Cryptocurrencies To Watch: Week of October 24

Keep an Eye on These Coins

The crypto market has had another middling week, with only a few tokens experiencing any positive movements. Still, on the whole, the market looks steady at its support levels, which is positive.

We examine five cryptocurrencies that have shown notable price movements and activity over the past week: Klaytn (KLAY), Aptos (APT), Aave (AAVE), Toncoin (TON), and Lido DAO (LDO). In selecting these assets, we have considered several factors, including, but not limited to, positive technical developments, significant news events, and noticeable changes in price.

Klaytn (KLAY)

The Klaytn project had two major events this week. They helped the KLAY coin rise by roughly 30% in value over the past week, to around 18 cents at the time of publication from around 14 cents (see chart below).

The first news affecting Klaytn was the introduction of a proposal by its governance committee that would decrease existing block rewards by 33%. The proposal's voting will conclude and be shared on Oct. 25, 2022. In addition, KLAY was listed on the Phemex exchange.

Aptos (APT)

Aptos had a controversial week but despite this, the APT token added more than 40% in value. The Aptos project launched its mainnet,  an independent blockchain network that use its own protocols and technologies, in the latest week, generating many headlines and before during the launch. The APT token began last week at $6.68 and is now hovering around $9.84 (see chart below).

Developers from the Meta’s Diem project are leading Aptos, and the Aptos project’s grand claims have been met with suspicion. Aptos calls itself a safe and scalable Layer 1 blockchain. It claimed to have a transaction-per-second rate of 100,000, but at launch, it only managed four per second. The tokenomics—that is, the distribution and allocation of the APT token toward various needs—of the project were released only a day before exchange listings started.

Aave (AAVE)

Decentralized finance (DeFi) giant Aave also posted a strong week, with the market cap of the AAVE token rising by 17%. The token went as high as $89.70 at the start of this week, having started last week at around $76.15 (see chart below). AAVE also gained 12% in terms of market capitalization in the latest week.

The reason for the price bump is likely because Aave released technical details of its GHO stablecoin. It also disclosed the results of its first security audit, with no critical bugs found. Stablecoins are assets that are pegged on a 1:1 basis to a fiat currency, such as the U.S. dollar.

Toncoin (TON)

Ton project's TON coin rose by more than 15% over the past seven days as a result of a partnership announcement. The token began last week at around $1.22 and started this week at around $1.41 (see chart below).

The partnership is with Orbs, a project focused on making blockchain ecosystems more scalable, in preparation for large-scale Web3 applications. Orbs will build on the TON network. Additionally, messaging platform Telegram, with the help of the TON blockchain, will auction usernames to TON users.

Lido (LDO)

The price of the Lido project’s LDO token went up by 12% in the past week as a result of good general growth in the Ethereum staking ecosystem. The LDO token opened this week at around $1.50, up from last week’s opening of $1.39 (see chart below). Lido offers a liquid staking solution for the Ethereum network. Staking is a process by which users secure the network by locking in funds. Stakers receive transaction fees for their role.

Over the past month, the total value locked into Lido has increased by more than 5% to about $6.18 billion. The amount of ETH staked via Lido has also been steadily increasing, and as of Oct. 24 stood at more than 4.3 million ETH.

Investing in cryptocurrencies and other initial coin offerings (ICOs) is highly risky and speculative, and this article is not a recommendation by Investopedia or the writer to invest in cryptocurrencies or other ICOs. Because each individual’s situation is unique, a qualified professional should always be consulted before making any financial decisions. Investopedia makes no representations or warranties as to the accuracy or timeliness of the information contained herein. As of the date when this article was written, the author does not own the cryptocurrencies mentioned above.