After Cardano and Solana, which cryptocurrencies might grow next?

Looking at recent price action, it is not hard to see that the cryptocurrency market is currently in a bull cycle. Almost all coins are rising by tens of percent every week. Nevertheless, some coins are far ahead in terms of gains. Let's take a look at the cryptocurrencies that are likely to rise significantly in the coming weeks.

A relatively unknown option in the cryptocurrency community is Fantom. Fantom is a smart contract platform that boasts high throughput and low costs while also being EVM compatible, meaning any dApp on Ethereum can be easily migrated to their blockchain. While there are many similar Ethereum alternatives to choose from, the main reason Fantom may rise is their new DeFi incentive program, which will provide over $300 million in funding to DeFi projects on the Fantom blockchain. This is significant given that Avalanche has surged nearly 500% since announcing its $180 million incentive program, with a current market cap of $10 billion.

Although Fantom is currently up about 600% from its July low, its market cap is only $3 billion. Even now, reaching the same high as Avalanche would mean the token has the potential to rise another 300%.

Like Fantom, Harmony is another smart contract blockchain that could see huge gains in the near future. Its main selling point is that they are the first project to implement a sharded proof-of-stake blockchain, which means they can scale very efficiently while also having transaction costs as low as a thousandth of a cent. If they follow in the footsteps of Avalanche and Fantom and launch some form of DeFi incentive program, the price of this token could rise significantly.

It currently has a market cap of nearly $1 billion and could easily hit new all-time highs if it gets the same attention as other DeFi incentive programs. Of course, this is not guaranteed, and they may decide to spend the treasury funds in other areas, but for many investors, it is worth taking the risk.

The next safer bet than the previous two is Ethereum. Although ETH has reached a market cap of $450 billion, positive news, continued development, and public adoption make ETH a very solid choice. Ethereum 2.0 is a major upgrade to the blockchain that will introduce sharding, proof of stake, and reduced transaction costs, launching in late 2021 or early 2022. This is the largest upgrade to the Ethereum blockchain ever and is expected to help the blockchain achieve its goal of becoming the "world computer." If ETH can have a market cap of $450 billion when it is difficult to use due to high fees and long transaction times, then $1 trillion will be very achievable after the upgrade.

While these tokens seem likely to grow in the short term, nothing is guaranteed, especially in the cryptocurrency space. For the average investor, the best way to gain cryptocurrency wealth is through dollar-cost averaging, or taking out a fixed amount to invest in certain cryptocurrencies every week or so. For those willing to take the risk in the short term, these cryptocurrencies offer an exciting opportunity, but it should be viewed as a gamble.