For better or worse, crypto investment often relies on catching the right trends at the right time. That means that simply identifying the top trending cryptos and acting can be enough to capture quick gains. Caveat Emptor applies here, as in all investing. Be responsible but understand that there is money to be made.
Trending cryptos come and go so while the coins and tokens below could appreciate quickly in price, they can fall as well. This article will attempt to better identify the trajectory of these trendy cryptocurrencies based on recent movements while giving background on the projects themselves. Bearing that in mind, let’s take a look at the hottest cryptos today.
Pepe (PEPE-USD)
Let’s begin with what is clearly the trendiest cryptocurrency, Pepe (PEPE-USD). Pepe is a token that has come out of nowhere over the past month. It is a meme coin based on the popular eponymous cartoon frog created by Matt Furie. Pepe is also characterized as a deflationary cryptocurrency meaning that its circulating supply will only decrease over time.
Pepe was launched in mid-April and has appreciated by more than 1,400% over the past 30 days. That meteoric rise must be caveated, though. In the past week, PEPE has declined by approximately 2%. It’s very clear that investing in Pepe is highly speculative and will move based on hard-to-identify catalysts. In other words, it’s a gamble.
What’s encouraging though is that PEPE is incredibly inexpensive at $0.0000001575. Similarly inexpensive cryptos like Shiba Inu (SHIB-USD) have shown that massive returns can occur in cheap cryptos. One of the most meaningful ways to track Pepe’s progress is to watch how well it trends on Twitter and how quickly it can list on centralized exchanges. Progress on those fronts will likely correlate to hefty price increases.
Milady Meme Coin (LADYS-USD)
Milady Meme Coin (LADYS-USD) bears many similarities to Pepe. The most obvious of which is that Milady Meme Coin is essentially a joke crypto that is extremely inexpensive. It currently trades for $0.00000009, and like PEPE, LADYS began trading very recently.
Cryptocurrency has shown time and again that there’s significant money to be made in inexpensive joke coins that have just entered the market. That’s clearly why Milady Meme Coin matters now. Like everyone reading this article, I have no idea whether that will be the case a week, a month, or a year from now.
What is encouraging is that speculators look to be making a concerted effort to drive LADYS’ prices upward. Milady Meme Coin also has a very small market capitalization of around $70 million. That means there’s plenty of room to pump it up based on the fact that PEPE carries a market cap above $600 million. The point is that crypto enthusiasts are willing to inflate such cryptos with their capital. Whether either turns out to be a rug pull is another topic for speculation.
Sui (SUI-USD)
Sui (SUI-USD) is entirely different from the previous two cryptos on this list in that its basis is a real project with realistic aspirations. It isn’t a secure-the-bag type speculative crypto for money chasing alone. Instead, Sui is building a Layer 1 blockchain and smart contract platform. Layer 1 is simply jargon for the base layers of ecosystems. Layer 2 solutions, like those often associated with Ethereum (ETH-USD), are those built to address issues and add functionality to other ecosystems.
In any case, Sui is fundamentally different. It has been built for speed. Its object-centric model means that ledger updates include fewer updates per transaction, increasing speed overall. Sui features many other technical distinctions that lead many to believe it could blossom into an important Layer 1 blockchain project.
It is being developed by Mysten Labs which was founded by Meta Novi Research executives and programmers. That association has given Sui a lot of clout and has led investors to believe that Sui has a legitimate chance to be disruptive.
Arbitrum (ARB-USD)
Arbitrum (ARB-USD) is a project that revolves around legitimate aspirations to improve crypto overall. It is an Ethereum Layer 2 scaling solution that promises to increase transaction speeds and reduce fees across the Ethereum network.
In fact, that’s what it is currently doing. Arbitrum benefits from the security and compatibility it has with Ethereum while also boasting higher transaction speeds and lower fees. The company is focused on launching Orbit, its Layer 3 solution, in 2023. Layer 3 solutions enable developers fluent in computer languages like C++ and Rust to program Arbitrum’s network and develop it further.
Like Sui, Arbitrum benefits from a strong leadership team with impressive credentials. OffChain Labs is headed by three former Princeton University researchers with deep experience in computer science. OffChian Labs has raised significant amounts of capital signaling institutional belief in its team and project. The fact that Ethereum continues to be plagued by speed and fee issues means Arbitrum and other Layer 2 solutions should continue to see interest in 2023 and beyond.
The Dons (DONS-USD)
I won’t lie, The Dons (DONS-USD) seems like one of the most ridiculous meme coins I’ve heard about in a long time. It’s a self-styled project that centers on the notion of a mafia-style family of Dons working to bring crypto fortunes back into its community.
That’s the branding around the project. In reality, it seems like The Dons are a group of crypto enthusiasts who likely overleveraged shorts during the crypto winter and bet that Bitcoin (BTC-USD) would fall to $12k. Bitcoin didn’t, instead falling only as low as $16k before surging upward again. The Dons continue to cling to the hope BTC will fall to $12k again.
My guess is that The Dons might be in some real trouble due to that bet. In turn, they’ve put their minds together and created a meme coin to dig their way out and perhaps completely reverse their fortunes. What’s interesting is that it’s arguably working as DONS has shown tremendous growth over the past month and still costs about 1/10th of a penny.
PulseAI (PULSE)
PulseAI (PULSE-USD) may be trending but I’d simply stay away from investing in it. The project is brand new and is rife with jargon that means little to nothing at all. For example, a PR release from May 11 attempting to hype up PulseAI does the exact opposite in my opinion.
It simply goes on and on about combining AI, blockchain, and sprinkles in buzz words like ‘groundbreaking’ and ‘revolutionary’. That’s all fairly standard practice and certainly doesn’t invalidate a project on its own. However, PulseAI’s offering centers around wearable fitness trackers and train-to-earn functionality that connects to its crypto.
Projects of this nature seem to never explain the mechanism by which the cryptocurrency can appreciate in value. Instead, it seems to be all hype surrounding the combination of multiple trending factors that can somehow create a multiplier effect. That’s why I’d steer clear of PULSE until it can provide a more logical explanation of what it is building and how that will make PULSE appreciate in price.
Axie Infinity (AXS-USD)
Axie Infinity (AXS-USD) remains an interesting token that marries NFTs and play-to-earn (P2E) gaming platforms. AXS currently trades for $7.15 but back in 2021, at the height of NFT mania, it traded above $150.
The premise of Axie Infinity is that players raise and develop their Axies, each of which is an NFT-based token, and gain points by battling other Axies. The better the Axie is in battle, the more AXS it earns, leading to something of a virtuous cycle as more players join.
Axie Infinity was and remains the most popular P2E NFT platform. It’s difficult to say exactly why Axie Infinity is trending currently. However, something has sparked interest in gaming cryptos and perhaps NFTs again. Maybe AXS is at the beginning of a major upswing as a result.
Axie Infinity’s recent release on the Apple Webstore has a lot to do with its trendy status now. It could open the door to wider Web3 gaming which would make AXS much more valuable.
On the date of publication, Alex Sirois did not have (either directly or indirectly) any positions in the securities mentioned in this article. The opinions expressed in this article are those of the writer, subject to the InvestorPlace.com Publishing Guidelines.
