Coins with a valuation at $1 billion or close are a curious case. They are not among the leaders, but also offer opportunities for more significant growth. Coins with valuations near $1 billion in 2019 had vastly different performances, and some may be on their way out.
Here are the most notable events for coins mostly seen among the top 15 to top 20.
Bitcoin SV, Market Cap $1.67 Billion: Bitcoin SV (BSV) remained controversial in 2019. But the asset mostly managed to accrue significant gains this year. The Bitcoin SV community is strong, with a presence in Asia. BSV appreciated from around $88 at the start of the year, to current prices of $93.48, also going through a mid-year rally to above $230. The coin’s community still aim to challenge Bitcoin directly. But BSV, over the course of a year, has established itself as another altcoin competing for liquidity and trader interest.
Tezos (XTZ), Market Cap $1.12 Billion: XTZ was among the start in the past three months. After a long bear market and almost stagnant volumes, XTZ reignited its rocket in the past quarter, after a COINBASE listing. XTZ also got a boost from large exchanges like Kraken and BINANCE adding staking services. The coin was also chosen by Amun for its ninth exchange-traded product to be distributed on the European market. XTZ is seen as trending in 2020 and reaching even higher valuations. Currently, XTZ trades at $1.70, slightly down from its most recent peak.
Stellar (XLM), Market Cap $1.02 Billion: XLM is near the top by merit of its large supply. But the coin has stagnated, trading at $0.051. XLM did not gain traction despite its aim to be the open-source equivalent of Ripple’s protocol. XLM, however, has not shown its coin has utility. Despite the coin burn in November, XLM failed to rally, and has become one of the worst performers in 2019. XLM lost more than 50% of its value since January 2019, sliding from $0.11.
Cardano (ADA), Market Cap $0.93 Billion: ADA was only recently in the $1 billion club. The project, however, has been disappointing. Cardano went through a series of testnets, but so far fails to launch staking, as well as the promised smart contracts. ADA is down to $0.036, down from $0.042 at the start of 2019. ADA went through a mid-year surge, climbing to about $0.09, and unraveling afterward. The Cardano project celebrated two years since the ICO in September, and the community has noted the platform has lagged behind other distributed computing networks.
TRON (TRX), Market Cap $0.91 Billion: The TRON network reportedly grew to extraordinary highs. TRX is now out from among the top 10 of coins. Over the course of 2019, TRX unraveled, stopping at $0.014 in December. The project saw a series of disappointments, including the cancelled lunch of co-founder Justin Sun with Warren Buffett. The lunch has not been rescheduled, and the matter was covered up, though TRON added to its bad publicity. In November, the TRON network started minting a parasitic token, the DDOS, which is taking up some resources and bandwidth.
Smaller altcoins have precarious liquidity, though they are still better in comparison to small-scale assets which have almost disappeared. Some of the assets are seen as becoming black swans and rising to higher valuations, but for most, 2019 was a year of a slow slide and stagnation.
