Whenever a new platform launched between 2017 and 2018, it was inevitably heralded as a future replacement for the largest, most successful platform of all. In short, it came bearing the name of Killer.
Those prophecies turned out to be premature, and by 2019 the hit that’s been put out on is still waiting to be cashed.
A year is a long time in the crypto space, and many would argue that the lineup of possible contenders for ’s throne has changed already. New upstarts have come to the fore, while some who’ve been in the fight for too long are starting to weaken due to falling coin prices.
So let’s take a look at the so-called Killers in 2019. Are we looking at a new crop of assassins – or just the usual suspects?
Zilliqa (ZIL) Draws First Blood
Zilliqa has perhaps already drawn first blood in the battle against – last year the -based game Etheremon was packed up by developers and emigrated to the Zilliqa . | Source: Shutterstock
Zilliqa has perhaps already drawn first blood in the battle against – last year the -based game was packed up by developers and emigrated to the Zilliqa .
The move was in response to rising gas prices on , and the assertion that ’s lack of scalability solutions was draining the game’s potential. The Zilliqa team :
“We are glad to announce that we will work with the Zilliqa team to explore Zilliqa as a scalability solution for Etheremon. The higher throughput and low gas of Zilliqa’s sharding solution offer players better experience.”
More on Zilliqa can be read here, in , Xinshu Dong where he goes into detail on Zilliqa’s sharding process:
“Imagine a sample network of 1,000 nodes. ZILLIQA will automatically divide the network into 10 shards each with 100 nodes. Each shard can now process transactions in parallel. If each shard is capable of processing 100 transactions per second, then all shards together can process 1000 transactions per second.”
If all of this sounds too good to be true, read my which covers some of the technical difficulties still facing this possible slayer.
Holo (HOT) – The Non-Blockchain Wildcard
In this sense Holo opts for a distributed network as opposed to a decentralized one (however, a distributed network is by nature decentralized). | Source: Apollo Capital/Medium
More of a wildcard compared to some in this list, Holo (HOT) sets itself apart from the rest of the crowd by not actually utilizing a . Instead, (DHT), which are more similar to a torrent network than a .
In this sense, Holo opts for a distributed network as opposed to a decentralized one (however, a distributed network is by nature decentralized).
Already, have opted to build on the Holochain network, including a Holo-based Reddit competitor named Comet; an open-source legal system called Ulex; as well as several others in industries ranging from social media to supply-chain.
In early 2018, the CFO of Mozilla, Jim Cook, which was creating an agent-centric model that could wrestle control of the internet back from the hands of Google and friends. Holo’s association with Mozilla is extended by their common use of the Rust programming language.
When ’s CEO and founder, Changpeng Zhao, sent out job posts for Rust developers last year, the effect was such that the .
Waves (WAVES) – The Old Guard
Waves launched in early 2016, and within two years over 100 projects had opted to launch ICO’s on the Waves platform. The most successful of those is the gaming-focused MobileGo (MGO), which briefly in November, and now has a market cap of $18 million.
That could soon change, however, as via the Waves platform for its Vostok ICO. With Waves holders set to be airdropped a portion of the Vostok , it could be speculated that Vostok was the driving force behind throughout December 2018.
Waves can boast of its own and a strong position around the top twenty by market cap. It was launched just one year after .
Read More:
Tron (TRX) – The Young Pretender
No other coin has leveraged the Killer label as much as – the trouble is, it’s usually being leveraged by the ’s CEO and founder, Justin Sun. | Source: Shutterstock
No other coin has leveraged the Killer label as much as . The trouble is, it’s usually being leveraged by ’s CEO and founder, Justin Sun. We only have to go back to the start of this month to find the – this time in reference to ’s domination of the dApp rankings compared to .
That domination is genuine – dApps account for most utilized in existence. The proliferation of dice games and gambling dApps on may also account for its towards the end of 2018.
But statistics can make anything look good, and one should ask what value these gambling dApps have in comparison to the tried and tested platform that remains ’s main use-case.
The arrival of projects and ICO launches on the platform will have to wait until the completion of the Odyssey phase of ’s roadmap – scheduled to for completion in mid-2019.
Notable Mention – Stellar (XLM)
Despite a recent increase in the number of projects being launched on its platform, isn’t really compared to in that way. | Source: Shutterstock
(XLM) has been around for one year longer than , and despite a being launched on its platform, isn’t really compared to in that way.
Often regarded as one of the ‘finance coins,’ along with , ’s priorities can be ascertained from the opening line which greets visitors to its website (emphasis theirs):
“ is an open platform for building financial products that connect people everywhere.”
That’s not to say can’t fulfill some of ’s roles, as evidenced when one of its recent progeny, within the space of a month in early January.
Ethereum Killers Not Living up to Their Name?
is still the fifth highest capped , but the enthusiasm surrounding its potential dislodging of is much less than this time last year, at the height of its $4 billion ICO. | Source: Shutterstock
One of last year’s Killers looks to be in much worse shape this time around, as the for its block producers. is still the fifth highest capped , but the enthusiasm surrounding its potential dislodging of is much less than this time last year, at the height of its .
Meanwhile, a project which didn’t make last year’s list, but was at one point in contention with the coins listed above, is NEM (XEM). The NEM was tipped to play host to Nicolas Maduro’s Venezuelan , although much of the Petro’s existence was clouded in confusion, .
By the end of January 2019, the ‘crypto winter’ was such that the NEM Foundation had begun to freeze over – with the team announcing a due to lack of funds.
Ultimately, is still alive and well, and with to scalability and speed on the horizon, it may yet be a long time before it is displaced.
Disclaimer: The views expressed in the article are solely those of the author and do not represent those of, nor should they be attributed to, CCN.
Featured Image from Shutterstock
Published at Sun, 24 Feb 2019 00:07:51 +0000