This article was originally published on Fool.com. All figures quoted in US dollars unless otherwise stated.
It's not just the stock market that's showing signs of life these days. Many of the market's leading cryptocurrencies have also started to push higher.
Chainlink (CRYPTO: LINK), Avalanche (CRYPTO: AVAX), and Polkadot (CRYPTO: DOT) have all posted double-digit gains over the past week, up between 11% and 13% over the past seven days as of Thursday morning. Let's take a closer look at some of the leaders of the latest crypto rally.
Chainlink: Up 11%
There's a world of opportunity in decentralized finance (DeFi) for crypto that can bridge gaps and make other digital currencies more useful. Chainlink is a decentralized blockchain oracle network -- built on Ethereum -- that helps with the transfer of data between blockchains and platforms that don't speak the blockchain language.
Chainlink is a pioneer in making smart contracts smarter, allowing for the tamper-proof transfer of external market data to a blockchain. It also isn't afraid to lean on tech gurus to turn heads. It has brought leaders of popular companies in as advisors, including DocuSign founder Tom Gonser and more recently the former CEO of Alphabet's Google, Eric Schmidt.
A sticking point in crypto transactions is the high fees that users can incur, but Chainlink is getting better on that front. Last month it introduced Chainlink VRF, a verifiable random function that can lower gas fees by as much as 60%.
Chainlink as a leader in the recent crypto rally is the break that its investors have needed. Chainlink had been a laggard before this past week's bounce. It has shed more than half of its value over the past year, and even with this week's pop it's still down 8% over the past month. With an important role in some non-fungible token (NFT) marketplaces and other DeFi applications it could finally be Chainlink's chance to shed its label as an underperforming cryptocurrency.
Avalanche: Up 11%
It's not just Chainlink making smart contracts more efficient. Avalanche's claim to fame is that it offers nearly instant finality -- that, unlike the platforms gloating about their lightning-quick processing speeds, is when a transaction is actually completed to the point of no return. Avalanche stands out by having three interconnected blockchains, each one performing a dedicated task to nail the race to the finality finish line without skimping on scalability or security.
Avalanche is a rising star in the DeFi world. It had $11.2 billion in total value locked (TVL) across 184 different protocols as of Thursday morning, according to blockchain tracker Defi Llama. TVL is the sum of assets deposited in DeFi apps, and Avalanche is the fourth-largest crypto in TVL despite being only the world's tenth-largest cryptocurrency in terms of market capitalization.
Polkadot: Up 13%
The third major digital currency sporting a double-digit gain over the past week is Polkadot. It's another tool in the crypto toolbox helping the revolution improve the speed and scalability necessary for blockchains and the Web3 movement to go mainstream. Polkadot's popular as the intermediary in applications where different blockchains can run independently in a single network.
There's value in being the equivalent of a translator in the crypto universe. Polkadot's parachains -- short for parallel blockchains -- let data flow easily between Ethereum and another rival blockchain. Parachains also can take the load off of processing demand from the larger cryptocurrencies that still have some work to do in terms of improving cost and bandwidth efficiencies.
Chainlink, Avalanche, and Polkadot are crypto leaders over the past week. The leadership bears watching since only Avalanche is trading higher over the past year. All three digital currencies have momentum in their corner right now, and it's something that they -- and their investors -- don't want to squander.
This article was originally published on Fool.com. All figures quoted in US dollars unless otherwise stated.
