Avoid These Crypto Investments: Worst Cryptocurrencies To Buy

The worst cryptocurrencies to invest in are often those that have performed poorly, failed to live up to expectations, or have been mired in controversy. In 2022, the ten worst-performing cryptocurrencies included Aave, Stacks, Solana, Sandbox, Celo, Algorand, Arweave, Kusama, Curve DAO Token, and Loopring. In 2024, the worst-performing cryptocurrencies included MultiversX, Bitcoin SV, Optimism, Arbitrum, and Celestia. Factors that can cause a cryptocurrency to perform poorly include security breaches, negative media coverage, whales dumping holdings, macroeconomic factors, technical issues, competition, and regulatory crackdowns. It is important to carefully consider the risks before investing in any cryptocurrency.

Bitcoin SV (BSV)

BSV differs from other versions of Bitcoin by adhering to the original Bitcoin protocol. Unlike BTC, which primarily functions as an investment or store of value asset, BSV aims to provide a scalable and usable blockchain platform for efficient payments and distributed data applications. It has removed artificial block size limits and re-enabled Script commands and other technical capabilities, allowing the network to process tens of thousands of transactions per second with low transaction fees.

The BSV network claims to be unique in its capacity for unbounded on-chain scaling, and it has demonstrated the ability to handle up to 1,000,000 transactions per second. With this capability, BSV rivals platforms like VISA for payment processing capabilities. BSV also offers a scalable and product-ready platform for blockchain application developers, assuring them that transaction fees will remain low as user adoption grows.

However, despite its advantages, BSV has faced challenges. Its price has been volatile, with sharp increases and decreases since its inception. Additionally, the Bitcoin SV network suffered a "51% attack" in August 2021, where malicious miners took control of a majority of the blockchain's hash power, eroding confidence in its security.

As of September 2024, BSV is ranked #67 by CoinMarketCap, with a live market cap of $873,113,443 USD. Its price has decreased by 0.73% in the last 24 hours, and it has a circulating supply of 19,753,597 BSV coins.

Arbitrum (ARB)

Arbitrum is a peer-to-peer digital currency powered by blockchain technology. It is one of many evolving digital currencies that use encryption to regulate the generation of currency units and verify transactions independently of a central authority. Arbitrum has been praised for its portability, inflation resistance, and transparency. However, it faces criticism for its lack of tax regulations, exchange rate volatility, and infrastructure vulnerabilities.

The Arbitrum layer 2 scaling solution is designed to make working with Ethereum easier and faster. Its native token, ARB, was launched in March 2023. Since then, ARB has experienced a turbulent journey. It initially dropped from $1.32 to $1.33, leaving its opening mark as its all-time high. The token has since experienced peaks and troughs, with a notable sell-off on September 11, 2023, causing it to sink to an all-time low.

In March 2024, Arbitrum unlocked $2.2 billion worth of ARB, resulting in a drop of around 35%. On June 6, 2024, ARB was worth approximately $1.11, with 2.9 billion in circulation out of a total supply of 10 billion. This gave Arbitrum a market cap of around $3.21 billion, ranking it as the 36th largest crypto by that metric.

When considering whether to invest in Arbitrum, it is important to note that it has a more than 65% chance of experiencing financial distress in the next few years of operation. Additionally, it has generated negative returns for investors over the last 90 days. Arbitrum is currently trading with a bearish sentiment, and its beta coefficient suggests that it will likely underperform if the benchmark returns are negative. Moreover, Arbitrum has a negative alpha, indicating that the risk taken by holding this instrument may not be justified.

While some price predictions for Arbitrum are positive, forecasting a price of over $3 by 2025 and even reaching $18 by 2030, it is crucial to remember that crypto price predictions often prove inaccurate. The volatility of the cryptocurrency market and the specific challenges faced by Arbitrum should be carefully considered before making any investment decisions.

Optimism (OP)

Optimism is governed by its own token, OP, which gives holders participation rights in The Optimism Collective, a two-tier governance system. The initial airdrop of OP tokens in May 2022 was met with frustration due to users claiming tokens early and then dumping them. However, developers have promised to continue airdropping more tokens.

While Optimism offers a cheaper alternative to Ethereum, there are some potential drawbacks to consider. Firstly, using Optimism still requires ether (ETH) to cover gas fees, which means users need to send ETH to their wallets from another chain. Additionally, when using a centralized cryptocurrency exchange to fund an Optimism address, it is crucial to ensure that the exchange supports withdrawals to that chain, as sending funds to an unsupported address may result in the loss of funds.

Another consideration is the potential impact of Ethereum's transition to a proof-of-stake consensus mechanism, known as Ethereum 2.0. This upgrade aims to improve scalability and reduce fees on the Ethereum network, which could potentially reduce the demand for alternative layer 2 solutions like Optimism. Therefore, it is important to carefully weigh the risks and potential benefits before investing in Optimism (OP).

MultiversX (EGLD)

The EGLD token plays a key role in maintaining the network and helps send assets and run smart contracts. By owning and staking EGLD, you gain the ability to vote on network upgrades via on-chain governance. There can only ever be 30 million EGLD, with 26 million in existence and a maximum theoretical limit of 31.4 million. This limited supply sets an arms race in motion, as owning a few EGLD now could be life-changing in a few years.

MultiversX has a current price of €35.59 per EGLD, with a circulating supply of 27,007,379 EGLD. This means that MultiversX has a total market cap of €960,317,444.95. The amount of MultiversX traded has fallen by €1,683,884.73 in the last 24 hours, a 6.56% decrease.

MultiversX has rebuilt everything from scratch to bring a 1000x improvement in throughput, execution speed, and transaction cost. It provides the infrastructure needed to tackle any use case, with an average cost per transaction.

Celestia (TIA)

The Celestia blockchain and its TIA token were launched in late 2023, with the TIA token starting the year at around $12 and reaching an all-time high of over $20 in February. At the time of writing, it was worth $6.90, with a market capitalisation of over $1.3 billion, placing it in the top 100 coins globally. However, the token's value seems to be trending downwards.

The TIA token has three main functions within the Celestia blockchain:

• Developers use TIA to pay gas fees on transactions and to publish data to the network's data availability layer.
• Network validators and delegators stake TIA to support network consensus activities and earn staking rewards in the form of TIA.
• TIA holders have some governance powers, allowing them to propose and vote on changes to a subset of network parameters.

While Celestia's modular approach offers benefits such as reduced development time and increased scalability, there are risks associated with investing in the TIA token. The value of TIA is subject to the volatility of the crypto market, and it is difficult to predict how it will perform in the long term. Additionally, the real appetite for this modular technology is unclear, and future substantial token unlocks could increase sell-side pressure, impacting the token's value.

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