6 Reasons to Keep an eye on Tezos in 2020

There are many reasons to keep a close eye on the different altcoins available today. Quite a few of them have ample momentum building behind the scenes. Since its release, Tezos has been a strong contender, but what makes it so appealing? 

Continuing Tezos Development

Any cryptocurrency project stands or falls based on how active the developer community is. In the case of Tezos, there is plenty of work being done behind the scenes. The team of 47 recorded contributors is hard at work to optimize the existing code, and introduce new features whenever possible.

Over the past 4 weeks, this has resulted in 180 commits being added to Tezos’ repository . It is a more than adequate number. Looking at these statistics, the development of Tezos is more active than Ethereum’s, EOS, Stellar, and many others. What the commits will entail exactly, will become more apparent in the weeks to come.

Shielded Transaction Support

Speaking of Tezos development, one very interesting update is currently being finalized. Shielded transactions are being introduced to Tezos through Sapling . Most people may recall that Sapling is the introduction of shielded transaction for Tezos that was originally scheduled to be part of the 006 protocol.

However, that deadline couldn’t be met, thus the developers pushed it to the 007 protocol upgrade. Integrating this Sapling code into the main proto proposal branch is underway , although it remains to be seen how long the process will take exactly.  Through Sapling, XTZ users will be able to enjoy extra privacy when transacting on the network. 

Social Volume is Surging

Talking about a specific cryptocurrency project is a great way to get more people interested. For Tezos, there has been ample social volume to go around. Over the past seven days, the social volume increased by over 90%, which is very impressive. This also translates to a much higher social engagemen t, as that increased by over 76% as well.  

Overall, Tezos also enjoys a rather bullish social sentiment. The current price dip is not diminishing the outlook by all that much. Keeping the momentum going will be difficult if Bitcoin is unwilling to cooperate. However, XTZ has shown it doesn’t always follow Bitcoin’s momentum either, thus anything can happen. 

Liquid Marketcap and Real Volume

Comparing all of the different crypto projects can yield some valuable insights. In Tezos’s case, its liquid market cap puts it in 11th place , ahead of Binance Coin, TRON, VeChain, and Monero. Having a liquid market cap of $2.151 billion is more than adequate. Gaining more ground in these rankings will not come easy, but it isn’t the only metric worth paying attention to.

Ranking the currencies by real volume over the past 24 hours, things look very different. Looking at the metrics from that angle puts Tezos in 5th place, behind only USDT, Bitcoin, Ethereum, and ChainLink . The real volume for XTZ currently sits at $178.573 million, which is more than double of what Litecoin, EOS, and Stellar can bring to the table. Liquidity is crucial for any altcoin, asset, or token. 

Climbing the Koinju Rankings

Koinju is another crypto data aggregator capable of providing some interesting information. According to the rankings , Tezos currently ranks in 5th place based on its overall trading volume. This volume is measured differently from Messari, although the process is somewhat identical.. Relying on data officially reported by trading platforms in a verifiable way will help put an end to wash trading and other illicit activities. 

What is intriguing about Koinju’s rankings is how Tezos is ahead of USDT in terms of volume. Considering how Tether’s USDT is the most-traded asset in the industry by reported volume, it is a bit odd to see it rank relatively low in comparison. Even so, XTZ is firmly ahead of most, if not all of its “direct competitors” for market cap ranking, which is all that really matters. 

Growing List of Delegation Services

XTZ Holders who are interested in earning staking rewards may want to check out a delegations service. There are over 200 delegation services to choose from today. Some of them offer higher annual yields compared to others, but there are other aspects to look into as well.

On the Baking Bad website , users can see how much free space a delegate has, what fee they charge, and how they payout history shapes up. having access to all of this information will help users make a proper decision.