Crypto vs Stocks: A Boomer’s Guide to the Digital Age
1. Bitcoin (BTC) and Newcrest Mining (NCM)
Bitcoin is the gold of digital assets, dug from complex algorithmic problems by bitcoin miners and acting as a store of value for the digital asset ecosystem. High quality producer of legacy gold, Newcrest is well placed to expand into a bullish gold market. Gold and Bitcoin represent alternate stores of value where gold has been used for thousands of years and Bitcoin is the new kid on the block. Bitcoin presents a consistent and reliable store of value that may increase significantly in value in upcoming years. The case for Bitcoin is strong in our view. BTC draws comparisons to gold in the crypto world and we feel NCM is a good comparison in the equity markets.
2. Ethereum (ETH) and Appen (APX)
Appen is the tech company that has proven to be an outstanding deliverer of innovative tech, becoming a darling of equity markets. With Ethereum, both assets products and share price have been heavily bought into. Appen innovates into high-quality, human-annotated training data for machine learning and artificial intelligence and specializes in converting human languages (over 150+ of them) into tech-readable data. Similar to Appen, Ethereum innovated in the crypto world. Ethereum provides a large percentage of alt coins with a platform and most decentralised finance also run on Ethereum. Both assets share qualities as innovators and have been received very well by their respective markets.
3. Ripple (XRP) and Telstra (TLS)
Ripple (XRP) shares some similarities to Telstra. Ripple is a technology that acts as both a cryptocurrency and a digital payment network for financial transactions. XRP can ultimately be described as a network of peer to peer payment systems. XRP has largely failed to take off the ground because there are too many of the coins in circulation and they keep releasing more as the technology protocol mandates them too. Telstra has a monopoly in the telecommunications game in Australia, inheriting the infrastructure from the federal telecoms system and became privatised. However, it appears both XRP Ripple and Telstra upper management team have been infiltrated by simple folk. Both have underperformed and made weird decisions. Telstra and XRP Ripple are both slightly backward organisations that one should probably steer clear of.
4. US Dollar Tether (USDT) and Cash (AUD)
As a cryptocurrency ‘stable-coin’, US Dollar tether (USDT) is tied to the value of the United States dollar. For players in digital assets, this means on-boarding, off-boarding and stabilising their digital assets investments safely — just like holding sweet but cold hard cash. Holding USDT is the equivalent of a cash position, but without the risks associated with stuffing it under your mattress.
5. Polkadot (DOT) and Dominos (DPZ)
As the gutsy upstart taking on the big guys, Polkadot is a pair with Domino’s in taking on the big gun — Pizza Hut! Polkadot offers an innovative de-centralized computing platform to challenge the king, in this case, Ethereum. As the punchy second-mover both assets must be dynamic, innovative, and agile to make a mark on their respective industries.
6. Chainlink (LINK) to Google (GOOGL)
In the historic words most applicable to google — if you don’t pay for a product — you are the product! Data is set to become ‘more valuable than oil’ — or already is, according to some commentators. Where google collects and distributes data as its core business, Chainlink is an oracle — the data curation and management service of the digital asset space.
The challenge of Chainlink is to be able to establish facts in the real-world and represent them accurately for smart contracts. A lot will rely on the ability for somebody to do this, and the data that they create, protect and manage is likely to be extremely valuable if the oil and Google comparisons are fair.
Check out our article on Chainlink and its importance to the growth of cryptocurrency here.
7. Bitcoin Cash (BCH) and Afterpay (APT)
Bitcoin Cash was a crypto currency designed to overcome slow transaction speeds in the Bitcoin transaction process. BTC Cash forked off the Bitcoin network in 2017 thinking that they might double or triple the transaction capacity of blockchain with changes to the size of blocks. But the asset has been a trojan horse, it ultimately has a poor design and is vulnerable to hacking and theft. By comparison, afterpay is an asset with similar headwinds.
Afterpay is significantly overvalued, overpromising and underdelivering. Cracks appeared in the strategy since e-commerce players such as eBay launched their own BNPL. With a market that is ready and willing, it is hard to see this upstart get a look-in in the long-run. Both Bitcoin Cash and Afterpay have promised a lot and delivered so little that the promise to dominate the industry might just be full of Trojan warriors.
8. Binance Coin (BNB) to the ASX Index fund ETF
Binance is one of digital assets biggest asset exchanges. Binance coin is their custom built token that is designed to fuel the exchange. It is important for Binance and the users in Binance. Other than that, the token is largely useless. It is a big fish in a small pond. Binance Coin hails comparison to an Index ETF in that it represents value in a large pool of assets or in the case of Binance Coin (crypto currencies). Binance Coin is only as valuable as the Binance platform itself, and like an Index ETF in a second/third world country they are not immune to state capture.
Originally published at https://minedigital.exchange on September 25, 2020.
