How Tokens Are Trending

Before we get started, if you or a friend is in London on Monday afterwork 5/13, and want to hear Hacker Noon writers tell stories in person, check out “#CrazyTechStories Presented by Hacker Noon & Indeed Prime” at Huckletree Shoreditch.

Hey, Utsav Jaiswal here, Hacker Noon’s new(-ish) blockchain editor.

According to Etherscan, there are over 18,000 cryptocurrencies or tokens in existence. Can you imagine a world where we transform from, “there’s an app for that” to “there’s a dApp for that”? Hacker Noon writers have examined and dissected several of these cryptocurrencies that made their way out of fancy PRs and White Papers. We present to you the twenty trending articles in Security Tokens, Non Fungible Tokens, Platform Access Tokens, Gas Tokens, and Stablecoins.

Happy Reading!!

Before diving in, we’d like to remind you that anyone can start a crypto discussion thread in the community or submit a blockchain or crypto story for review (by me or one of the other editors) to be published on Hacker Noon.

Security Tokens

Once considered the bane of everything that decentralization stood for, the security tokens have found their place under the Sun as everybody’s favorite compliant tokens:

1. The Security Token Anthology: April 2019 Edition [7 min read] by Jesus Rodriguez brings under one roof some of the best articles regarding security tokens from all over the internet.
2. “Securities” Should NOT be a Dirty Word [5 min read] by David Weisberger explains why we should not shun securities on principle but accept them as the key to unlocking the next crypto bull run.
3. Security Token Offerings (STOs) [7 min read] by Rahul Yadav looks into security tokens designs that represent complete or fractional ownership interests in assets and/or entities

Non Fungible Tokens

Commonly known as NFTs and popularized by Cryptokitties, the game that almost broke the Ethereum Blockchain. The NFTs are expected to be the ones to tokenize priceless assets such as paintings:

1. NFTs — The Unlimited Potential for Blockchain Gaming [7 min read] by Alex Libertas looks into avenues to make in-game valuables retain their valuable nature in the outside world as well.
2. The Future of Virtual Assets: Introducing the Fractional NFT [10 min read] by Marc Howard talks about how the combination of blockchain technology virtual assets have the opportunity to no longer be limited to traditional use cases.
3. NFTs and the Future of Digital Memorabilia [7 min read] by Cuy Sheffield looks at non-fungible tokens throughout the history of Blockchain to extrapolate its future acceptance.

Platform Access Tokens

Used to be indistinguishable from utility tokens in 2017 but now denote those cryptocurrencies that enable access to a particular platform:

1. Jaguar Land Rover and IOTA Foundation Plans to Reward Drivers Crypto for Their Traffic Data [2 min read] by Han Yoon reports a plan by the automobile heavyweight Jaguar to pay cryptocurrency simply for driving it around.
2. Top Green Mining Crypto Projects [14 min read] by Eric Bal takes a fine toothcomb through 5 of the biggest crypto-mining projects and presents his findings.
3. It’s 2019. Where the f*ck is Our Global Peer-to-Peer Electronic Cash System? [15 min read] by Tom Howard recounts how his marriage planning got ruined by the banks and differentiates between electronic cash and P2P cash systems.

Gas Tokens

Also known as crypto-coins or simply coins, these are the base currencies of their own Blockchains. Over the years, this category has emerged to be the most sought after cryptocurrencies of all:

1. Bitcoin And Anonymity: What is Bitcoin Mixing? And Why do People Use it? [9 min read] by Clark Wayne delves into anonymity and the lengths to which people go to keep their transaction histories private.
2. Can Binance Chain, DEX Outmanuever Regulators & Ethereum? [10 min read] by Imran Khan gives an overview of the newly announced Binance chain and what it could mean for the regulators.
3. Growing Ecosystem Pushes EOS to Potential, Despite Setbacks [4 min read] by Reuben Jackson explains why despite the massive hype surrounding EOS, it is not without detractors.

Stablecoins

Are the digital equivalents of FIAT currencies and similar commodities. Despite the ups and downs witnessed in the prices of other cryptocurrencies, the stablecoins, as their name suggests, aim to maintain their stable prices:

1. Tether, Trust, and Why Crypto Needs Trusted Banks [6 min read] by Chance Barnett talks about the unpopularity of banks in decentralization and argues that we’ve been too harsh on them.
2. Stablecoins and the Stability Misnomer [9 min read] by Marcus Tan examines those events where stablecoins lost their pegs and exhibited volatility in prices, however fleeting it might be.
3. Stable Coins and the Mass Adoption of Cryptocurrency [5 min read] by Mina Down makes the point that the emergence of yet another stablecoin offering is good for the entire cryptocurrency sector.

In sum, even though newer cryptocurrencies are being created almost everyday, only a handful have somewhat achieved their potential. With the juggernaut that is decentralization showing no signs of stopping, diversifying your portfolio has never been so easy.

We, at Hackernoon, are excited help provide a medium of discussion for those involved in the development of Blockchain-based solutions. You can become a part of the discussion by checking out our contributors’ stories on blockchain technologies, and remember anyone can start a crypto discussion thread in the community or submit a blockchain or crypto story for review (by me or one of the other editors) to be published on Hacker Noon.