If you’re new to the crypto community, keep this in mind: things move fast. Regulation is ever-evolving and groundbreaking technology is constantly being built.

To help you keep up, we’ve created a shortlist of some of the coolest projects that are making waves in the crypto space.

Try the Brave Browser — now compatiable with the new ShapeShift Platform.

We’re pretty excited about Brave — so excited that we’ve made our new platform compatible with the Brave Browser! If you haven’t heard of Brave, it’s your private, safe web browser that blocks 3rd party ads — for free. It seeks to revolutionize how web publishers make money for users. This is done via voluntary micro-payments using the Basic Attention (BAT) token. This means that paywalls, annoying pop-ups, and ads that intrude on your privacy can be a thing of the past.

Want to learn more? Read about why this journalist for The Verge chose the Brave Browser over Chrome here.

Cardano is a decentralised public blockchain and cryptocurrency project and is fully open source.

Similar to Ethereum, Cardano is a smart contract platform with its own blockchain and token (ADA). It’s run by three organizations: The Cardano Foundation, IOHK, and Emurgo. Cardano is being built with the capabilities to run financial applications that can be used by individuals, organizations, and governments on a daily basis.

If you’re interested in learning more about Cardano’s potential, check out this article.

Maker is comprised of a decentralized stablecoin, collateral loans, and community governance.

MakerDAO is a decentralized organization working to bring stability to the crypto economy. Maker is also the creator and issuer of DAI, the first decentralized stablecoin in the world. Their focus is on DAI, collateral loans, and community governance. Become a part of the Maker community here.

Polkadot empowers blockchain networks to work together under the protection of shared security.

Polkadot is seeking to be the foundation upon which a new internet is built. These may seem like lofty goals, but it’s being built by the Web3 Foundation, and was started by Ethereum Co-Founder Gavin Wood.

Keep an eye on this startup; it’s all the buzz according to CoinDesk.

Meet Grin. The private and lightweight mimblewimble blockchain.

You’ve probably heard of Grin. Its symbol is the funky smiley face with “M” and “W” eyes, a nod to the Mimblewimble technology (yes, it’s a Harry Potter reference) upon which it’s based. Grin aims to solve the scalability and privacy issues often found in heavier blockchain infrastructure and cryptocurrencies. In recent news, Grin executed it’s first planned hard fork, introducing a host of new features.

Crowdfunding and freelance developers for your software projects.

Gitcoin is an open-source bounties platform, built on the Ethereum blockchain. Its goal is to grow the open-source community, incentivizing collaboration among software developers. Although its name is Gitcoin, the project doesn’t offer their own token. They accept all ERC-20’s, in an effort to make the platform accessible to the wider crypto community.

Access the evolution of finance World-class tools for blockchain developers, financial services and protocols.

Wyre is leveraging blockchain tech in an effort to build the most cost-effective way to transfer money internationally. With Wyre’s API, people can buy crypto with 8 different fiat currencies in over 50 countries. If you’re interested in trying it out, check out our new platform, where you can buy crypto with fiat at fees of less than 1%.

Decentraland is a virtual world where you can build and explore 3D creations, play games and socialize.

Decentraland is one-of-a-kind. Don’t believe us? Click here to experience their homepage. The company is actively creating a virtual world on a fully decentralized VR platform. Built on the Ethereum ledger, Decentraland allows people to purchase property in their virtual world, where they can build, create, and share like never before. You can trade or track their token, MANA, with the ShapeShift Platform.

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