The second half of 2021 has felt like a rollercoaster ride for anyone paying attention to the constant value changes of Bitcoin, along with many altcoins as well.
After Bitcoin, the crypto that started it all, reached a record high early in November, it then plummeted nearly 20 percent in following weeks. As often happens in that scenario, many other cryptos lost value as well.
The sudden drop was caused by a combination of factors, including the reports of the new Omicron variant of Covid-19, new rules for reporting taxes, and new regulations for crypto that are emerging in countries around the globe.
Many experts believe the volatility will continue into December.
However, for many longtime crypto observers, this trend isn’t too surprising. From a macro point of view, volatility has been a part of crypto currency from the very beginning, and there’s no telling if and when market prices for digital currencies will stabilize.
In the meantime, many creators and crypto lovers continue to enjoy a casual relationship with many of the altcoins currently on the market. Is crypto currency here to stay? Probably. Does anyone know exactly what the future holds for these new forms of commerce? Not really, but crypto disciples continue to create new and interesting coins — just for the fun of it.
So here’s a list of some of the newest altcoins to hit the internet.
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Omicron
While many altcoins have been created in reaction to something in politics, economics or popular culture, Omicron actually existed before the announcement of the new omicron variant of Covid-19.
However, the result has been a net positive for this fortuitously named altcoin, which has predictably exploded in popularity and value since the announcement, despite having zero connection to the virus variant (omicron is the 15th letter of the Greek alphabet).
The coin’s value reached $689 in late November 2021, according to CoinGecko. That means its value rose by nearly 1,000 percent in just a few days after the World Health Organization named the new variant. At that time, the value of omicron was just $65.
The coin is a decentralized reserve currency protocol that runs on the ethereum layer-two network arbitrum — its value has already started a downward trend from its recent high.
Chiliz
No, this altcoin has nothing to do with the popular restaurant chain. It’s actually a crypto currency for sports lovers. The most active coin of the altcoins on this list, Chiliz was created to empower sports fans to support their favored teams by purchasing fan tokens through Chiliz platform, socios.com.
Fans can then use the tokens to win rewards like sports memorabilia and meet-and-greets with famous athletes, or to cast costs on “celebration songs” and participate in social media activities.
Chiliz has also announced a new NFT release, dropping NFTs live during a soccer match between AC Milan and AS Roma. It’s a smart move. Limited edition NFTs have proven very popular.
Bengal Coin
This one was too fun not to include, if only for the Medium post announcing its creation.
The author says they were inspired to create the coin by Shibu Inu and Dogecoin, altcoins that were initially created as meme coins. That being said, Dogecoin has flourished beyond anyone’s initial expectations, especially given the nonchalant way it was released.
What’s interesting about the author’s announcement of this coin is the idea that altcoins like Shibu Inu and Dogecoin are “an expression of oneself and what they love.”
“But I think this is just one aspect of expression,” the anonymous creator wrote. “I believe that these ‘meme coins’ have paved the way for being able to express oneself online as freely as they do in the real world. That is why I created Bengal Coin, which appeals to cat lovers and owners. This is an experiment, but one that I think is worthy to try. I do not believe we should be constrained in anything we do online, from how we identify ourselves to how we make payments.”
It’s easy enough to dismiss altcoins like this, but given the innate unpredictability of crypto currencies, who can say what the future holds? The crypto market is wide open at the moment, and we can likely expect many new altcoins to come.
