Are you thinking of investing in crypto and don’t know where to start? I think everyone has been there at some point in their lives and unfortunately many turn away from expanding their knowledge on this subject. The truth is, crypto is a very complex world to explore and the fact that it’s growing so fast can make it hard even for the most experienced users to keep track of all the changes and latest trends.

The first step in starting any new endeavor is getting familiar with the process and how things have been going until you got into it. So reading up about the history of crypto could help you understand what exactly it is and how it came into being, so to speak. Once you’ve got all of that down, you might think your research is finally over and now you can put what you learned into practice yourself, but that’s not exactly the truth.

In order to succeed you have to make sure you’ve covered all the bases, and one of those very bases is keeping up with this rapidly expanding industry because those left behind will probably regret not having paid attention right now. So here are a few notable trends making waves in the world of crypto right now, that you should be aware of.

1. Altcoins

So, everyone is aware of Bitcoin, the biggest and most notorious crypto coin there ever has been. But what in the world are altcoins? The word is made up of “alternative” and “coin”. This is what we call all other cryptocurrencies that are not Bitcoin. Of course, none of them are as valuable as the top coin, even though they share many characteristics (such as code), but they do have advantages like smart contracts or low price volatility, more scalability, and sustainability. The biggest altcoin, so the second-biggest cryptocurrency right now, by market cap, is Ether and it is used on the Etherum blockchain.

2. Stablecoin

So there’s another category of coins? Not really. Stabelcoin is a type of Altcoin, but which has some special characteristics. Stablecoins include Tether (USDT), the Gemini Dollar (GUSD), True USD (TUSD), and Paxos Standard (PAX) and they track traditional fiat currencies (the dollar, the euro, the yen, etc.) from a designated bank account. The total market value of these coins was estimated to have grown by 500 percent in the last year, to an impressive $23 billion.

3. NFTs

NFTs have been getting more attention lately and for good reason. Don’t know what they are? NFT is short for ‘non-fungible token’ and is a unique digital file. We know that technology allows us to copy a digital file as many times as we want, but NFTs are designed so that they can’t be copied and to give full ownership of a digital file to the one that created or purchased it. NFTs are especially useful for digital artists as well as art collectors.

4. More regulation

It’s true that with all of this progress, there has been a rise of regulations brought upon the crypto market and legal questions concerning the very nature of cryptocurrencies have confounded regulators. The whole point of crypto is that it’s untrackable and therefore can not be regulated by governments, but there are some major forces trying to change that, so any potential investor should keep his or her eyes on what’s happening legally with crypto. For example, countries like Puerto Rico have been making lots of steps in this direction and are becoming hot new destinations for investors.

5. DApps

This might be yet another new term for you, so here’s an explanation. The name stands for ‘decentralized application’, an app that runs on a distributed peer-to-peer network. Some of the most popular ones include Golem, Augur, Gnosis, Status, Prism, Aragon and Circulor. The potential market for DApps is huge right now, with an estimated total transaction volume that has increased to $271 billion in 2020, from just $21 billion the previous year, according to DAppRadar, which also found that about 45% of new DeFi DApps were run on the Ethereum blockchain, with an estimated 2,000 DApps operating on it. Don’t know what DeFi is? Don’t worry, we’ll cover it next.

6. DeFi

DeFi has drawn perhaps the most attention in the crypto community this year. The acronym stands for ‘decentralized finance’ and it’s an umbrella term for a variety of financial applications in crypto or blockchain designed to disrupt financial intermediaries.

Some of the most popular DeFi apps currently are DyDx, Uniswap, Pancakeswap and 1inch. Simply put, DeFi an innovative method to use traditional financial transactions on the blockchain, which are usually enabled by the use of smart contracts, which is very useful for investors.

7. Exchange platforms

Last but not least, the most advantageous improvement in the crypto market right now, from the point of view of the average user, is the accessibility and innovation brought forward by the exchanging platforms popping up in the field. This means that every single person with access to the internet can now be an active member of the crypto market, invest, and make a profit from the comfort of their own homes. Just a few years ago this concept seemed alien and now it’s the biggest conversation topic amongst experienced investors and newbies alike.

Ixfi, one such platform, aims to make the game even more simple for the latter, by offering an array of training features and learning materials to its users. One, and perhaps the most noteworthy, of these features is called the Playground and it’s the first of its kind. The Playground works by allowing the users to ‘practice’ trading with no risk involved and still offering rewards in the form of the platform-native token, IXFI, that has some uses in the actual exchange. IXFI could prove to give average users an advantage in this field by leveling the playing field, which could prove to change the way we go about our everyday business in just a few years.

All these trends seem to point to the fact that crypto is not something to miss out on right now, because the market is growing exponentially and can potentially become a mainstream practice in a few years, thanks to all the steps taken to bring the power exchange into the hands of everyday people. If you are one of these people who aren’t sure about giving it a try, make sure to do your research before arriving at that conclusion, which you probably won’t arrive to because, as every one of us can clearly see, crypto is taking over the world step by step, so we can either get with it or step aside and make space.

Disclaimer: The content of this article is not investment advice and does not constitute an offer or solicitation to offer or recommendation of any investment product. It is for general purposes only and does not take into account your individual needs, investment objectives and specific financial and fiscal circumstances.

Although the material contained in this article was prepared based on information from public and private sources that IXFI believes to be reliable, no representation, warranty or undertaking, stated or implied, is given as to the accuracy of the information contained herein, and IXFI expressly disclaims any liability for the accuracy and completeness of the information contained in this article.

Investment involves risk; any ideas or strategies discussed herein should therefore not be undertaken by any individual without prior consultation with a financial professional for the purpose of assessing whether the ideas or strategies that are discussed are suitable to you based on your own personal financial and fiscal objectives, needs and risk tolerance. IXFI expressly disclaims any liability or loss incurred by any person who acts on the information, ideas or strategies discussed herein.