Cryptocurrencies To Watch: Week of Feb. 20

Keep an Eye on These Coins

Has the cryptocurrency market managed to pick itself up and prepare for a turnaround? That’s the question on the minds of everyone focused on crypto. With strong performance over the past week, it's tempting for crypto investors to think this, but January teased a similar trend before prices plunged back to support levels. Still, there are some tokens that indicate their gains may be more permanent.

This week, we examine Filecoin (FIL), Internet Computer (ICP), Astar (ASTR), Stacks (STX), and VeChain (VET). In selecting these assets, we have considered several factors, including positive technical developments, significant news events, and noticeable changes in price.

Filecoin (FIL)

Filecoin (FIL) turned in one of the largest price increases in the last week amid some sizable developments. The first is the upcoming release of the Filecoin Virtual Machine (FVM), which is a runtime environment for smart contracts on the network. The Filecoin team has said the release is close.

The project has also been hosting several events, with its biggest community event of the year slated for March 1. This has likely contributed to increased exposure online for the project. FIL started last week at around $4.90 and is now valued at around $8.70.

Internet Computer (ICP)

The Internet Computer (ICP) project, which is attempting to create a decentralized internet, recorded a price increase above 30% for its token over the past week. The project has attracted attention for the strong growth it has shown, in terms of its ecosystem and general network metrics. 

The ecosystem growth includes custody solution AirGap adding support for ICP. Growth metrics worth noting include major spikes in social engagement and a roughly 1,800% increase in network activity in 2022. ICP was priced at $5.58 at the start of last week and is now priced at around $7.34.

Astar (ASTR)

Decentralized application (dApp) and interoperability-focused project Astar (ASTR) benefited from a 38% increase in the token’s price after the announcement of a partnership with Sony Network Communications. The partnership focuses on the growing realm of Web3.

The partnership between Astar and Sony Network Communications is an incubation program that will help nurture projects in that area. Applications are open until March 6. ASTR started last week at 7.6 cents and is hovering at around 10 cents.

Stacks (STX)

Stacks (STX), a smart contracts layer for Bitcoin, more than doubled in price amid substantial development growth. The project has many more developers building solutions on it, which may have led to the price bump. More than 35,000 smart contracts have been deployed with Stacks, which suggests an optimistic future. STX began last week at 30 cents and is now is trading at approximately 73 cents.

VeChain (VET)

VeChain (VET), which launched about seven years ago, keeps expanding its ecosystem as new dApps and solutions arrive. One of these is a partnership between VeChain-based DEX VeRocket and stablecoin gateway Stably. This will provide for fiat onramps for users, which allow the exchange of fiat currencies such as US. dollars or Euros for cryptocurrencies.

Other platforms in the VeChain ecosystem also publicized new features, such as NFT Marketplace World of V releasing a social media login. In other project-related updates, VeChain will announce the winners of its 2023 steering election committee on Feb. 28, further decentralizing the core of VeChainThor’s governance model, according to the project. VeChain Thor, another VeChain token, uses nodes to maintain the blockchain ecosystem and gives THOR rewards for maintaining the network. VET was trading at around 0.02 cent at the start of the week and is now priced at around 0.03 cent.