Crypto & ICO Investing Niches

Some ideas for niche investment strategies in the crypto asset class. These are my focus when investing.

China: the majority of high market cap coins are based in Europe or America. Teams are distributed but their main team members are in these two areas. China has 1.2B people; its economy is 60% that of the US in GDP. It is sorely under-represented among the largest coins. This has to change. Especially because China’s government prefers Chinese companies to lead in its Internet economy (see: Alibaba, Baidu, Tencent). This means look out for: Neo, WaltonChain, Binance, Loopring and CN ICO’s.

Infrastructure: We are in early days of crypto. Basic things like transaction speed and blockchain interoperability are broad problems yet to be solved. 5-10 years from now, the foundation will be in place & the focus will be more on applications. But today, those companies that develop the ‘plumbing’ of blockchain & who will be indispensable going forward are still emerging. Look out for: Raiden, Polkadot, Wanchain and similar projects.

Data: Crypto enables a unique model where individuals own their own data; can maintain it in accessible but private way. The notion of cryptocurrency tokens makes it easier for a data supplier (an average person) to get paid by a data-user (ie: biopharmaceutical company wanting to collect a data set of people with a certain disease). Blockchains and crypto can facilitate the organization of needed data sets for Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning, Medical Research and much more. These data-centered blockchains will have a network effect; as more data is in one platform (ie: Doc.AI which collects medical information), more medical researchers will want to leverage it. Which means the users will get paid more for providing their data. And so on… . A company like Doc.AI provides a mobile app for people to provide their data. It’s a simple process to get involved. And there are financial incentives. Those who get a headstart in certain data verticals could be worth a great deal tomorrow. Doc.AI, Starmine.AI are examples, but keep an eye out for promising teams in this space.