In the world of alternative cryptocurrencies, it is very important to keep a diversified portfolio. Not every coin going up in value has a legitimate use case, and there are quite a few pump-and-dump schemes to be wary of. However, some altcoins are getting a lot of positive attention due to the developers putting in a lot of hard work. Below are some coins which have recently achieved major technological breakthroughs, and are now seeing their value rise as a result.

5. BlackCoin

Although a lot of people have seemingly forgotten about BlackCoin, the cryptocurrency is still around. One of the main areas of focus for this project has always been to find ways to improve the proof-of-stake protocol. In a recent update, the BlackCoin developers have unveiled their

Moreover, this new milestone will also make BlackCoin the first proof-of-stake digital currency to implement key components from Bitcoin Core 0.12. More importantly, this update paves the way for smart contracts on the BlackCoin blockchain moving forward. It will be interesting to see when this dream will be realized, but it is definitely something to look forward to. Additionally,the update allows BlackCoin to benefit from projects such as Blockstack and Joinmarket.

4. Maidsafe

A lot of people were caught by surprise when the value of Maidsafecoin suddenly started to explode a few days ago. It seems the most recent development update has something to do with the price momentum, even though none of the updates are “major.” All of this goes to show the

3. Stratis

It has to be said, the Stratis value has been a bit of a rollercoaster these past few weeks. With the value surging non-stop for nearly a week, it almost started to look like a pump. However, the value corrected quickly and is now seemingly stable around the US$9 mark. A new wallet update was released not too long ago, and it looks like developers are making good progress on the Breeze Wallet too. Moreover, it has been confirmed one can effectively mine PoS blocks inside the Breeze Wallet, which is a major development.

2. Siacoin

Siacoin has been of great interest to cryptocurrency users and speculators over the past few weeks. The world of decentralized file storage solutions is getting a lot more interesting, to say the least. A lot of users are experimenting with these solutions as a way to earn Siacoin for sharing excess hard disk space with people looking for storage solutions. Sia is one of the projects getting very close to providing actual decentralized file storage solutions to the masses. It is only natural the price of this native token goes up as well.

1. Ethereum

Although a lot of people would rather not think of Ethereum as an alternative cryptocurrency, it still fits into this category. That being said, the recent value increase of Ether has been nothing short of amazing. The value per ETH surpassed US$365 and seems to maintain that value with relative ease. However, there is still a question of how much of this price point is due to speculation, rather than “actual” value. For a cryptocurrency ecosystem with no supply cap, some people feel Ether is incredibly overvalued. Then again, the token is necessary for people looking to buy into most cryptocurrency ICOs.

If you liked this article, follow us on Twitter @themerklenews and make sure to subscribe to our newsletter to receive the latest bitcoin, cryptocurrency, and technology news.