Top 3 Cryptocurrencies to Keep an Eye On in February
|Even though the action in the cryptocurrency markets has been far from exciting lately, February is poised to bring some important developments that could shake up the markets for certain coins. Let’s take a look at three cryptocurrencies that will be interesting to follow in the next month.
Ethereum (ETH)
After a vulnerability was discovered in the proposed Constantinople hard fork at the last minute, Ethereum developers decided to postpone the upgrade to late February. Ethereum developer Péter Szilágyi confirmed the fork will be activated at block height 7,280,000, which is expected to be mined on February 27.
Constantinople appears to be a non-contentious fork, which essentially means that it is unlikely a new viable cryptocurrency will emerge as a result of the fork. Constantinople will bring a reduction of Ethereum block rewards for miners from 3 to 2 ETH as well as assorted under-the-hood upgrades that will make Ethereum faster and more cost-effective at performing certain operations.
TRON (TRX)
The popular yet polarizing TRX has handily outperformed the rest of the top 10 cryptocurrencies by market cap in the last month. Much of its recent momentum can be attributed to the hype surrounding the announcement of BitTorrent’s BTT token, which will function on the TRON blockchain platform. A portion of the BTT tokens will be offered to the public through a token sale scheduled for January 28.
In February, TRX holders will be receiving an airdrop of BTT tokens, and the snapshot for the airdrop will be occurring on February 11 at block height 6,600,000. Users who hold TRX at the time of the snapshot will receive a BTT airdrop, so TRX could see a lot of volatility in the run-up to the snapshot as short-term demand for TRX might increase considerably. After the snapshot occurs, however, there is potential for considerable selling pressure.
Bitcoin (BTC)
BTC, which remains the bellwether of the cryptocurrency market, is still trading relatively close to the $3,200 low that was reached one month after the mid-November crash. Altcoins could be in trouble in case the Bitcoin price falls below that area, while a strong BTC performance could instill confidence in even more speculative smaller cryptocurrencies.
In terms of upcoming developments, perhaps the most interesting story for Bitcoin in the short term is Bakkt, the Bitcoin futures trading platform that is being developed with the backing of NYSE operator Intercontinental Exchange. There is no set launch date for now, but good news related to Bakkt could go a long way in boosting sentiment.
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