Hello again, welcome to the second part in my continuing series where I dive into more detail about different cryptocurrencies. My aim is to help educate crypto-fans about the various investments that are available and give my analysis as to where they could go in the future.
Today we will be focusing on Siacoin. This project has hit some recent milestones and had an surge in popularity, having been recently featured on Inc. and Bloomberg Businessweek.
Coin Name: Siacoin (SC)
Market Cap: $187M
Avg Volume (7 Day): $14.7M
Website: www.sia.tech
Background Info
Siacoin is the cryptocurrency for Sia, a decentralized, blockchain based storage solution. They take the concept of cloud storage to the next step, by offering data storage for rates much less than their traditional competitors. [whitepaper] Their main competitors are Filecoin and Storj (who recently offered their own ICO, raising $30M).
Sia was started in June 2014 by David Vorick and Luke Champine. They had the idea to allow anyone to make money by renting out unused hard drive storage space. This decentralized approach uses blockchain technology to facilitate contracts between renters and rentees. The network officially launched in June 2015.
In June, 2017, Sia announced the development of the Obelisk SC1, an ASIC miner specifically for Siacoin. This is seen as a move to ensure the future of Siacoin mining, as it creates a more secure environment for the miners to operate, while maintaining the decentralized environment. The presale for these miners has already begun, with expected delivery about a year away.
Investment Analysis
Siacoin currently has a circulating supply of 27.67B coins. It is worth noting that with a current coin price just under 1 cent, there isn’t a lot of room for this coin to grow. A move to $10 would give the company a valuation of over $28B, which just isn’t feasible (as it would give them a market cap nearly the size of Bitcoin). A more reasonable long-term target would be $1, which is still more than a hundred-fold increase.
In addition to the above, there is no hard cap on Siacoin that can be mined in the future. This will put an upper limit on the growth potential of the coin, as the total number of coins will continue to increase in perpetuity.
Siacoin lay rather dormant at under 100 sat for years following its listing with Poloniex and other exchanges back in late 2015. In May 2017, Siacoin was listed on the Bittrex exchange and began a run-up that culminated in a 850 sat price in mid June. Since then, due to the market uncertainty regarding Bitcoin’s future, the price has dropped back down and currently sits just under 300 sat.
Siacoin offers a good solution to the costs of data storage and decentralization. I would recommend a buy at the current price, as it should easily double or triple in the short term after the market corrects itself. This coin will never blow the roof off, but will offer solid growth potential for years to come.
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