycomb is obviously not a guarantee of future success, but it's a strong indicator of one.

More information can be found on their website:
request.network

#3 Quantstamp (QSP)

What It Is

Quantstamp is a protocol for securing Smart Contracts using a scalable method they call "proof of audits". A mouthful, I know, let me try to explain this a little better...

In essence, Quantstamp's goal is to solve one problem within Smart Contracts and that's security. They'll do this by auditing all Smart Contracts on the Ethereum network to look for vulnerabilities, in a scalable, low-cost way. I'll stop here and leave you with a quote from the founder before I complicate things further. As always, read the whitepaper for an in-depth explanation!

Our vision for auditing is simple: More Automation, Higher Security and Lower Cost."

– Richard Ma, Quantstamp Co-founder

Why To Invest

The number of Smart Contracts grew from 500k to 2 million between June 2017 and Oct 2017, with roughly $3.2 billion (11M ETH) locked in these Smart Contracts. And this was 3 months ago, a lifetime in the world of crypto, so the number of Smart Contracts by the end of 2018 should be in the tens of millions.

But there are numerous examples of hackers breaching these smart contracts and stealing funds. Back in June 2016, a hacker stole $55 million in Ethereum coins from the DAO due to a bug in its smart contract, and this happened again in 2017 when a hacker stole $30 million of Ether due to another bug. Quantstamp wants to prevent these breaches.

If Quantstamp is universally adopted as a protocol within Smart Contracts it will not only help their value, but also aid Smart Contracts and the Ethereum network as a whole gain more widespread adoption.

(thanks to BitCoinBenny for this info)

Other Information

Quantstamp and Request have partnered recently, which is how I found out about it in the first place. This probably happened because Quantstamp was also chosen by Ycombinator and the teams built a relationship. Like I said, it's a great indicator of success!

More information can be found on their website:
quantstamp.com

#4 Raiblocks (XRB)

What It Is

Raiblocks has one goal, and one goal only: to be a digital currency. I'm sure you've heard of it by now since it has been receiving a lot of attention recently, but it's been for good reason. Raiblocks is a cryptocurrency with zero fees, incredibly fast transactions, and no need for miners. And, unlike many other altcoins out there claiming the same aspirations, Raiblocks has a working product that anyone can use right now. Simple as that.

Why To Invest

Although it has soared to the top 20 coins within the last week, it's not too late. If, as many people are hoping, Raiblocks will become the de-facto digital currency it would overtake Bitcoin. Big dreams, but given Bitcoins underlying scaling problems, not impossible.

Currently Bitcoin has a market cap of $290 billion, and Raiblocks has a market cap of $4.6 billion. That means it still has has a potential x50 ROI (return of investment) before it even comes close to Bitcoin. We've all seen Ripple shoot up in the past few weeks and displace Ethereum at #2, but Raiblocks is still more efficient:

Other Information

Despite the amazing tech and solid team behind this cryptocurrency, be warned: it's still in its infancy and hasn't matured to the level of other top coins. This is just my own forecast, but I believe it will go through a few major corrections in the short term since it has skyrocketed in the past few days. Buy the dip, my friends! And hold on to this one for the long term. It looks like a winner.

Also, this is only available on some smaller exchanges right now, but there are many petitions to get it listed on other, more trusted exchanges in the very near future!

For more information visit their website:
raiblocks.net

#5 Ethereum (ETH)

What It Is

Ethereum is a decentralized platform that runs Smart Contracts: applications that run exactly as programmed without any possibility of downtime, censorship, fraud or third party interference. As I've mentioned before, the number of developers creating Smart Contracts has been rising exponentially, with no sign of slowing down (as with everything else crypto, it seems).

Why To Invest

There are 39 coins out of the top 100 are built on Ethereum. And 89 of the top 100 tokens are built on Ethereum. That's huge. The Ethereum platform continues to receive tremendous support from developers and users as the platform to launch ICOs (initial coin offerings), DAOs (decentralized autonomous organizations), and decentralized applications that haven't even been invented yet.

Other Information

Quantstamp and Request Network are two great examples of what's possible on the platform, and how it can be improved upon. The symbiosis between these cryptos provide a great forecast moving forward.

Although Ethereum is already a top cryptocurrency, there's nearly endless potential for it moving forward. It might not provide the thrill of some more unknown cryptos surging 200% in a day, but in the long term it's almost certainly a great one to get into.

*More information can be found on their website:
ethereum.org

Conclusion & Honorable Mentions

I've only skimmed over these cryptocurrencies and their uses. I have a lot more reading to do myself for a clearer understanding of them and how they work. The best way to stay informed about any cryptocurrency is to:

• Visit the website & FAQ
• Read the whitepapers
• Look into the people behind the project (LinkedIn, blogs they've written)
• Check on their GitHub activity
• Visit the communities (subreddits, forums)

I've also only touched on the 5 cryptocurrencies that I'm particularly excited about moving forward into 2018, and I know there are plenty more out there doing great things.

Honorable mentions include:

• Stellar Lumens (XLM)
• Monero (XMR)
• Cardano (ADA)
• IOTA (IOT)
• Chainlink (LINK)
• po.et (POET)
• & (of course) Steem (STEEM)!

Happy New Year Everyone!

-J