While the volatile (high risk/high reward) nature of cryptocurrencies is intriguing, I am most interested in the long term implications of decentralized systems.

As Vitalik Buterin, the founder of Ethereum, reminded the community this past week via tweetstorm: “the total cryptocoin market cap just hit $0.5T today. But have we *earned* it?”

Funding and hype is at an all-time high. For investors looking to make a quick buck (or perhaps millions) — it is surely an exciting time.

Via word of mouth as well as from reading different sources, I put together a list of 6 upcoming projects that I find interesting.