When Ethereum introduced smart contracts in 2015, people started seeing blockchain projects from a different perspective. There was increased adoption and use cases, with developers finally finding a way to deploy their projects. However, there is still the issue of speed and scalability, which Ethereum has been struggling with.
Many other projects have emerged in the space, attempting to solve this problem in their own unique ways. The first to gain traction was EOS, with other projects like Cardano and TRON following suit.
However, the first project based on DAG architecture was IOTA, which managed to achieve unprecedented levels of scalability for a decentralized network.
Around this time, another project emerged that proposed its own unique solution to building scalable smart contracts - Fantom.
Fantom is a unique take on scalability, using its own created consensus algorithm called Lachesis to achieve fast and cheap smart contract transactions.
Contents:
- What Is Fantom (FTM)?
- How Does Fantom Work?
- Fantom Price History
- Fantom (FTM) Price Prediction In 2022-2023
- How To Invest In Fantom (FTM)
- Is Fantom (FTM) A Good Investment?
- Conclusion: So, Should I Buy Fantom FTM?
What Is Fantom (FTM)?
Fantom is a smart contract platform on DAG architecture that uses its own consensus algorithm called Lachesis. It aims to be much faster and cheaper than older technologies like Bitcoin, Ethereum, etc.
The project is currently led by CEO Michael Kong but was founded by South Korean computer scientist Dr. Ahn Byung Ik.
Fantom has a very unique and ambitious vision of being a smart contract platform for developers to deploy their decentralized applications on while at the same time providing computing resources through its DAppChain.
Fantom’s goal is to become an all-inclusive platform that can be used by everyone from businesses looking to provide IoT capabilities all the way to decentralized applications needing computing power.
This vision led Fantom on a path that has seen the company climb charts to become the 46th largest cryptocurrency by market cap. The team is also full of some very skilled engineers who have previous experience with large technology companies. These include Andre Cronje, who is known for creating Yearn.Finance.
How Does Fantom Work?
Fantom uses its own consensus algorithm called Lachesis, which is a leaderless BFT (Byzantine fault tolerance) consensus algorithm. This means it does not require the use of a trusted third party such as miners and instead works via gossip protocol which makes it much faster than other blockchains like Ethereum.
The reason Fantom uses the BFT consensus algorithm is that it needs to be fast, which means the nodes need to make decisions within a very short time frame. For example, if there were 200 nodes in Fantom’s network and each node had to do 100 transactions per second, then this would mean that they have to come to an agreement on who did what transaction within a fraction of a second.
Fantom also leverages modularity, which means developers can create DApps on its platform without having to know how the underlying technology works. This is very important as it makes blockchain development much easier and opens the platform up to a wider audience of developers.
Fantom has its own native token FTM that runs on its own blockchain, known as the Fantom main chain. The platform also has a feature similar to Ethereum’s ERC-20 called DAppChains, which are sidechains that developers can deploy their decentralized applications on.
Each node in the network stores a copy of all transactions from the past and is responsible for committing new transactions to the blockchain. The transaction history is also stored by these nodes, which are then used by other nodes to check if the transaction is valid or not.
Whilst Fantom uses its own native token FTM, it also allows for interoperability between chains through Cross-Chain Communication - which is a way of communicating data between different networks.
This can allow developers on Fantom’s platform to provide cross-chain functionality for their decentralized applications. For example, payments with Bitcoin or payments with Ethereum can be accepted as a transaction between platforms and users of different cryptocurrencies.
Crypto asset investing is highly volatile and unregulated in some EU countries. No consumer protection. Tax on profits may apply.
Fantom Price History
According to data from CoinMarketCap, FTM started trading in 2018, although reports show that it was founded back in 2015. The lowest price ever recorded is $0.001935, which FTM attained on March 13th, 2020.
For the most part of 2018 through 2020, the digital asset managed mostly a flat graph with the price lazying below $0.05 until January 2021. During this time, Fantom attracted a small community and was mostly under the radar.
Very few investors know about it as other smart-contract platforms like Ethereum and IOTA enjoyed the limelight.
However, at the start of 2021, FTM began picking up momentum. It made its first attempt to stardom when it finally hit $0.1 at the end of January 2021.
That was just the beginning of a parabolic rise that would see it touch its current all-time high price of $1.93 on September 9th, 2021. Around mid-February 2021, FTM crossed the $0.2 level.
From there, it recorded its first big price jumped after rising from $0.1732 to $0.6502 in less than two weeks. It then began dropping again and saw some fluctuations until late April, when it bottomed out at around $0.228.
Just as investors were beginning to lose hope, Fantom began rising quickly, and by early May 2021, it had crossed $0.9.
However, in the crypto market, a rise is just as big as a jump. FTM began plummeting again and was trading at $0.177 on July 20th.
This was a big enough slump to turn most investors off, especially those who were HODLing. However, as investors were contemplating their next step, Fantom recorded its biggest price growth since it started trading in 2018.
The crypto rose from $0.177 on July 20th to a staggering $1.93 per coin on September 9th, 2021. That is an impressive 990.4% gain in about two months. By the end of October, Fantom reached its current all-time high of $3.48.
Although the coin has started dropping again, it doesn’t seem to be in a hurry to go below $2 again. At the time of writing, FTM was trading at $2.10 with a 24-hour price gain of more than 7.6% and a $5.3 billion market cap.
Fantom (FTM) Price Prediction In 2022-2023
Fantom has a very ambitious vision of being a platform for both developers and businesses. It is tackling issues that have been plaguing older blockchain technologies, trying to be the go-to solution for everyone.
Although Fantom has some solid aspects, we believe it will still be some time before it can really get up and running.
With that in mind, the asset recorded some exciting growth a few months ago. It has grown more than 9,000% in 2021 and currently seems to be preparing for another uptrend.
Wallet Investor predicts Fantom will reach the $3 mark again in April. Then increase to $4 by mid-September and end 2022 with a price of $4.94.
Gov.capital gives similar forecasts, however expecting a slower growth rate. FTM will reach $3 only in July but then pick up quickly and get to $4 by October and finish the year at $4.27.
Wallet Investor forecasts some promising growth in 2023, with FTM crossing $5 in early January. The next milestone of $6 will be reached by May and by December the coin will sit at a price of $8.
On the other hand, although Gov.capital still agrees with Wallet Investor’s predictions, but remains to predict slower growth for FTM. The token will start 2023 with a price of $4.34 and the year at $6.53.
Trading Beasts is even more bearish as it predicts a discouraging price trend up to even 2024.
Overall, while Fantom has only begun growing recently, we think it has a lot of potentials when it comes to achieving new price milestones.
The Fanton asset remained low for the most part of its early years and only started this climbing the charts this year. So, experts are not really sure about what to expect as it could keep growing or slump to its pre-2021 levels.
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How To Invest In Fantom (FTM)
There are several ways that you can tap into Fantom's technology to make some profit. We recommend these three popular ways to invest in Fantom unique cryptocurrency.
- Trading
- Holding
- Staking
Each of these methods has its own pros and cons. The one you choose will likely depend on your skillset, time and how long you are willing to wait before seeing a profit.
Let’s quickly go through each of these methods below.
Method 1: Trading
Trading Fantom (FTM) is probably the easiest way to make money from it. This is because all you need to do is buy FTM and then wait for its value to increase before selling it at a profit.
The disadvantage of this method is that Fantom has not yet shown any huge price movements, which means there could be some time before FTM goes up in value enough for you to make a significant profit. However, if you think that the price of Fantom will increase significantly in the future, then trading is probably your best bet.
There are several ways to make trading more efficient. For instance, you can set limit buy and sell orders if you want to purchase FTM at a certain price. You can also use leverage trading to increase your profits, although this comes at the price of increased risk.
There are several trading platforms you can use when looking to short or long Fantom. According to the official Fantom Foundation website, the following exchanges are recommended for buying FTM;
- Gemini
- Binance
- Uniswap
- Sushi
- Bitfinex
- FTX
- Kucoin
- Crypto.com
- AscendEx
- Etcetera
Trading is a bit complicated, and we don't usually recommend it for beginners. Instead, if you are new and want to get started with investing in Fantom, we recommend our second method; Holding.
Method 2: Holding
Holding is the simplest way to make money on Fantom's platform if you believe in its future potential. It does, however, require more time and patience than trading as there is no instant gratification of making a profit.
With holding, your coins are safe in your wallet with your private key. All you have to do is wait and hope the price of Fantom (FTM) increases in value, then you can sell your coins for a profit.
The benefit of this method over trading is that there is no time limit, and it's much easier. The disadvantage, however, is that Fantom still has not yet shown any solid growth trend - which means holding may not be as lucrative as it could be.
In order to hold FTM, you can use the official fWallet - which can be downloaded from the Fantom website. Other wallets supported include:
- Metamask
- Ledger
- Coinbase Wallet
- Edge
- Math Wallet
- OKEX
- Coin98
- BitKeep
- D’CENT
- TokenPocket
We usually recommend using a hardware wallet like the Ledger Nano S since it’s safer. It is also possible to hold Fantom on a mobile wallet if you have one that supports it.
Check Out: Will Fantom Make Me Rich In 10 Years?
Method 3: Staking
If you think Fantom will make a huge comeback and want to benefit more from your investment, then we recommend staking your FTM tokens on the platform.
Staking is similar to holding, but with some added benefits such as earning extra rewards, voting on proposals and validating transactions.
The big benefit of staking is that it allows you to earn more of Fantom's platform tokens for doing nothing apart from locking them in the liquidity pool. This means you can earn passive income (or at least some extra cash while the price goes up) even if you don't have time or money to invest in Fantom directly.
Staking reward rates are based on the amount of FTM you stake, which is determined by how many tokens are in the liquidity pool. There are plans to change this into a fixed percentage, but there is no set date for implementation yet. The current estimated return that can be earned from staking FTM tokens on Fantom's platform is somewhere between 1.5-3%.
Realistically, Fantom needs more time to establish itself and build a solid userbase before it can be used for staking long-term. However, if you believe in the potential of $FTM, then this might be an excellent opportunity while it's still early.
Read Also: How to Stake Fantom
Crypto asset investing is highly volatile and unregulated in some EU countries. No consumer protection. Tax on profits may apply.
Is Fantom (FTM) A Good Investment?
There is no denying that Fantom cryptocurrency has great potential for returns on investment.
However, the market for cryptocurrencies is extremely volatile and investing in any cryptocurrency involves some risk. This is because there are no guarantees that Fantom will be sustained as a platform long enough for its price to increase significantly.
And although the asset recorded a rather leisurely growth in its first two years in the market, it grew plausibly in 2021 and now shows some good prospects.
According to the Motley Fool, if you bought just $1,000 worth of FTM at the start of 2021, you would have sold it for close to $100,000 when it hit its high price on September 9th.
In fact, Fantom stuck up pretty well this year when compared to other major cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin and Ethereum. For instance, if you had bought $1000 worth of Bitcoin at the start of the year, it would be worth around $1,600 today, and ETH would be slightly above $4,600.
Based on the current data, Fantom gained 9,710% in 2021 and has grown by more than 500% since the start of August to September only.
This shows just how much FTM grew this year and its future potential. It is possible that the asset could be an interesting long-term investment, especially since it has already shown real-world applications.
Overall, there are several reasons why we think Fantom might be a good investment for you.
- Fantom Has a Strong Team
One of the most important things with any cryptocurrency is that it has a strong team and company behind it - Fantom seems to tick this box.
With a solid development team and advisors with years of experience in businesses, we believe they have the knowledge and background to make Fantom one of the leading cryptocurrencies.
Combined with their own bespoke Lachesis consensus algorithm, Fantom is set to become one of the fastest and most efficient cryptocurrency platforms available today; which means it not only has tremendous potential for growth but also puts it ahead of other cryptos that are still trying to develop this.
- Fantom is Cheap
Another reason we like Fantom is that it has a very low price per coin which opens up the potential to make huge returns on investment. If Fantom can maintain or even increase its current value, then you could potentially sell your coins and make a big profit if and when it all goes through.
- Fantom's Technology is Unique
Finally, the Fantom project has some very interesting technology that can help validate transactions fast. The Fantom Network uses Lachesis, its own unique consensus algorithm, which is different from others, such as proof-of-work (PoW) and proof-of-stake (PoS). This gives the platform more stability and makes it less likely to be overtaken by other coins.
The issue with Fantom is that it hasn't shown any huge growth yet, which could be an indicator that it's not being adopted as quickly as some of the older platforms in this industry.
Having pointed that out, it is possible that FTM’s recent price jump is due to smart contracts speculations, and we cannot say for sure if the price will hold or not.
The smart contracts industry is also extremely competitive, pitting FTM against giants like Solana, Cardano and Polkadot. So, if it does not hold its ground by providing better technology, it might be shoved out of the picture.
Conclusion: So, Should I Buy Fantom FTM?
From the analysis above, you can see that Fantom has solid fundamentals. However, given that the market is extremely volatile, especially in the short term, you might want to hold your horses for a while.
This means following all news updates closely and watching FTM's price movements, so you don't miss out on your chance to earn the most returns from your investment.
However, if you really believe in Fantom and its potential, then it might be a good idea to invest a small amount of money into it so you can also benefit from what could potentially grow into something very big.
Right now, the biggest threats to Fantom apart from the competition and a possible bear market is DeFi regulations and potential technical hitches due to its new and untested technology.
In conclusion, whether or not Fantom is a good investment for you depends on how much risk you are willing to take and how much time you are willing to invest. Remember, always do your own research and only commit what you can afford to lose, as cryptocurrencies are a very high-risk asset class.
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Crypto asset investing is highly volatile and unregulated in some EU countries. No consumer protection. Tax on profits may apply.
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