When you hear the words "cryptocurrency success story," Shiba Inu may come to mind. That's because the young crypto player soared 45,000,000% last year and is now the 14th largest by market value.
But I'm not convinced Shiba Inu has what it takes to beat or stay ahead of rivals. Many others have more real-world utility and offer something that helps them stand out from the crowd.
I'm not expecting rivals to replicate Shiba Inu's quick jaw-dropping gain. But over the long run, some players offer bigger potential for a lasting increase. And that's a much better deal for long-term investors. Here's a look at three of my favorites that could dwarf Shiba Inu over time.
Image source: Getty Images.
1. Cardano
There are many reasons to like Cardano (ADA +3.12%), and one is the method of development. This blockchain has set out a five-stage roadmap, making it easy for followers to monitor progress.
Right now, work is happening simultaneously on the last two stages. The ultimate goal is to become a completely decentralized self-sustaining system. At the same time, Cardano relies on peer review -- any changes or updates must go through this before being applied. The big advantage here is it reduces the chance of glitches down the road.
An exciting catalyst lies ahead for Cardano, and that's the launch of its Hydra scaling solution. This involves the processing of some operations off the main chain.
Once this system is fully operational, Cardano may process as many as 1 million transactions per second. Hydra might reach the testnet stage as early as this year. This clearly could offer Cardano a major boost.
2. Avalanche
Avalanche (AVAX +1.12%) is already a winner when it comes to speed. This blockchain network processes 4,500 transactions per second, and each transaction reaches finality in less than two seconds. Some blockchains require a minute or more to complete transactions.
This cryptocurrency achieves speed and efficiency thanks to its structure. This involves three blockchains on the main network: one coordinates validators, another allows for the transfer of assets, and the third is used for smart contracts.
Developers also can create Avalanche subnets. This means they can launch their own custom blockchains through Avalanche. The network's other big advantage is interoperability. You can launch Ethereum (ETH +1.49%) decentralized applications (dApps) on Avalanche or transfer assets between the two blockchains. All of these features should attract more and more users -- and investors -- to Avalanche.
3. Ethereum
Ethereum is a leader in crypto and the world's second-biggest cryptocurrency. The blockchain hosts more than 2,900 dApps, State of the dApps shows. It offers dApps in everything from finance to gaming.
Users can directly buy insurance and lend or borrow assets, for example -- all without a middleman. If this idea of decentralized finance takes off, it could change the way business is done. And Ethereum is likely to benefit from its first-to-market advantage. Ethereum also is the biggest player in the non-fungible token (NFT) market by sales volume, according to CryptoSlam.
But Ethereum has one major flaw: speed. It processes about 30 transactions per second. That may be about to change, though.
An update set to launch in two stages across this year and 2023 should take speed to about 100,000 transactions per second. If the update goes smoothly, Ethereum could solidify its market position -- and lasting gains may be ahead.
