Smart contract cryptocurrency Fantom (FTM) has gained almost 7,000% since the start of this year — even more than the popular crypto Dogecoin (DOGE). Fantom reached an all-time high of $1.93 on Sept. 9, according to CoinMarketCap data. At that point, if you’d have bought $1,000 of Fantom on January 1, it would have been worth almost $100,000.
Even after this week’s drop, Fantom’s price is still up over 350% since the start of August alone as investors pile into various Ethereum (ETH) alternatives.
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What’s behind Fantom’s gains
Here are two key drivers behind Fantom’s dramatic growth.
1. Smart contracts
Fantom is one of several cryptocurrencies with smart contract capabilities. Smart contracts are tiny pieces of self-executing code that live on the blockchain and allow it to run programs and applications.
Smart contracts are crucial for the burgeoning decentralized finance (DeFi) industry. DeFi is an umbrella term for a number of applications that take the middleman (banks) out of financial transactions. And smart contracts are the not-so-secret sauce in DeFi.
They can be programmed to execute automatically when certain conditions are met — for example, an insurance policy might pay out without anyone needing to make a claim. Or a loan might pay back the collateral automatically as soon as the loan balance is paid off.
Non-fungible tokens (NFTs) are another booming trend fueled by smart contracts. Authorship, ownership, and copyright information is embedded into these digital collectibles. From cute CryptoKitties and Degenerate Apes to million dollar works of art and sports trading cards, NFTs are taking the world by storm.
First-mover Ethereum is still the biggest smart contract crypto by a long way. But it is comparatively slow and struggles with network congestion and high fees. As a result, a number of newer, faster, cheaper cryptos like Fantom are vying for market share.
2. Fireblocks and other partnerships
Fantom has made several big announcements this year — most recently, a partnership with international digital assets platform Fireblocks. Fireblocks serves over 200 financial institutions and secures over $400 billion in digital assets.
Coinbase wallet listed FTM this month, though the token isn’t available on the Coinbase exchange. FTM is available from several top cryptocurrency exchanges.
It also partners with several big crypto projects like Chainlink (LINK) and The Graph (GRT). Plus, it has real-world projects running in Pakistan, Tajikistan,…
Read more:This Crypto Has Gained Almost 7,000% in 2021. Should You Buy?
