Retail investors choose Cardano: chasing the “next Bitcoin”

Retail investors are discovering Cardano and IOTA, while Bitcoin and Ethereum are losing appeal. 

This was revealed in eToro’s latest report for the month of February.

Surprisingly, the report reveals that Bitcoin remains the most purchased cryptocurrency on eToro, but demand has seen a 24% drop.

Admittedly, February was a very unusual month for Bitcoin, where volatility may have discouraged purchases. In fact, the price saw a record of $58,000 and then a “crash” to $44,000 before recovering and returning close to $50,000.

The queen of altcoins, Ethereum, also saw a drop in demand on eToro, down 12%. Like Bitcoin, February was volatile for Ethereum, with the price falling from $2,000 to $1,300 and then back to the current $1,600.

Analyst Simon Peters commented:

“February was another busy month for bitcoin and ethereum. Both have seen prices rocket since the start of the year, but while there was volatility, the wider adoption story continues to power both cryptoassets”.

Retail investors look to Cardano and IOTA

On eToro, the second most traded cryptocurrency in February, behind Bitcoin, was Cardano (ADA), which saw a growth of +157% compared to the previous month. 

Cardano’s “appeal” was influenced not only by its price, which reached $1.4536 (on eToro), but also by the Mary hard fork, which added important new functionalities to the blockchain.

Furthermore, eToro is one of the few platforms that allows ADA staking and this may have contributed to its popularity. 

IOTA has also done very well, up 265% since January. MIOTA is also affected by the news announced by its co-founder Dominik Schiener: the launch of the framework for digital assets, better known as the Chrysalis update, is on track. It will enable faster and more efficient transactions on the platform. This news may have driven demand for IOTA.

Some other cryptocurrencies saw their demand grow in February, in particular, Binance Coin (+1,047%), Tron, (+174%) and Dash (+125%).

Simon Peters elaborates: 

“The market is evolving. Rather than focus solely on bitcoin and ethereum, where many investors can only own a fraction of one coin, we are seeing increasing demand for coins priced like bitcoin and ethereum were a few years ago.

Investors are looking for the next bitcoin, meaning they’re investing in cheaper tokens like Cardano’s ADA, IOTA and Tron, all of which are priced around the $1 mark”.

Is the next bitcoin on its way? Simon Peters responds: 

“We believe this year could see this hunt for the next ‘bitcoin’ intensify, as the market widens and other coins gain their own following.

With more and more real-world cases of crypto adoption, it remains a question of when, and not if, these assets will become more widely used in our everyday lives. We expect volatility to continue, as with all emerging assets, as crypto’s journey is still very much at the beginning.”