The Ultimate Cryptocurrency Championship

Two games happened this week and now we have arrived at the championship.

Where once there were 64, now just two remain.

There will be a 3rd place consolation matchup for the losers of this week’s games, but who really wants third place?

Let’s find out what happened!

NB: These latest brackets, I added “scores” to the games. In some cases, it’s the total vote count. In other cases when the vote count was too low or too high, I preserved the percentage win or lost, just adjusted it to make it more of a “basketball” score.

Bitcoin vs. Monero

• 

This matchup was closer than it looked, but Monero and not Bitcoin is on its way to the championship matchup. Many were calling this the de facto championship game. Either way, the final matchup will pit Monero against the winner of the Nano/Tezos matchup.

Many pegged Monero as a sleeper coin to win it all, a dangerous five seed lurking in the grass.

The two coins duked it out in a back and forth game, but Monero kept its advantage and held off every Bitcoin charge. This was Monero’s toughest test to date.

Both Bitcoin and Monero had their highest offensive outputs of the tournament.

---

Nano vs. Tezos

• 

Nano faced its stiffest test yet, by far. No longer able to simply steamroll its opponents, unheralded Tezos put up the most valiant fight against the fifteen-seed-turned juggernaut.

Nano is simply on fire, and though Tezos put up as many points as it could, Nano put in its highest-scoring performance as well.

This game featured the most combined points scored, as well as most points scored by a winning coin, and a losing coin.

Tezos‘s 412 points would have been enough to win any other game during this tournament, but it was just over half of what Nano was able to put up in this matchup.

The championship game will be one which few predicted but will be no less exciting. Two coins, coming in hot but coming off of their stiffest challenge yet do battle to determine the Ultimate Cryptocurrency in 2020.

There are now only four teams left, sixty have gracefully bowed out.

I won’t ruin the surprise, but if you had picked all four teams to be in the Final Four, you must have a crystal ball.

Let’s find out what happened!

NB: These latest brackets, I added “scores” to the games. In some cases, it’s the total vote count. In other cases when the vote count was too low or too high, I preserved the percentage win or lost, just adjusted it to make it more of a “basketball” score.

Bitcoin Bracket

• 

Bitcoin showed why it is still the king.

In another unsettlingly undominant performance, Bitcoin rolled past the upstart and fiery Chainlink.

The outcome was never much in doubt, apart from the early moments. Chainlink has made a fine account of itself in this tournament.

And Bitcoin goes on to face its toughest challenge yet, in the streaking…

---

In the Tether Bracket

• 

Monero. It was simply too much for Binance Coin. BNB tried to make it a low-scoring contest, but Monero showed it can win gritty too.

After winning a tight second-round matchup against Dash, Binance Coin had experience winning close games. But it didn’t matter as this one wasn’t close.

Monero goes on to face the OG and king of the hill Bitcoin, in a much-anticipated and exciting Final Four matchup.

---

In the Ethereum Bracket

• 

Who are these guys and girls? Nano, unsung, and recently rebranded from RaiBlocks has absolutely demolished every coin in its path.

One could say that Ethereum performed better than Nano‘s other opponents, but that isn’t saying much considering Nano‘s unprecedented dominance during this tournament. Steamrolling the competition is putting it nicely.

Nano ran away with this one from the get-go and Ethereum had no chance. Pity the coin that must face it in the Final Four round, which is…

---

In the XRP Bracket

• 

Tezos. They blasted their way through their bracket with one of their best performances to date when it mattered most.

Driven by a high-flying offense, the three seed blazed its way past Ontology.

What awaits it in the Final Four round is a coin hotter than the sun.

Remember to vote in the crypto tournament second round, either on the Home Page or at https://twitter.com/UltimateCrypto7 Voting starts soon.

The sweet sixteen round is over and it was a bit of a snoozer. Sometimes that happens in tournaments. Breathe in, breathe out.

We had a very exciting second round with a slew of upsets and tight contests. This round, not so much.

Well, you can’t play favorites. Let’s get into it and recap the matchups:

NB: These latest brackets, I added “scores” to the games. In some cases, it’s the total vote count. In other cases when the vote count was too low or too high, I preserved the percentage win or lost, just adjusted it to make it more of a “basketball” score.

Bitcoin Bracket

These were the scores from the second round.

• 

• 

Bitcoin and Chainlink will duke it out for the Final Four spot in its bracket.

Both coins had relatively easy matchups against their opponents. They showed why they are the top seeds.

After an exciting run, Waves bows out after making easy work of Huobi Token and Lisk.

After making quick work of Binance USD and surging past second-seeded EOS in the second half, Zcash‘s run comes to an end, worn down by a methodical and consistent Chainlink attack.

Chainlink is not an easy matchup for Bitcoin. Its popularity as an oracle has been surging in 2020.

But for now, Bitcoin is still the king.

---

In the Tether Bracket

• 

• 

Pre-tournament favorite Monero rolls on, VeChain becoming its latest victim. After taking down top seed Tether in a close second-round matchup, Monero simply overpowered them with its superior firepower.

VeChain can hold its head held high as they put up the toughest fight against the Monero juggernaut, with the most points scored and the narrowest margin of victory thus far for Monero.

It was close early, but Binance Coin methodically pushed past 7th seeded Cosmos.

Perhaps it was the hangover of knocking off 2nd seeded Bitcoin Cash, but in the Crypto Tournament, the opponents just seem to get tougher. Cosmos was simply overmatched.

This is an interesting matchup, but it will be a tough fight for Binance Coin as its use case is limited and Monero comes in on quite a roll.

---

In the Ethereum Bracket

• 

• 

ICON put up a tough early fight against top seeded Ethereum, but it simply couldn’t keep up. The top seed weathered ICON‘s best shot, stood tall, and raced past it to an early victory.

The twelve seed hoped to make history and knock off both Ethereum Classic and Ethereum in the first edition of the crypto tournament. They tried hard, but it was simply not to be.

Well, this just got interesting. Unexpected and unheralded, just squeaking into the tournament as a fifteen seed, Nano has thoroughly trounced its third straight opponent.

Granted, the competition has not been that stiff, with Bitcoin SV falling hard and Maker putting up little resistance. But this was Nano‘s largest margin of victory, perhaps some cause for concern for top seed Ethereum.

This Elite Eight matchup between the top seed and the lowest possible seed is very exciting. How will Nano do when faced with some real competition?

---

In the XRP Bracket

• 

• 

This bracket is such a mess. It seems no one wants to win as the top seeds continue to fall.

Ontology, little renowned and heralded, moved past the last stablecoin USD Coin in a close matchup.

Three seed Tezos made headlines and shocked the crypto world by annihilating well-liked and well-known two seed Litecoin. What happened? We may never know, but that is what makes the crypto tournament so darn fun to watch.

Litecoin was bumrushed by Tezos, who up until this point, had not made much noise in the tournament.

Many brackets have been busted, with a Final Four spot many thought Litecoin would win, is now up for grabs.

The higher seed Tezos looks to be the favorite.

Remember to vote in the crypto tournament second round, either on the Home Page or at https://twitter.com/UltimateCrypto7 Voting starts soon.

The second round is over! We’ll get into the recap shortly, but first, if you are reading now, there’s a good chance the next round of the tournament is going on as we speak.

If you haven’t already, head to https://twitter.com/ultimatecrypto7 to vote in the tournament.

Some unexpected faces make their way to the Sweet Sixteen! Let’s get into it.

NB: These latest brackets, I added “scores” to the games. In some cases, it’s the total vote count. In other cases when the vote count was too low or too high, I preserved the percentage win or lost, just adjusted it to make it more of a “basketball” score.

Bitcoin Bracket

These were the scores from the second round.

• 

• 

• 

• 

Bitcoin and Dogecoin was a very hotly contested matchup. The Shibes kept it close for most of the match, only down 2 % on the last day, but Bitcoin pulled away late to play Waves.

Waves fell behind Lisk early, but slowly and methodically made its way back to win handily.

Chainlink led almost from start to finish to take down IOTA. They’re a confident bunch.

Voters turned out in droves to help Zcash move past EOS.

It will be interesting to see if Bitcoin struggles again with Waves or whether or not its close second round match was due to Dogecoin’s popularity.

Chainlink will prove a tough matchup for Zcash I believe.

---

In the Tether Bracket

• 

• 

• 

• 

Down goes another #1 seed. Tether, fell in a close matchup to VeChain in a back and forth contest. VeChain moves on to face Monero, which has been dominant in its two victories over Augur and Stellar. Monero is looking incredibly strong.

Binance Coin held a slight advantage for most of the match and held off Dash in the second round. They move on to take on Cosmos who upset 2. Bitcoin Cash in a strong showing. That could be anyone’s game.

---

In the Ethereum Bracket

• 

• 

• 

• 

In this busted bracket, Ethereum advanced quite easily against BAT. They will take on 12 seed ICON which overcame an early deficit against Kyber Network. At “halftime” the score was tied and after that, ICON poured it on and won easily.

In a heartbreaking turn of events, reminiscent of the 2011 Women’s World Cup, Japanese-based MonaCoin held a large lead for most of the match against Hedera HashGraph. The 11 seed HashGraph tightened up their defense and started scoring points late, to edge the upstart 14 seed.

HashGraph moves on to face surging 15 seed Nano which pulled its second upset to move on to the Sweet Sixteen. The margin of victory was smaller than their crushing of 2. Bitcoin SV, but Nano emerges as one of the hottest teams in this tournament. Who would have thought?

---

In the XRP Bracket

• 

• 

• 

• 

It’s over for Theta, the 16 seed which took down top seeded XRP in the first round. Ontology pushed past them to move into the sweet sixteen. They will then take on 5. USD Coin, winners late over 4. Cardano. That contest was back and forth for most of the time but USD Coin pulled the minor upset and moved past longstanding coin Cardano. USD Coin is the last remaining stablecoin in the tournament.

Three seed Tezos moved past Neo quite easily and will take on 2. Litecoin in the sweet sixteen. Litecoin had a very easy time dispatching 7. NEM.

Remember to vote in the crypto tournament second round, either on the Home Page or at https://twitter.com/UltimateCrypto7 Voting starts soon.

Vote in the second round at https://twitter.com/UltimateCrypto7

With one round in the books, this is what the bracket now looks like.

Some shocking upsets that might not have been so shocking if you think about it. Either way, (some of) the people have spoken!

Bitcoin Bracket

These were the scores from the first round.

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

Bitcoin and Dogecoin easily advanced. Twelve and thirteen seeds pulled upsets in their games against the weak 4 and 5 seeds Crypto.com Coin and Huobi Token.

Other than that, the top seeds win out. I thought Ravencoin would make a bit more noise in the tournament, but the boys from Chainlink were fired up about this tournament and won easily.

---

In the Tether Bracket

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

Not much drama in this bracket, nor really any upsets. The closest we got was 9. VeChain over 8. Paxos Standard, but that can’t be considered much of an upset.

Good upsets up and down in the second round. I’m especially looking forward to the 4. Stellar 5. Monero one.

---

In the Ethereum Bracket

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

This bracket is BUSTED! Almost, exactly. There still is Ethereum, which looks like it could have an easy romp into the Final Four, provided it can make it past the winner of the 12. ICON / 13. Kyber Network game. ICON has a lot of people excited about it and could present a challenge to 1. Ethereum.

I though that Bitcoin SV with its horde of followers could present a stiff challenge to Ethereum, but it looks like that challenge has been replaced by 15. Nano. Nano has roared into the tournament, easily taking down 2. Bitcoin SV and currently dominating 7. Maker.

Ethereum should move past 9. BAT in the 2nd round, and the battle of the mystery coins 11. Hedera Hashgraph / 14. MonaCoin looks interesting as well.

---

In the XRP Bracket

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

Wow, a clean sweep of the top seeds. Oh wait, there was one which fell. Who was that?

1. XRP goes down hard against 16. Theta. Amazing, a 16 beats a 1 in the first iteration of this tournament. I’m not sure if that’s due to Theta’s popularity or the crypto community’s distaste for XRP. Seeing how 8. Ontology is beating Theta handily in the second round, I think it’s the latter.

Neo and Tezos looks to be the most exciting second round matchup here. I expect Cardano and Litecoin to advance easily over their opponents.

Remember to vote in the crypto tournament second round, either on the Home Page or at https://twitter.com/UltimateCrypto7