Crypto Gems: Top crypto assets to watch & buy in July 2024

It’s been a bearish start to July with the first crypto crash of 2024. The suddenness of it has spooked the markets with the fear & greed index going below 30 (in fear). Crypto’s market cap is now below $2 trillion for the first time since February. Bitcoin is fighting to stay above $54,000 while altcoins have bled considerably in the last week (>15%).

Indicators point to an oversold territory for key assets – is the market going to find its local bottom soon? Traders point to a BTC bounce of $52,000 in the upcoming week. If so, this is about the right time to average into some crypto assets for the upcoming year.

In order to maximize your crypto portfolio returns this year, along with Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Solana, it is prudent to allocate a decent portfolio share to emerging and upcoming narratives that drive value in the ecosystem.

Today, we cover the growth of DePin, memecoins on Base, and Web3 browsers. While we do the crystal gazing, we encourage investors to understand the risks and growth potential associated with each asset and do their independent analysis.

DePIN – HNT, IOTX, and PHA (medium risk, good returns)

DePIN, short for decentralized physical infrastructure networks, are blockchain protocols that build, maintain, and operate physical hardware infrastructure in an open and decentralized manner. They enable the functioning of blockchains on the backend while enabling them to flourish and scale. Key tokens to observe in this space are Helium (HNT), IoTeX (IOTX), and Phala Network (PHA).

Helium (HIL) plays in the people-powered network space – users can create their own hotspots and connect a decentralized wireless network. Helium has nearly 1 million hotspots connected already and these have helpful applications in IoT and other network functions. HNT, with a market cap of $470 million, can do 6-8x over the next year.

IoTeX (IOTX) aims to create the Internet of Trusted Things, an open network where all physical and virtual things can cooperate with full trust and privacy. The platform consists of its own blockchain and IoT middleware that has been developed with innovative hardware, architecture, and security features. It is backed by Hashkey capital and the Ethereum foundation. IOTX, with a market cap of $300 million, can possibly do 7-9x over the next 12 months.

Phala Network (PHA) dedicates itself to be the infrastructure of Web3 privacy protection, providing confidential computing service for all blockchains in the Polkadot ecosystem. It is backed by IOSG ventures among others and has raised more than $10 million capital to tackle its growth. PHA is a considerably higher risk-reward play with $80 million in market cap and a potential for 8-10x returns.

Memecoins on Base – BRETT (highest risk, good returns)

Speculations of Coinbase’s layer Base chain launching its own token have been rife in the past few months while the team itself has negated such a move. In this background, memecoins on Base chain have become the proxy of the network growth and potential. One such, and the biggest, is Brett.

Brett (BRETT) is a memecoin running on the Base blockchain. It is the first Base-based meme to cross $1 billion in market cap with the next best being closer to $100 million. BRETT has great potential to grow 6-8x over the next 12 months. However, risks are high especially if Base do indeed launch their own token.

Web3 browsers – CSIX (moderate risk, good returns)

Web3 and blockchain enthusiasts are upbeat about privacy and decentralized collection of data. To satisfy their need in terms of browser based data collection, many projects have sprung up. They also give rewards (in terms of crypto tokens) for browsing. We tracked the Carbon browser today.

Carbon (CSIX) is a fast, private, and secure web browser. It is developed by Carbon X Labs and based on a Chromium browser fork and its Blink engine. Carbon is designed with privacy in mind and blocks online ads and website trackers by default. CSIX is their token and reward mechanism. There is also the ability to stake CSIX in-app and earn up to 12% return per annum. With less than $100 million in market cap, this has a 10x potential over 12 months if adoption gets big.

The OGs – BTC, ETH and SOL (lowest risk, decent returns)

It is prudent to pivot a majority of your crypto portfolio to the safest assets – Bitcoin (BTC), Ethereum (ETH) and Solana (SOL). They are proven to enable adoption by new investors in the space (both institutional and retail). Their returns will be less significant (3-6x) but they drive the trend and volume in crypto.

(The author Vikram Subburaj is CEO, Giottus Crypto Platform. Views expressed are own.)

(Disclaimer: Recommendations, suggestions, views, and opinions given by the experts are their own. These do not represent the views of The Economic Times.)