Along with cryptocurrencies, the blockchain concept has been adopted in many spheres of business and social life, too. We’ve celebrated the tenth anniversary of Bitcoin recently, and since its invention, it has firmly entered into the lives of millions of people. Moreover, the technology that underlies the main crypto helps people solve problems that seemed intractable before.
We now can improve the efficiency of logistics, protect our businesses from fraud, insure our lives and property, distribute goods and services all around the world, etc., etc., and all this — with the benefit of the distributed ledger. There are many companies using this approach to do their business. They gain popularity among investors, and more and more people want to buy their stocks waiting for them to grow. Yes, cryptocurrencies faced a huge challenge in 2018, however, this ecosystem is only ten years old!
What I want to say is that this technology is worth investing in, and despite the dips, it will not fade away but instead find its place and stay for good. It is useful, and everything useful is in demand. Still, there are many blockchain-based companies. Which one is worth watching this year? In this article, I will tell you my ideas about the top ten blockchain stocks to pay attention to, because they promise a nice and quick profit.
Red Hat
Red Hat, Inc. is a multinational company headquartered in the US that develops software. It was founded in 1993, and several days ago it was acquired by IBM. Together with BlockApps, Inc. and BaaS (Blockchain-as-a-service), they’ve created the OpenShift Container Platform, a software product that allows users to quickly build and deploy blockchain-based applications. They use the Ethereum ledger as the basis, suggesting the hosting of applications on safe private, public, or hybrid clouds. Related: Google Moves Smartphone Production To Vietnam
The solution Red Hat solves is the length of time and large costs needed to develop, trial, and prove the new app. Banks and financial organizations need something to work with the growing needs of their customers. The fast-changing industry requires novel solutions for managing data and transactions, and the blockchain is the one to help. By employing Red Hat products, businesses can go all the way from building and testing the application to its production and use seamlessly.
I am writing this article in the beginning of July, and since the beginning of 2019, the charts of Red Hat stocks have been performing well, showing a stable upward trend. I do believe that the product they offer will be in demand, thus, the shares of the company will only increase in price. This makes Red Hat a good investment for the near future.
VMWare
The blockchain-based Project Concord solution by VMWare solves several problems:
- poor scalability, allowing users to proceed with millions of transactions;
- data sovereignty and inability to change the information in the blocks. With the VMWare product, companies can audit, correct, or remove data from the ledger in two days;
- along with scalability, the Byzantine fault-tolerant system enhances the security of the distributed ledger, protecting the data of users from hacks and theft;
- Project Concord offers a multicloud approach, so clients can enjoy a decentralized system;
- it is based on the Ethereum ledger, so customers use the existing and well-tested ecosystem with all its advantages;
- moreover, the VMWare blockchain is energy-efficient, which means that you do not need extremely powerful CPUs to implement it in the work of your business.
Another product of VMWare, Inc. is Blockchain on Kubernetes, which targets such problems as long-term development and testing of blockchain-based apps, as well as slow evaluation and launching of the new businesses.
The company has very positive ratings from the Bank of America. The stock price was over 200 USD in May 2019, although now it has sunk a little. However, the prognoses are that it will grow about 15% every year. I believe these prospects are close to being true. VMWare software helps large companies solve major problems in modern business, thus it is useful and marketable.
IBM
We all know what IBM is; its full name is International Business Machine Corporation. This original, and now multinational, company produces hardware, and this brand in the world of machines weighs the same as Apple and Microsoft in the world of software and gadgets. Its history started in 1911, and since then this company has always been a pioneer in innovations.
Since the first appearance of Bitcoin and blockchain, IBM has focused its attention on this novel technology. The company works on the development of the internet of things, multi-cloud computing, and artificial intelligence, among other things. All these lines of efforts engage blockchain as a system that facilitates fast and transparent transactions, better logistics, safe data cloud storage, etc.
The IBM Blockchain Platform is built for companies that want to keep up with the times and benefit from multicloud technologies. This system makes businesses more flexible, and the companies that employ this solution may easily diversify their activities and work in different environments. The blockchain platform is implemented in the IBM Food Trust initiative, which provides better and more efficient food supplies and payments. There is also a trading platform, we.trade, and a payment service, CLSNet, both founded on the IBM blockchain.
The corporation has a team of over 1,500 experienced developers and hundreds of users, which are major world businesses. The stocks of the company are very stable, although just as any other ones, they have dips and soars, but in general, I believe, they are a good investment instrument to buy and hold. With a company that has more than a hundred years of history, especially when it always follows the latest trends in technologies, you will not lose your money.
Oracle Corporation
The Oracle Corporation was the third largest company that sold software and cloud technologies in 2018. It is still on the top of the list, offering enterprises various solutions:
- their platform-as-a-service product includes Blockchain Cloud Service, which is used to easily and quickly create smart contracts;
- it also helps with enhancing security, and particularly with identity authentication;
- with the BCS, the companies can store, share, and manage their information without any worries over hacks and cyber attacks;
- decrease the costs and increase the speed of transactions.
Since June 2018, the price of Oracle stock has grown from ~48 USD to over 59 dollars. This is a positive trend, and with the innovative and marketable products it offers to the businesses, the company will remain a good one to watch closely in 2019.
AMD
Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. — this is the full name for the famous AMD, one of the largest selling CPUs, graphic cards, and other hardware producers in the world. What do they have to do with blockchain technology? They’ve once said that their incomes can decrease because of the lower cryptocurrency miners’ activity. Allegedly, they buy less equipment for mining, which negatively affects the business. Thus, the AMD stock price also depends on the development and popularity of cryptocurrencies. The interest of regular users has been growing lately, as well as the number of miners. This leads to the stable surge of the AMD charts during the last six months.
Fujitsu
Fujitsu is one of the largest IT companies in Japan, and it remains the leading Hi-Tech corporation in the world, too. In October 2018, it was engaged by the Japanese Bankers Association to develop the Collaborative Blockchain Platform, which is the solution to facilitate inter-bank transfers. Other blockchain-related services that are in the focus of Fujitsu’s attention, are:
- fast track consultancy for companies that plan to implement the novel technologies;
- helping businesses build and use new blockchain apps and solutions quickly.
Moreover, Fujitsu has opened a new center devoted to the blockchain innovations in Belgium. As you see, this corporation is paying a lot of attention to the crypto technology. Thus, by purchasing its stocks, you invest in blockchain, too.
ING Group
The Dutch banking and financial company ING Group provides its services all over the world. They deal with insurance, assets management, banking, investments, etc. The International Netherlands Group, as this is the full name of the corporation, is one of the largest banks in the world; its overall cap is more than 1 trillion USD. Since 2017, the company has focused its activities on the implementation of blockchain technology.
The list of their initiatives includes the following projects:
- protection of the personal and financial information of their clients;
- collateral lending;
- digitization of trading;
- physical commodities trading;
- debt transactions;
- cheaper and quicker transfers.
ING Group has launched the Easy Trading Connect platform, which facilitates transfers between finance and commodities. Actually, there are 44 blockchain-related projects they plan to start in the near future, and 8 already working ones. Investing in ING stocks is a good idea, despite rather volatile charts lately. This company keeps up with new technologies and provides its clients with highly-demanded products. I believe it has a bright future.
Hut 8 Mining
Hut 8 Mining, in layman terms, is a firm that deals with Bitcoin mining. They’ve partnered with the Bitfury Group, a hardware and software company that produces everything one needs to work with the Bitcoin blockchain. Hut 8 Mining is located in Alberta, Canada, and there are also offices in the USA, Hong-Kong, Finland, Iceland, Georgia, and other places where electricity is cheap. Related: Space Crime And Scandal Overshadow SpaceX Failure
When investing in the stocks of this company, you invest in BTC itself without the necessity to actually buy it. In the second quarter of 2019 they’ve mined almost 3,000 BTC and increased the total value of their assets from ~14 million USD to 46 million. This is why 2019 is a good year to buy Hut 8 Mining stocks.
Kontrol Energy
The Kontrol Energy corporation produces software that serves to solve the problem of high electricity consumption. Their solutions work for enterprises, households, and entire cities. They employ the distributed ledger to monitor the carbon pollution and decrease energy waste. The company also plans to develop a blockchain-based trading platform, where users can invest in projects that are aimed at saving the environment. So, if you like Bitcoin and fresh air, you should definitely buy Kontrol Energy stocks, as it will be your personal support to our planet with dividends.
TruTrace Technologies Inc.
TruTrace Technologies Inc. was formerly known as BLOCKstrain Technology Corp. The company is headquartered in Canada, and they develop software solutions for the manufacturers of medical cannabis. Their applications help users monitor the quality of medicines, providing the pharm producers with a Certificate of Authenticity of the company.
The company partners with the leading medical marijuana manufacturers and plans to launch new projects, such as the production of water for fitness. With such a lofty agenda, the TTT stocks can be a good investment in 2019. However, the latest charts are rather unclear, as the price of the stock goes up and down. Together with a comparatively small market cap, it may seem that such capital injection is too risky.
Conclusions
That brings us to the final thought I would like to share with you. Any kind of investment is a risky thing, no matter what expert bloggers say, let alone investments in the cryptocurrency or blockchain-related stocks. This ecosystem is young, unstable, and the changes happen in the blink of an eye. Only experienced, patient, and well-grounded players succeed in this field.
Remember, you can earn a penny in a year, or even lose it, but then, in a day or two, regain all your losses and make a fortune. Or vice versa – there is no guarantee. To achieve your goals, you should think thrice, read more about investing and the crypto world, learn from reputed investors, and act only if you really feel that you are ready.
This article is not a guide “How to become a millionaire investing in cryptos,” I just wanted to share with you my opinion about the best blockchain stocks in 2019. Use your own head, and do not let others mislead you with their advice. At the same time, fortune favors the brave, so do not hesitate too long and do not be afraid. Always take your lead from those who have dared and succeeded.
By John Ryan
