Our portfolio, like the rest of the market, remains in a temporary downtrend. I fully expect this to reverse itself by the end of the year (with the institutional move underway by then), but for now it’s hard to say exactly when.
Decred (DCR)
Decred has been our strongest performer this year, moving up despite strong market headwinds.
Decred enjoys extra protection from regulatory risks because it did not have a public ICO (only an airdrop and some coins for early developers). Its unique governance system is working thus far, and this is quite an achievement.
I recommend holding your position or buying it if you haven’t yet. If I were to recommend adding to any of our positions in this market, it would be Decred.
Also, in mid-May, crypto-focused venture capital fund Placeholder Capital released its Decred investment thesis publicly. Placeholder was founded by a former analyst at Union Square Ventures, a legendary venture capital fund that counts Coinbase among its successful investments.
The article is a great overview on Decred. You can read the entire thing here.
Nano (NANO)
Nano has been a major disappointment price-wise lately. Nothing has changed about Nano’s underlying potential, but it’s still down from a (very brief) high of around $45 to around $4.15 (as of Thursday). We bought in around $11, avoiding the top. But still, it’s not ideal.
It’s had a few technical issues, which are being resolved quickly and efficiently for the most part. For example, developers recently had to halt iOS wallet withdrawals to fix a bug. This is normal, but it’s not helping with price action in the near term.
I still believe in this coin. It has a strong community and good lead developers. And it never had an initial coin offering. This is a big advantage and makes it more attractive to exchanges (because the trade will presumably not be SEC-regulated).
Nano is one of the most attractive pure cryptocurrency plays in the world. With its fast, free transactions and innovative infrastructure, it stands out in a sea of would-be bitcoin killers.
I recommend holding Nano, or buying if you haven’t yet. When the next bull run happens, I expect Nano to do well.
High Performance Blockchain (HPB)
High Performance Blockchain has been holding its ground in an overall down market since our recommendation.
Blue Node Capital, a crypto-focused venture capital firm, visited HPB’s offices in its recent trip to mainland China.
Here are some important observations from Blue Node’s HPB report:
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Key points: The HPB team has about 30 developers. A local marketing team has been hired recently to improve marketing globally but specifically to the Western markets. Team is experiencing some hardware delays, but the overall road map is on track with main-net Q2/Q3 of 2018. The partnership with UnionPay is going well. The HPB team is looking for more strategic investors/partners and plans to visit more fairs and conferences in the near future.
Conclusion: The two co-founders, Xiaoming Wang and Jinxin Li, were impressive to talk with. They clearly are very passionate about HPB, highly skilled and well-connected in the blockchain community in China. The new marketing team is equally as impressive and gives us confidence that investor needs will be met in the near future. |
The fact that HPB is attracting professional investors at this early stage is impressive and encouraging. You can read the entire article here.
For now I am recommending members hold their current position in this speculative pick.
Ark (ARK)
Ark has continued making steady progress. Apple finally approved its wallet app, which can now be found in the iTunes app store.
The core development team announced version 2 of its codebase is almost ready for public testing. This is a major overhaul and represents months and months of work by developers.
There’s nothing you need to do with your coins. The upgrade is only to the devnet (test environment).
Ark is a bet on the interaction between blockchains in the future and remains one of the most promising coins to own in crypto. Hold.
OmiseGO (OMG)
OmiseGO has held up relatively well in the current crypto downturn. Developers are still hard at work developing the platform. The community remains engaged and loyal.
The core team has released a new version of the official road map, with updates on where important projects are. You can read the whole thing here.
The OmiseGO community remains dedicated to helping scale Ethereum transactions alongside its own payment platform and decentralized asset exchange.
OmiseGO remains one of the world’s premier crypto projects. Hold.
Vertcoin (VTC)
Vertcoin has been struggling a bit price-wise, but the community remains behind the project, and development continues.
I believe Vertcoin is still one of the most attractive small cap coins in the market. Its current market cap is just $68 million. It’s one of the oldest cryptocurrencies and has fair distribution with no ICO (so it avoids the regulatory risk that comes with it).
It’s one of the few coins with a legit and loyal community, and it’s been around for years.
Vertcoin follows the original bitcoin model, with some important changes. So it should, like bitcoin, be viewed by regulators as a commodity/currency, not a security. This is a big advantage for Vertcoin. Continue to hold this one.
WAX (WAX)
Wax’s price action has been disappointing since our recommendation last month. The overall market trend has been down, and WAX has followed suit.
There’ve been no changes to our underlying philosophy on this pick. It remains an excellent bet on the future of decentralized, blockchain-based asset exchanges.
I recommend members hold their small speculative positions in this pick and not add to them at this time.
Good investing,
Adam