After a tumultuous year in 2022 marked by an extreme downturn in the cryptocurrency market, 2023 brings a promising turnaround as digital assets begin a resurgence.
This remarkable bounce back is attributed to the confluence of improved macroeconomic conditions and a surge in institutional adoption, signifying a potential turning point for the crypto landscape.
Weighing in on the reignited crypto optimism, market expert Michaël van de Poppe handpicked the top 5 cryptocurrencies in a video analysis on July 20 which he believes are all suitable crypto investments for a portfolio during a new bull cycle.
Bitcoin (BTC)
As implied in his video, it is no surprise Bitcoin (BTC) is the first crypto asset on this list. The leading cryptocurrency attracted strong bullish momentum over the past month after BlackRock, the largest asset manager on the globe, applied to launch a spot Bitcoin exchange-traded fund (ETF).
The move was followed by several other Wall Street giants, resulting in increased optimism over growing institutional adoption.
“It’s the largest crypto, it’s the longest existing as well, it’s a store of value, and now the ETFs are coming around so it’s got its concept of gold.”
– Poppe explained.
At the time of publication on July 21, BTC was trading at $29,821, down 1.7% in the past 24 hours.
Ethereum (ETH)
As Poppe notes, Ethereum (ETH) is the largest smart contract platform. Thanks to its robust decentralized security and large community support, the Ethereum ecosystem has grown rapidly over the years amid a surge in the popularity of decentralized applications (dApps) in areas like finance, collectibles, arts, and more.
Going into a new bull cycle, Poppe thinks that Ethereum will likely outperform Bitcoin.
The second-biggest blockchain network shifted to a proof-of-stake (PoS) consensus mechanism last year, and while it hasn’t demonstrated impressive gains yet, there are several “under the radar metrics that could be very well hinting at an $ETH return above $2,000 and beyond,” according to blockchain analysis platform Santiment.
At the time of publication, the price of ETH was changing hands at $1,886, down 2% on the day.
Chainlink (LINK)
To be able to make payments through blockchain technology, we need Bitcoin, Poppe explained in the video, “but we also need Ethereum to get smart contracts there in order to get a mortgage or any other deals that we do.”
However, to achieve that, the crypto world needs oracles – the third-party services that provide external data to smart contracts. They act as bridges between the blockchain and the real world by fetching and verifying information.
That’s where Chainlink (LINK) comes into play as the world’s largest blockchain oracle, which is the primary reason why it is included in Poppe’s list.
LINK stood at $8.15 at press time, slightly down in the past 24 hours.
According to CoinMarketCap crypto community, which has a historical accuracy of 95% for LINK predictions, the crypto asset is projected to trade at $7.04 at the end of July, implying a notable price decline of more than 13% from the current price.
Polkadot (DOT) and Cosmos (ATOM)
The final two picks, as the crypto expert pointed out, are layer 1 and layer 0 crypto protocols, Polkadot (DOT) and Cosmos (ATOM).
Thanks to their underlying technology, the two blockchain networks have the potential to become Ethereum competitors, Poppe said, “or just move alongside” the leading smart contract platform.
At publication time, Polkadot stood at $5.53, up 1.75% in the past 24 hours.
Meanwhile, ATOM was trading at $9.41, down 1.85% on the day.
The native token of the Cosmos blockchain was well-positioned to surge up to $10, crypto expert Ali Martinez said after spotting a falling wedge pattern in ATOM charts. However, the analyst later lowered his target for Cosmos to $9.70 – $9.80.
Disclaimer: The content on this site should not be considered investment advice. Investing is speculative. When investing, your capital is at risk.
