The author of this article, FIROUTE 2 FI, is the growth officer of Silent Protocol and a Bybit partner. In the article, he shows his favorite cryptocurrencies in 2024, covering multiple project categories such as L1, L2, AI, DEX, etc. Mao Ge has translated the original text as follows:

Hey friends!

Today I want to show you a watch list of coins that I think will perform well in 2024. Note that I haven't talked much about $SOL here, but that doesn't mean I'm not bullish on it. It's just that for me it's part of a core portfolio consisting of BTC, ETH, and SOL.

As 2023 comes to an end, it’s time to look forward to the new year.

Like everyone else, I am very optimistic about 2024. The reason is that the BTC spot ETF will most likely be approved in January, and the BTC halving is in April. On top of that, we will have the Dencun upgrade for Ethereum in Q1 2024.

One of the main features of Dencun is the inclusion of Ethereum Improvement Proposal (EIP) 4844, also known as “proto-danksharding”.

It allows Layer 2 (L2) rollup networks to temporarily store certain transaction data using a new format called a "blob." Blobs can be deleted after 18 days, significantly reducing transaction fees on Layer 2. This is a highly anticipated upgrade for L2s such as Arbitrum and Optimism.

Anyway, I wanted to list some coins that I think will be strong performers over the next year. It will be interesting to see where the prices are in 3, 6, 9 and 12 months.

Layer 2: ARB/OP/CANTO/MATIC/METIS

Let's start with Layer 2 projects. As I mentioned, proto-danksharding (EIP 4844) will go live in Q1 next year. Layer 2 projects should catch the bid for this story (we've actually seen this happen already), but I think there will be a new wave in Q1. Among these tokens, I think Canto is the one with the most potential. Not many people know that this will be L2, and the mcap is around 200m. Very low compared to the others. I hinted at Canto a few days ago via this tweet (price has increased by 50% since then).

Metis has an mcap of almost 400m, to be honest I don't know much about METIS except that many influential people are bullish on it. Still on my research list.

EigenLayer will be launched next year, and repositioning is the new narrative. I talked about this a week ago, but I'll repeat it here.

As far as airdrops go, I think the best opportunity on EigenLayer is to deposit swETH (Swell). The protocol doesn't have a token yet, so you can airdrop Swell tokens and Eigenlayer tokens. Lido already has a token. The same goes for all the other EigenLayer pools: RocketPool, Coinbase (base token), StakeWise, Origin, Beacon (Binance has BNB), Ankr, and Stader.

However, I do think Stader ($SD) is undervalued. With only $30m in mcap ($330m in TVL), they are ranked 4th by deposits on EigenLayer (ETHx). The Stader team is constantly building. They will soon transition to a model similar to Rocket Pool, but with validators being able to borrow SD. SD holders can lend to validators and receive a portion of the validator's earnings.

PICA is another interesting option. It is a re-staking protocol for $SOL. The token has 4xed since this story started running.

JTO is Solana’s liquidity staking protocol. The token was airdropped and has been heavily sold off since then. Currently $2.28.

FXS recently halved, has a liquidity staking narrative and an ETH narrative, and if ETH performs well, the token could have a stable run in Q1 2024.

AI

This is the latest buzzword. The fourth quarter of this year is indeed about AI, and you may have seen tokens such as TAO, RNDR, FET, AGIX, OCEAN, PRIME, etc.

I’d say the entire list is doing well, but one of them looks pretty cheap to me, and that’s $MOZ. With a market cap of just $10 million, Mozaic offers an automated yield farming strategy using AI and LayerZero technology.

$PRIME also looks good, even though the FDV is a bit high. However, PRIME is full of AI and game narratives. A lot of people are bullish on crypto games in 2024. I'm not one of them, but I do find it very interesting.

Layer 1

As with Layer 2, I think L1 will continue to do well. SOL and AVAX have made tremendous progress so far. However, these are not what I am most interested in.

For me, it's INJ, SUI, SEI, FTM, CANTO (again), and Monad (coming in 2024). There are probably more L1s that haven't been released yet that will run wild. "Keep your eyes open here.

I have fallen in love with $SEI. There is something about this community that makes me very optimistic.

DEX

So far we have seen $RUNE go up 6x. We also have DYDX, SNX, JOE.

Personally, I’m most bullish on $RBN (AEVO coming soon) and $RBX.

Ribbon price is quite low, not yet running, will soon convert to 1:1AEVO. New token, new chart, new believers, maybe it will do well.

$RBX is just a new coin with a $50m market cap and good marketing. Given the valuations of DYDX and SNX, I definitely think it has potential as well.

$UNI has also broken above the 500-day range and several large traders including Eugene (Top Binance Trader) are bullish on it.

other projects

I could go on and on listing the categories one by one. There are a lot of interesting projects in this space, but I wanted to keep this post relatively short and actionable. Here are my last few coins that I think will perform well in the bulls.

MINA: $Mina is a privacy protocol that provides an elegant solution using advanced cryptography and recursive zero-knowledge techniques. $Mina significantly reduces the amount of data each user needs to download. Instead of verifying the entire chain from the beginning, participants use recursive zero-knowledge proofs (or zk-SNARKs) to fully verify the network and transactions. Nodes can then store small proofs instead of the entire chain. I think that as ETH gains attention in Q1, privacy issues will also be taken seriously.

SYN: Synapse is the token everyone is talking about in 2021. It is a cross-chain bridge and still has a lot of users (including myself). When I bought CANTO the other day, I used the Synapse bridge.

TIA: It's hard to be pessimistic about the biggest event of 2023 so far. Celestia improves scalability by separating 3 core functions of blockchain. Celestia is an exciting new technology that addresses the core scaling issues of blockchain today. Its modular architecture provides advancements in scalability, flexibility, and interoperability, enabling developers to build blockchain applications for mass adoption. Celestia's approach to data availability and scalability provides innovative solutions to some of the biggest challenges facing the blockchain industry today.

KUJI: ​​Kujira is an L1 blockchain built on Cosmos. It is the "real yield blockchain". You better compare it to what $LUNA wants to be, but better. In fact, $KUJI was originally built on Terra (Kujira launched in October 2021), but when $LUNA collapsed, it took a new route. They have different products that generate income that will go to $KUJI stakers. Lending platform, DEX, liquidation protocol, liquidity engine, cross-chain staking protocol, stablecoin $USK, and a platform for launching projects and tokens on Kujira. $KUJI is a bet on DeFi, which I believe will become a strong narrative again in the next bull run.

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