Exchange: Bittrex
Market cap: $8 million
Total supply: 18.4 million coins
Current supply: 5.3 million
I’m excited to announce our newest speculative portfolio pick, Haven Protocol (XHV). Haven is a fascinating proof-of-work cryptocurrency that’s unlike any other project I’ve seen.
Haven is a very small coin. Its current market cap sits at just $8 million. The coin has solid volume. And Bittrex just added it. Bittrex has tough listing requirements and never accepts payment in exchange for listing coins. That’s what originally drew my attention to this tiny coin.
Haven’s tagline is “Untraceable payments meets offshore banking.” I believe this model has tremendous potential.
Haven is based on Monero, an untraceable, fungible cryptocurrency. A fungible cryptocurrency is one where the coin’s history can’t be traced. So one haven is the same as any other, similar to fiat cash.
At its core, Haven is a privacy coin. However, the developers have introduced a unique feature in the Haven Protocol: the ability to transform XHV into XHVD, a “sister” stablecoin that can always be redeemed for $1 worth of haven. This feature is called “offshore storage.” Here’s how Haven’s developers describe the use cases:
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The key use cases for offshore storage are:
Point of sales/payment gateway systems where goods can be bought with Haven and stores can immediately lock the USD/fiat value in to protect from price fluctuations. This has the added benefit of keeping the stores’ business and income completely hidden on the blockchain as neither their wallet address nor amounts are revealed. Storing large amounts of money outside of the traditional banking system. Privacy-focused cryptos are perfect for this, but without a reliable way to maintain value through fluctuations, the process of holding could be costly. Sending Haven offshore quite literally creates cryptographically untraceable U.S. dollars. |
So in essence, Haven is a privacy coin that can be converted into a stablecoin. This “offshoring” (stablecoin conversion) feature is not yet live. But it’s expected to go live by the end of this year. At that point, crypto exchanges will hopefully begin to list XHVD, driving its use as a stablecoin and store of value. This will increase demand for Haven.
I believe this “offshoring” feature has the potential to create a better stablecoin than the current options on the market, such as Tether (USDT). Tether is facing increasing scrutiny over whether or not it actually has the dollars to back up all the tethers on the market. Any further turmoil that happens with Tether and other dollar-pegged stablecoins will fuel the search for a better stablecoin, which could benefit Haven tremendously.
At current levels, I believe Haven offers a very compelling risk/reward scenario.
Haven’s price has been rising thanks to its Bittrex listing and coming XHVD launch. I believe it has the potential to go far higher.
Since this coin is so small, I’m putting it in our speculative portfolio. I recommend taking a small position initially.
We are getting in at an extremely early stage here, and I recommend holding this one for the long run. The downside is extremely limited by the low market cap, and the upside is substantial. If you like to take a conservative approach, spread your buys out over a few weeks or months.
Another reason I find Haven to be attractive is that it did not have an ICO. This means that unlike other coins that did have an ICO, Haven is not likely to attract SEC scrutiny.
How to Buy
I recommend buying on Bittrex.com. If you don’t have an account yet, sign up for one here.
If you don’t have any bitcoin in your Bittrex account, you’ll need to send some from wherever you have it. If you don’t have any bitcoin, you can buy some on Coinbase and send it to your Bittrex address.
Once you have your Bittrex account open and funded, click on the “markets” link in the upper-right-hand corner. Under “bitcoin markets,” search for the ticker symbol XHV. Click on the BTC-XHV link (this is the trading pair of bitcoin and haven) and it will bring you to the buy page.
If you scroll down past the charts, in the middle of the page, you will see the buy/sell trading box. Each haven trades for around $1.58 today, so keep that in mind when placing your order.
Under “bid price,” select “ask” to automatically target the lowest price currently offered. You can enter a limit order if you are familiar with them.
Enter your buy. Bittrex may ask you to confirm the trade with a new two-factor authentication code (Google Authenticator or text message).
Storage
For now, I recommend storing your XHV on Bittrex. Haven wallets are still under active development, and I only recommend using them if you are technically advanced. Please be sure you use very secure passwords and two-factor authentication, and never access your accounts over public Wi-Fi.
The team is currently working on mobile wallets and desktop wallet improvements.
Risks
Like all cryptocurrency projects, Haven is risky. Because it is also a privacy coin, it may face additional regulatory risks that an “open blockchain” coin like bitcoin would not.
The team developing Haven is anonymous. This is not uncommon in the privacy coin world (Monero founders are also anonymous). However, you should recognize this going in.
Never invest money you can’t afford to lose.
Resources:
Good investing,
Adam