The token universe is still in its infancy, but it already features thousands of tokens catering to a wide variety of use cases. As the token economy grows, it’s likely that the space will expand to include millions of tokens as people begin to use them in every aspect of their lives. But while there are already many tokens available today, there are a small handful that act as pillars for the entire space. They’re what we like to call The Crypto Giants, assets that have established themselves as “blue chip” tokens with large market capitalisations representing a significant portion of the token economy. We believe that The Crypto Giants will exist for a long time and play a pivotal role in the growth of the token universe. As such, it only felt right to curate a token.com Collection dedicated to them. This guide is our introduction to the Collection, featuring everything you need to know about why The Crypto Giants are so important in the token universe.
Please note: Investing in cryptoassets is risky. Due to the volatile nature of the cryptocurrency market, investors run the risk of losing their funds when they make an investment. Returns from cryptoasset investing are not guaranteed, therefore users should always be aware of the risks.
The top cryptoassets
The token economy launched in earnest in 2009 with the creation of Bitcoin. 13 years later, Bitcoin is still the world’s biggest and most well-known cryptocurrency, representing over 40% of the entire market. While Bitcoin’s creator Satoshi Nakamoto envisioned their revolutionary invention as “a peer-to-peer electronic cash system,” Bitcoin has evolved over the years to become better known as a “digital gold” store-of-value asset. As Bitcoin has a limited supply of 21 million, it is popularly viewed as a hedge against fiat currency inflation. With over 100 million users worldwide, Bitcoin is by far the most distributed cryptoasset.
Ethereum arguably plays as much of a crucial role as Bitcoin in the token economy today. Accounting for 17% of the global crypto market cap, Ethereum acts as the main hub for decentralised finance and NFTs. With a rapidly growing network featuring thousands of powerful decentralised applications, Ethereum has become the backbone of the space known as “Web3.”
While Bitcoin and Ethereum jointly account for over half of the token economy, several other assets have emerged as pillars of the space. While Ethereum dominates the smart contract space, many other promising competitors that run smart contracts have grown in recent years. As a result, many token advocates believe that the token economy will be a “multi-chain world” that sees utility across several blockchains. Promising contenders that could become part of the multi-chain world in the future are Avalanche and Solana, which both currently offer similar activities to Ethereum in the DeFi and NFT niches.
Other projects such as Chainlink play a vital role in the token economy. While there are many ambitious projects aiming to cater to different audiences and use cases in the token universe, those offering true utility for a wide range of users today have become household names within the ecosystem.
How the top projects have changed
While Bitcoin has always been the number one cryptoasset and Ethereum has taken the number two spot for its entire lifetime, the other leading projects in the ecosystem have changed over the past few years.
In 2017, when the space saw a rush of demand driven by a wave of ICO mania, many projects achieved multi-billion dollar market capitalizations only to lose their value months later. At the time, the token universe offered less utility than it does today, meaning investors were speculating on the future promise of projects.
In the years since then, Ethereum has given rise to the advent of decentralised finance and NFTs. Other Layer 1 blockchains have followed on its heels, offering utility within their own burgeoning ecosystems.
As the token economy is now home to millions of active users, several projects have seen true adoption and are continuing to grow at a rapid rate. These projects have cemented their place as The Crypto Giants.
While the token economy offers thousands of investment opportunities due to the sheer scope of tokens available, Bitcoin and Ethereum remain popular staples for millions of users. For more cautious investors, larger projects such as The Crypto Giants offer a way to gain exposure to the token universe with the most established projects in the ecosystem. As The Crypto Giants are the most successful projects in the space, they are popularly viewed as strong long-term investments.
The Crypto Giants Collection
The Crypto Giants Collection gives a nod to some of the bedrocks of the token universe. It features the projects we believe will be fundamental to the growth of the ecosystem, operating at the heart of the space and onboarding millions of users.
Naturally, the Collection features the world’s top two cryptoassets: Bitcoin and Ethereum. In addition to crypto’s two biggest blue chips, we’ve also included a host of leading Layer 1 blockchains that have attracted active communities and a host of exciting projects. Avalanche, Fantom, Cardano, and Solana all feature in The Crypto Giants.
We also added Polygon, a vibrant ecosystem that has helped Ethereum scale by acting as a low-cost alternative to the network. Finally, The Crypto Giants features Chainlink, the oracle project that provides essential real-world data that’s crucial to helping innovations like DeFi function.
While The Crypto Giants may expand if other projects grow, the current selection of tokens included represents what can be described as the core of the token economy today. If any other tokens see substantial growth with true long-term potential, we may look to add them to the Collection in the future.
Discover more
With so many tokens available already today, getting to grips with the space can be daunting. However, there are only a small handful of assets that act as pillars of the ecosystem. The Crypto Giants offers a way to invest in the flourishing token economy with some of the leading assets with long-term growth potential. Now that you know more about them, why not head to the app to explore the Collection in more detail?
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