2022 is upon us, and although the market has not been particularly kind in the new year, this current low makes for a wonderful opportunity to identify good buying targets to bolster your portfolio in 2022. With this post, I won't waste your time by rehashing why blue chip projects like ETH, ADA or DOT are wise investments, instead I'd like to identify 5 potentially lesser known coins that may be of interest to investors willing to dig deeper.

1. The safe bet - Oasis Protocol (ROSE)

This is the least obscure project on this list, but still relatively under the radar, considering the utility it offers. In short, Oasis Protocol is a way of tokenizing and privatizing your data in a decentralized way. The technical aspects of Oasis are beyond the scope of this post, and could warrant an entire separate post in itself, so I highly recommend you check out their website from the link above.

With concerns over data privacy at an all time high, yet the need for tech companies to acquire user data also at an all time high, Oasis Protocol offers a responsible way for large companies (especially those involved with metaverses) to acquire user data, while allowing users to maintain a more satisfactory level of privacy. Let's face it, a lot of the social media services you enjoy won't be able to function without selling your data, and the trade-off is often (begrudgingly) worth it for users, but this is a technology that aims to make that trade-off more fair for you. As a strong believer in online privacy, I hope for the success of Oasis Protocol.

2. In it for the tech - Qredo (QRDO)

Qredo is a truly revolutionary tech, which utilizes layer 2 and layer 3 protocols, that allow users to trade on centralized exchanges without relinquishing the ownership of their tokens. The risks associated with centralized exchanges are well documented, yet DEXs have not been innovative enough to make them obsolete. If ever DEXs do manage to implement more of the usability of CEXs that traders demand, Qredo will become not just a boon for the likes of Binance and Kraken, but a necessity towards survival. Boasting several big name partners and customers already, including Nexus, Celsius, Coinbase, and many others, Qredo makes for a reliable and safe investment, that could not only grow exponentially, but also provide some much needed utility to all crypto users.

3. Utility above all - Etherium Name Service (ENS)

Here is a token with a simple yet practical application. Turn your long and complicated ETH wallet address into an easy to share and easy to remember domain, such as kuroshio.eth. Furthermore you can add an avatar to go along with your wallet. Not only does this have vanity applications, it's great for businesses, and in general will benefit crypto adoption. The token has only become available recently, so it is still in it's price discovery phase, hence the potential for profitability is there. Check out the link above, and go claim your etherium domain!

4. The moonshot - Moonriver (MOVR) / Moonbeam (GLMR)

Now we get into the more obscure and slightly riskier investments. Digging deep, Moonriver and Moonbeam struck me as a pair of projects that could be worth a small gamble as a potential moonshot. And it's only appropriate that my moonshot should have the word 'moon' in it!

In short, this is a pair of sister protocols that allow migration of Etherium based smart contracts to Polkadot (Moonbeam) and Kusama (Moonriver). With ETH fees making the network pretty much unusable for most but the richest of whales, yet a large amount of smart contracts still being written for ETH, not to mention legacy smart contracts, this is a practical idea that just makes too much sense not to work. As with the aforementioned projects, I encourage you to check the above link to learn about the intricate aspects of this project.

5. Where the memes at? - YooShi (YOOSHI)

A few years ago any serious investor might scoff at the idea of buying a meme coin. But times have changed, and coins such as DOGE and SHIBA have demonstrated that there are some intangible qualities that bring success to a meme coin, those being community and viral appeal. It's a lot harder to identify the next big meme coin, as we're not going off of tangible fundamentals here, but from the dozens of dog based imitators and clones, this is one that looks like it might have some decent appeal, and if nothing else, provide a few lolz.

So yeah, while YooShi started as a fun meme coin, it has grown into a play-to-earn game platform, and it does come with some fun games, an NFT market, and an active community, staking, and even a strategic partnership with Polygon. I can't promise it will break into the top 100 anytime soon, but nor would I be surprised if it did. YooShi has great tokenomics, it is highly deflationary and almost 2/3 of the supply have already been burned (and will continue to be burned). This an actively developed and maintained project that may be worth a roll of the dice.

And now for the fun part, where to buy these wonderful gems? While the earliest adopters tend to head to decentralized exchanges, just because a project has hit a centralized exchange, does not mean it's too late to buy. I like to look at reliable exchanges that specialize in listing some of the more obscure projects before they hit the major leagues. One such exchange is BitYard, a relatively unknown, but highly credible exchange that offers over 300 spot trading pairs. Below is a handy chart to illustrate the availability of my 5 picks among major exchanges.

*MOVR only

If you found this post useful, and you would like to sign up for BitYard to trade the above and many other tokens, consider using this link.

This post is my entry for the Crypto Outlook competition sponsored by BitYard, they are also making a charitable donation via The Giving Block, which is a neat platform that allows users to use crypto to donate to causes that matter to them! Check them out!

Disclaimer: None of the above is financial advice. Please do your own research and only invest what you can afford to lose.

Thank you for reading, and remember to enjoy the good things in life!