Amp Token: Is It a Good Investment?

Whether you’re new to cryptocurrency or a seasoned investor, the amp token may catch your eye as an enticing investment opportunity. Creators first introduced amp to the market in September 2020, and its value more than quadrupled in its first year. The price is down over 75% since its all-time high in June 2021, but at its price of $0.02499 as of March 12, it’s still worth over twice as much as when it was introduced.
What Is Amp?
Amp is a digital collateral token that can secure any type of asset users want to transfer, such as digital payments, fiat currency, loan distributions and proceeds from property sales, according to the Amp website. Transactions are guaranteed through a process called staking. Staking uses smart contracts to freeze assets until the transaction has been verified and then release the funds to the receiving party. Because amp is open source, developers can create their own apps that use amp to secure transfers.
Amp’s parent company also created Flexa, which is an open-source digital payment processing network. Flexa guarantees transactions made using U.S. and Canadian digital dollars as well as a number of loyalty tokens and digital currencies. Amp is the preferred token on the Flexa network.
What Are Smart Contracts?
Smart contracts are similar to loans in traditional lending. Instead of being manual and requiring steps, processing and approval, smart contracts run as a code based on predetermined rules. Blockchain technology detects when rules are met and initiates the contract.
Smart contracts are a turning point for cryptocurrency because they speed up transaction times. For example, the Ethereum cryptocurrency platform takes 13 transactions each second.
This may not seem like long until you try to check out at the grocery store or buy a cup of coffee. At peak times, it may take even longer to process an Ethereum transaction. Smart contracts cut transaction times down significantly.
Is Amp Cryptocurrency a Good Investment?
Simply put: maybe.
Because of Amp’s growth, Flexa can now boast $1.4 billion in transactions processing at a time. With the amp token as collateral for any cryptocurrency transactions, there is a guarantee against fraud or defaulting on a contract.
There are at least 40,000 merchant locations in the United States that utilize the Flexa platform to process digital transactions, offering some clout to amp. Anyone who uses a digital wallet like Gemini or SPEDN can use amp tokens for transactions.
Why Amp Tokens Are Unique
Amp tokens are unique among cryptocurrencies because they operate as their own smart contracts. Investors can use amp as collateral for other cryptocurrency transactions, such as those that use its parent cryptocurrency, ethereum.
Good To Know
Ethereum is the second largest cryptocurrency, second only to bitcoin. This offers some security to the amp token since it is based on the Ethereum network.
Amp’s Price Prediction
Amp cryptocurrency made headlines in June 2021 when a third of the top cryptocurrencies crashed in value by nearly half. Amp and two other cryptocurrencies were the only three to gain value during the same period. By November 2021, amp had received listings on Voyager and Binance, the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange. But what is the future outlook?
Depending on which cryptocurrency analysts you ask, amp could reach 10 cents to 22 cents in 2022 and surpass 30 cents in 2023. With listings on major exchanges and cryptocurrency influencers like the Winklevoss twins investing in Flexa and amp, there may be enough credibility for amp to continue growing. However, all cryptocurrency investments are speculative in nature, and while the potential exists to make money, you could also lose some or all of your investment.
Final Take
As with all cryptocurrencies, investors should have a long-term strategy in mind. Amp is creating enough buzz that it might be worth taking a chance on. Perhaps the most impressive thing about amp is that it is entering the market on the ground floor of smart contracts, helping to lay the foundation for the future of cryptocurrency.
Daria Uhlig contributed to the reporting for this article.
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- Coinbase. "Amp (AMP)."
- SoFi Learn. 2021. "Guide to Crypto Staking: What It Is, How It Works, and How to Get Started."