JUNO price prediction: What next for the smart contract platform?
After a controversial governance vote and a malicious attack on the network, JUNO is struggling
Contents
- What is JUNO?
- Interoperability
- Community project
- Tokenomics
- JUNO coin price performance
- JUNO price prediction: Expert opinion
- FAQs
Juno, a smart contract platform, came about as the result of a community-driven initiative on the Cosmos ecosystem, which is also home to Binance Chain and Terra.
The platform’s native token, the JUNO, performed well in January and February 2022, defying the general lull in the crypto market. However, it has been the subject of some criticism after the network decided to remove funds from a suspicious account using a controversial governance vote.
To make matters worse, on 5 April, the network suffered a malicious attack, putting the network out of commission for over 24 hours. A few weeks later, and following multiple market-wide crashes, the token hit an all-time low of $2.12 on 18 June.
As of 2 August, the token is trading at $4.11. This is down by almost 91% from its all-time high of $45.89, which the crypto hit on 4 March.
But what exactly does the JUNO coin do? And what is the JUNO price prediction?
What is JUNO?
Describing itself on its website as an “interoperable smart contract network”, Juno was conceived to enable Cosmos to preserve its “neutrality, performance and reliability” by the latter no longer having to focus on smart contract offerings.
Cosmos, which calls itself the ‘Internet of blockchains’, has been on a mission since its launch to unite divergent crypto networks using open-source tools.
The mission of the newly developed Juno, also called the “sister hub to the Cosmos hub”, uses development software called CosmWasm which, according to the official literature, helps eliminate many of the obstacles that hinder other smart contract ecosystems, including high fees, centralised governance and poor scalability.
CosmWasm, according to the Juno website, allows software written in different languages via different programs to securely and effectively interact on the network. It claims to solve the interoperability issues that plague blockchain platforms. But what exactly does interoperability mean? And why is it important to the crypto mission?
Interoperability
Interoperability is an increasingly important and commonly used word in the world of crypto start-ups. If cryptocurrencies have any chance of gaining mainstream uptake, they must be able to connect easily to and interact with other networks – not just other blockchains but also systems based on legacy technologies.
Crypto companies, in other words, have to make it relatively easy and straightforward for businesses and institutions to use their blockchain products. There are different forms of interoperability and a myriad of ways to achieve it. But the idea is that by achieving interoperability, blockchain can become more scalable.
According to Juno’s website, its unique Inter Blockchain Communication protocol “sets the table for an interoperable base layer 0 to now be used to transfer data packets across thousands of independent networks supporting IBC”.
The JUNO blockchain is one of many blockchains in the Cosmos network.
Community project
Juno is a fully community-driven project, which has more than 90% of the genesis supply. The developers really couldn’t have done much more to decentralise the network by gifting 90% of the genesis supply. This means there are no listed founders, only contributors.
According to its official literature, “hundreds of independent Cosmos ecosystem contributors are working on the Juno core network”. As such, Juno has not engaged in any kind of private, public or seed sale, and does not intend to.
However, JUNO was faced with a controversial decision when a JUNO whale was spotted with funds of more than 3.1 million JUNO tokens. Proposal 16 was set up so users could vote on whether or not to shrink the bag of tokens and, on 15 March, the vote passed. The Juno team revoked a majority of the whale’s tokens, reducing the bag down to 50,000 JUNO from 3.1 million.
Worse news was to come: An anonymous Juno core developer speaking to CoinDesk alleged that the network crash in early April was a result of a malicious smart contract masked to look like a simple “hello world” program. A few weeks later, a typo made by Juno developers moved $36m worth of seized JUNO tokens to an inaccessible wallet.
Tokenomics
JUNO is a utility token with a range of functions on the Juno protocol.
Use cases include securing the Proof-of-Stake (PoS) network, acting as currency for gas fees for smart contract deployment, working as a governance token for effective management of the ecosystem and being used as collateral in a variety of use cases related to smart contract summary.
But how does this information affect a JUNO price prediction for 2022?
Before we delve into analysts’ forecasts, let’s look at the recent performance of the coin.
JUNO coin price performance
JUNO has performed well since its launch at the tail end of 2021.
Upon its launch, JUNO dropped slightly from $10.07 on 23 November 2021 to $7.7534 on 26 November 2021. The price subsequently rose to $11.01 on 3 December 2021 before dropping again to $7.8261 on 6 December 2021.
The JUNO price began its upward trend towards the end of December, hitting $10.74 on 27 December 2021, $16.59 on 7 January 2022 and $20.71 on 20 January 2022. The JUNO coin then dropped to $14.44 on 22 January 2022, before rising again to $19.08 on 25 January 2022.
On 4 February 2022, when the coin price rose to $23.33, JUNO continued to surge, and on 7 February 2022 stood at $31.45, and the price continued its uptrend throughout February.
On 4 March, JUNO hit its all-time high of $45.89 but fell to an all-time low of $2.12 on 18 June. As of 2 August, the token is trading at $4.11, down by more than 90% from its previous all-time high.
There is a self-reported circulating supply of roughly 56 million coins and a maximum supply of 185.56 million coins. The project has a market cap of $229m, making it the 2,958th largest crypto by that metric.
But how does all this affect a JUNO price prediction? Let’s take a look…
JUNO price prediction: Expert opinion
Bear in mind, as always, that predictions should be viewed as possibilities rather than absolutes, and that this is especially the case when looking at long-term forecasts.
That said, Gov Capital gives a bearish JUNO price prediction, suggesting the token’s value will drop below $0.50 in November 2022 before falling off a cliff, price-wise.
WalletInvestor, with a similar JUNO coin price prediction, suggests the token is likely reach $2.91 in a year’s time and could fall below $0.50 in June 2023.
DigitalCoinPrice believes JUNO could be worth $5.65 in September 2022, and $5.93 by the end of the year. The site makes an average price prediction for 2023 of $5.83, before increasing to $5.94 in 2024. The website’s JUNO price prediction for 2025 stands at $7.86 and projects a general year-on-year uptrend to a JUNO price prediction for 2030 of $18.85.
FAQs
How many JUNO coins are there?
There is a circulating supply of 56 million coins and a maximum supply of 185.56 million coins.
Is JUNO a good investment?
Many forecasters expect the coin to descend in value. The coin is fairly novel in the sense that it is a layer-1 blockchain project that is entirely community-driven; so far the coin seems to have gained traction. However, the network has been plagued by network attacks and issues with governance, and given that the project is still in its nascent stages, many unknowns regarding future performance remain.
It is also always worth remembering that the crypto market is highly volatile and that the price of all tokens and coins can go down as well as up.
Will JUNO go up?
Many experts think the coin will go up. But remember that algorithmically-derived price forecasts, especially longer-term ones, should be viewed as indicators rather than absolutes.
Should I invest in JUNO?
That is something for you to decide: investing is a highly personal endeavour. Do your own research and try to keep up-to-date on any developments within the Juno ecoystem that could boost or dampen its prospects.
Remember, investing in cryptocurrencies is risky and it is important never to invest more money than you can afford to lose.
