The day has arrived.
The bracket is set.
Enough talk. Time for action!
There were a few shakeups to the bracket over the final few days, mostly in the lower seeds. Coins like Chiliz, Decentraland, Enjin Coin, Theta Fuel, Polygon that came out of nowhere this week to storm their way into the tournament. They would not be denied!
The top seeds largely remained the same, with some minor shake and bakes. The biggest mover was 4 seed THETA, moving up substantially over the final weeks of the season.
Sadly, many of last year’s participants, including the champion Nano were not in the top 64, and will not be participating in this tournament. Nano will always have a place, however, in the Hall of Champions.
The voting will begin on March 16 and the first round will run for 3 days, until 11:59 pm on March 18. The second round will commence the next day.
Make sure to follow @UltimateCrypto7 for the voting, and tell your friends and fellow coin-thusiasts about this tournament.
BEHOLD! The 2021 Ultimate Cryptocurrency Tournament Bracket:
The Bitcoin Bracket
So it begins. Bitcoin has a favorable draw against THORChain and should handle them without problem. The second round matchup, likely against Filecoin, may be interesting for a short time, but I do not see an upset in the cards here.
The 5 / 12 matchup can always be dicey and this one is no exception. 5 seed VeChain has been surging, but has no cakewalk against the 12 seed Decred. After that, comes a TOUGH matchup against red-hot THETA, who should move past Compound in the first round.
In a potential Bitcoin v. THETA Sweet 16 matchup, I see the OG ending THETA‘s Cinderella run. Tough draw for the 4 seed, which might have had a much better shot in another bracket. But anything can happen.
In the bottom half of the bracket, I see one likely favorite. Do you? I spy a 6 v. 11 upset with Hedera Hashgraph overtaking Bitcoin SV, although the latter’s reputation has been improving. Either coin has a favorable second round matchup, either against USD Coin or Zilliqa. I wouldn’t be surprised if the 14 seed pulled off a major upset here, but the most popular stablecoin fared well in last year’s tournament, after many bet against it.
Below them, I believe Algorand is celebrating their first round matchup against TRON. I can see them pulling the upset and putting up a fight against Uniswap in the second round (sorry, Ethereum Classic).
A very interesting Sweet 16 matchup between Uniswap and Bitcoin SV would be fun to watch. If Satoshi’s Vision can somehow pull the upset, that would make for an electric Elite 8 matchup between Bitcoin and Bitcoin SV, with a trip to the Final Four on the line.
Otherwise, the road might end for Uniswap as Bitcoin makes its second consecutive Final Four.
The Ethereum Bracket
Across the bracket, Ethereum retains its top seed, the same as last year. They have a favorable first round matchup against Nexo, which lacks the firepower to hang with the smart contract king. After that is an interesting 8 v. 9 matchup between NEM and Tezos. I take the Tez for the win over enigmatic NEM, providing an entertaining second round matchup against Ethereum.
Below them is another 5 seed ripe for the upset. Last year, Crypto.com Coin was also a 5 seed and was a victim of 12 seed Lisk. Lisk is on the sidelines this year, with plucky The Graph having recently 10x’ed in price to punch their ticket in this tournament. I take GRT over the interest platform native token.
Below that, Dogecoin likely handles the challenge from Theta Fuel before taking on the winner. I can see the Doge moving its way into the Sweet 16 to take on Ethereum. Now that would be a matchup! It really is a toss up. Dogecoin took top seed Bitcoin to the wire in last year’s edition, and may be able to take down its first 1 seed in this year’s matchup. Ethereum is no chump though.
On the bottom half of the bracket, I smell an upset. I take 11 seed Dash to romp all over slumping 6 seed EOS. Price and publicity have not been kind to Block One’s creation this year. I could also see another upset with 14 seed BitTorrent taking down 3 seed Bitcoin Cash. The 3 seed survived the first round last year, but this time may be different. If it can make it past BitTorrent, that would be an exciting second round matchup. **Sleeper Alert** I pick Dash to make its way into the Sweet 16.
In the final pod, I can see SushiSwap pummeling 7 seed FTX Token and making its way past an upstart Ravencoin, which takes down nobody’s favorite XRP, leaving the Ripple Labs’ creation with a second consecutive first round loss.
It is difficult for me to choose a challenger for the Elite 8. One thing I feel certain of is that this bracket will definitely be busted after the first two rounds.
The Binance Coin Bracket
Welcome to our newest 1 seed Binance Coin. This coin truly deserves their top billing this year. I think they can handle their business in the first two rounds, although red-hot Chiliz may give them trouble, if they can make it past seasoned 9 seed Neo.
Below them, I think BNB has another easy opponent in the Sweet 16, whichever coin that may be. I pick 5 seed Aave to challenge the Fighting CZs after making it past NEAR Protocol and Wrapped Bitcoin (whom I’m picking over UNUS SED LEO).
In the bottom half of the bracket, Cosmos faces a stiff challenge in Elrond, a trendy pick for a Cinderella run. Though that may not happen if Chainlink has anything to say about it. Relieved of sharing a bracket with Bitcoin, instead the 3 seed may have to deal with newcomer Polkadot, provided Chainlink can handle Zcash in the first round and Polkadot can handle Bitcoin doppelgänger BEP2.
I am going out on a limb and choosing the interest-paying stablecoin Dai to spring the slight upset over Avalanche.
A Chainlink v. Polkadot game would be an epic Sweet 16 matchup for the right to face BNB in the Elite 8. I think the later round matchups in this bracket will be superb.
The Tether Bracket
Finally, the final 1 seed goes to Tether. It draws the toughest first round matchup, against surging Decentraland (MANA). That one really is a toss up, but if I were betting, I’d go for the 16 seed, giving this wild tournament two years in a row with a 1 seed being knocked off in the first round.
I take IOTA over Huobi Token, with a dogfight in the second round, whoever wins.
In the 5 v 12, Maker has a favorable draw against Terra, and should make them sweat at the very least. After that, Stellar slipped out of the 3 seed range and into the first 4 seed, but matching up against raging Polygon. This should be a good matchup but difficult to say who will win.
Below them, things get interesting. Three coins in this final 8 could make the Final Four if given their own bracket. Instead, they share a single half and will need to duke it out. Whichever emerges will be battle-tested.
Monero has an interesting but winnable first round matchup against Synthetix. The privacy king would take on the winner of Litecoin and Enjin Coin. The Charlie Lee project has the edge against the gaming coin, but Enjin has been hot these last two weeks. Tough draw for the silver to Bitcoin‘s gold. Let’s say LTC makes it into the second round, it would likely face Monero. Get the popcorn ready.
Not gonna lie, I don’t know anything about Solana or Kusama. It’s likely my own fault I don’t know them, but there it is. One of them will win and move on to likely face Cardano. Hoskinson’s creation comes in against PancakeSwap, who has faded over the final few weeks of the season and should be an easy target for ADA.
I see Cardano making its way into the Sweet 16 to take on the winner of the Monero v. Litecoin matchup. Anyone’s game there. See what I mean about each of these coins could have won their own bracket? And that’s just to make it into the Regional Final (Elite 8)!
I’m not sure which coin would challenge in that position, perhaps it would be 16 seed Decentraland or 4 seed Stellar, but the Final Four participant will likely come from the bottom half of this bracket.
Movers and Shakers
Last Four In:
Decentraland, UMA, Nexo, THORChain
First Four Out:
yearn.finance, SwissBorg, Bancor, Celsius
Next Four Out:
Basic Attention Token, Ren, Voyager Token, ICON
The tournament will begin on March 16. Sixty-four coins will be in there, just like last year. It’s going to be exciting. Tell your friends and follow @UltimateCrypto7 on Twitter for the voting. May the best coin win.
Stay Free. See you on Monday.
-Tourney Master