Here’s why STX, CFX, SSV, AGIX and GRT are the best assets in February

The month of February was filled with investor hopes for earlier-than-expected central bank policy, but that sentiment faded as inflation and employment data turned warmer than expected. While the start of the month was bullish for the crypto market, Bitcoin (BTC) retook 60% of its move from February’s low of around $21,500 to its peak of $25,250.

Nevertheless, some narrative-driven rallies still caused significant price growth in some altcoins. The leading narratives were Bitcoin NFTs, liquidity staking derivatives (LSDs) on Ethereum and artificial intelligence (AI) projects.

Let’s look at the best coins of the month.

Stacks (STX)

Stacks got a lot of attention when the Ordinals hype started at the beginning of the month. Gamma, a Stacks-based project, enabled the creation of Bitcoin Ordinals. However, full functionality in trading and public minting of Ordinals on Stacks is still under development.

Meanwhile, Stacks faces competition from other blockchains such as Ethereum, where developers are working to enable Bitcoin NFT trading on Ethereum. Yuga Labs, the leading NFT firm, announced a generative pool of 300 pieces on Bitcoin on February 27th. The auction (or minting) will likely be held on Ethereum due to the lack of infrastructure on Bitcoin. As Stacks is delaying the development of making Ordinals available, more floating chains are taking advantage of other solutions.

The fundamentals of the Stacks blockchain do not match the price increase, suggesting that it may be purely speculative given the potential for Stacks’ growth. In the short term, STX risks a pullback from the top of the trading range in both STX/USD and STX/BTC pairs. Nonetheless, if buyers can conquer resistance at $1.02, there is a likelihood that STX will take a shot at the all-time high of $3.40.

Conflux (CFX)

Conflux Network received a significant boost on February 15 when the blockchain team announced a partnership with the second largest telecom service in China, China Telecom. The telecom giant will provide blockchain-enabled mobile SIM cards to over 200 million users. The SIM card will store a public and private key, and store transferable user data in encrypted form.

Over the years, Conflux has earned a reputation as a Chinese enterprise blockchain with partners in Oreo China, McDonald’s China and Chinese Instagram equivalent Little Red Book. The blockchain also hosts an RMB-pegged stablecoin in approval with the Chinese government, which is very encouraging given the government’s strict influence over state policy.

The Conflux Network implements both proof-of-work and proof-of-stake mechanisms to increase scalability and decentralization. The network processes between 3,000 to 6,000 transactions per second, which is significantly faster than Ethereum’s speed of 15 tps.

While Conflux has established partnerships with leading Chinese brands, activity on the blockchain has yet to justify the 500% increase in CFX’s price in February. Data shows that the number of new Conflux addresses and NFTs minted on the platform has remained at the level of previous months without any clear increases.

This raises concerns about the sustainability of the hype building around the blockchain. Extensive partnerships in the blockchain space have often failed due to a lack of real-world integrations.

The CFX/USD pair’s vertical rally met resistance at the October 2021 peak at $0.34. The psychological levels of $0.20 and $0.10 will act as support in case of a pullback.

SSV network (SSV)

SSV Network benefited from the craze surrounding the Ethereum Shanghai upgrade, which has fueled the rise of LSD tokens. SSV Network is an infrastructure provider that will likely provide backend support for LSD platforms to help decentralize the Ethereum network.

The project works on the idea of ​​Distributed Validator Technology (DVT), first proposed by Ethereum founder, Vitalik Buterin, in the Ethereum 2.0 design. It improves the security and decentralization of the Ethereum PoS network by allowing smaller participants and validators to use the SSV network and run Ethereum validation nodes.

On January 19, the team announced a $50 million ecosystem fund to support the development of the technology. The fund is backed by leading crypto venture capitalists, including Digital Currency Group, Coinbase Ventures, HashKey, NGC, Everstake, GSR and SevenX.

The project received a lot of attention as an official sponsor of the ETH Denver Hackathon 2023, where the project provided grants to teams developing on DVT technology. The SSV network shows significant potential for LSD protocol adoption as the amount of staked Ether increases following the Shanghai upgrade.

Still, a significant portion of February’s 160% gain could be due to a rotation away from the crowded LSD tokens towards other protocols that could benefit from the Shanghai upgrade.

Technically, the SSV token is in a price discovery mode, making new records. Thus, it is likely that the token will continue to rise higher, especially if leading LSD platforms such as Lido or Rocket Pool announce SSV Network integration.

However, the token marked the psychological level of $50 on February 27, which could lead to some profit-booking by investors. On the downside, the token is likely to find support near 2022 highs of $21.

SingularityNET (AGIX)

SingularityNET benefited from the continued hype in AI-related projects. The protocol’s marketplace invites users to purchase AI services in its native cryptocurrency, AGIX. The token’s price has jumped nearly 12 since the start of 2023, from $0.045 to a peak of $0.58.

The recent surge in SingularityNET can be attributed to the partnership with Cardano. The protocol currently resides on Ethereum to host rudimentary AI bots for image processing, language translations and statistical analysis. The migration to Cardano gave a big boost to the protocol as it started to offer ADA stake service and facilitate a decentralized bridge between Ethereum and Cardano.

The AGIX token reversed from its record highs of $0.63, which could continue to provide resistance for bulls. As the AI ​​hype subsides, a correction towards $0.33 and $0.15 support cannot be ruled out. Still, if buyers succeed in pushing the price above the $0.63 resistance level, AGIX could run significantly higher.

Graph Protocol (GRT)

Like SingularityNET, The Graph protocol has also benefited from an increase in the AI ​​narrative. The indexing protocol on Ethereum and IFPS is slowly transitioning to an independent layer-1 network. It works through coordination between subgraph developers, who create and store an easily accessible database of blockchains, and decentralized application developers, who use this database to create products.

According to a recent report from Messari, The Graph’s revenue increased by 66% in Q4 2022 compared to the previous quarter. The number of subgraphs on the network has increased steadily, with a 12% quarter-on-quarter increase in revenue for network participants.

The GRT token has significant upside potential if growth in the network continues. Technically, the July 2022 breakdown levels of $0.33 and 2022 highs of $0.51 will be the likely targets for bulls, with support at the psychological level of $0.1 and the 2023 annual opening price of $0.056.

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