5 of the Most Popular Cryptos to Buy in Q2

• Curve (CRV-USD) – The largest decentralized exchange (DEX) by total value locked (TVL).
• Injective Protocol (INJ-USD) – A cross-chain DEX for easy movement of funds.
• Cardano (ADA-USD) – A layer-1 network that stands to challenge Ethereum (ETH-USD).
• Zilliqa (ZIL-USD) – A recent metaverse launch helps ZIL stand out.
• ApeCoin (APE-USD) – Underlies the most popular non-fungible token (NFT) project on the market.

A social media presence can make or break a project. For a traditional startup, this might not be the case; securing venture capitalist money is enough to send stock prices higher. But for jumpstart cryptos — especially decentralized ones — there’s no institutional money to be found. Rather, projects must reach and woo as many potential investors as possible. Being popular pays in the DeFi space, and popular cryptos need social media chatter.

Several tools for analyzing cryptos have cropped up over the years, and many of these tools measure social media presence when rating or ranking different projects. LunarCrush, one of the most popular tools, has a multitude of different aggregators that factor market performance alongside social media presence.

Using LunarCrush’s real-time social rankings, one can see a constantly changing list of projects that are performing to the highest degree across social media. Followings, post engagement and social domination all factor into this ranking. These point to some of the most popular cryptos to buy for the next handful of months, and many users factor this data into their investing decisions. Let’s take a look at some of the most popular cryptos to buy as we progress through Q2.

Most Popular Cryptos to Buy: Curve (CRV-USD)

Curve is one of the most popular cryptos to buy right now because it’s easily one of the most highly used DEX platforms. Indeed, the Curve platform is the leading DEX project in terms of total value locked onto the platform. Right now, Curve boasts over $9.5 billion in assets locked on-network.

While it’s easy to call a project a DEX and move on, Curve is actually much more than a simple trading platform. Primarily, Curve acts as a stablecoin-to-stablecoin exchange, using automatic liquidity providing to prevent slippage when trading stablecoins. It has also risen to prominence for its ultra-robust “Curve pools,” which allow users to stake almost 50 different cryptos for passive income.

The CRV token itself is a governance token; holders have voting rights on all proposed changes to the platform. The tokens can be earned through liquidity providing in certain Curve pools.

Most Popular Cryptos to Buy: Injective Protocol (INJ-USD)

Injective Protocol is the smallest crypto on the list, bearing a market cap of just $234 million. But don’t let that fool you; the INJ crypto’s high social presence suggests it could be one of the most popular cryptos to add to your portfolio right now.

As is the case with Curve, Injective is a DEX. However, the projects have very different end goals. Where Curve exists to eliminate slippage in stablecoin swaps, Injective’s purpose is to create a one-size-fits-all order book for any blockchain.

To do this, the platform focuses on interoperability. Built with Cosmos’ (ATOM-USD) Inter-Block Communication (IBC) protocol, the platform is already capable of interacting with a number of chains under the Cosmos umbrella. Even better, though, is that Injective has an Ethereum bridge, allowing users to take their assets to another robust ecosystem.

Most Popular Cryptos to Buy: Cardano (ADA-USD)

Cardano is a very popular crypto to buy thanks in large part to its leadership. Founded by Ethereum co-founder Charles Hoskinson, the network already has hype around it. Combine that with the rapid rate at which the network is growing, and you have a recipe for prolonged success.

Charles Hoskinson left the Ethereum project before the network officially launched. Since then, Hoskinson has been building his own network, Cardano, through his development company Input Output. Cardano is a layer-1 dapp platform similar to Ethereum. Unlike Ethereum, though, Cardano was built with proof-of-stake consensus in mind. When the platform launched smart contracts in late 2021, it was already outfitted with a protocol that can out-scale and out-price Ethereum.

And while the network’s offering of dapps has been slow-growing to start, recent months have seen developers flock to Cardano. The project recently surpassed 900 projects and more than four million NFTs minted on-platform.

Most Popular Cryptos to Buy: Zilliqa (ZIL-USD)

The first half of the year is being exceptionally kind to Zilliqa. Hot off of its Metapolis metaverse launch, the ZIL crypto is one of the most popular cryptos to buy. It stands one of the best chances of dethroning Decentraland’s (MANA-USD) metaverse dominance.

In late 2021, Zilliqa announced its plans for Metapolis. The project is a metaverse space that prioritizes giving creators control over their spaces. It does this by creating a series of “domes” — sort of like individual city-states that are grouped together on a single platform. These domes can vary greatly in aesthetic and activities.

As hype continued to build around the metaverse, ZIL prices shot upward. This culminated with the April 2 launch of the space. Since then, prices have cooled off quite a bit but make no mistake: Metapolis is proving quite successful, with an eventful month since the initial launch.

Most Popular Cryptos to Buy: ApeCoin (APE-USD)

ApeCoin is one of the most popular cryptos to buy, as well as one of the newest cryptos to buy. The project was launched in mid-March, and it is already a force to be reckoned with. Of course, this is due largely to its association with the Bored Ape Yacht Club.

Bored Ape Yacht Club is one of the most popular NFT collections on the market. It is so big, in fact, that developer Yuga Labs is creating a metaverse around the Bored Ape universe called Otherside. Naturally, when ApeCoin popped up as a currency built to support the growth of the NFT collection, Yuga adopted it as the native currency of the Otherside.

Now, APE has a twofold use case. First, it is a governance token, allowing its holders to steer the future of the Bored Ape ecosystem through democratically approved and denied proposals. Second, it is the currency that supports the entire Otherside economy, allowing users to buy plots of digital land as well as accessory NFTs.