The top performing large crypto of 2021 wasn’t Bitcoin or Ethereum

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The time of dreams

The Big Five Cryptocurrencies have all had a big year, but the ride has been anything but smooth. And the best performing crypto in the bunch wasn’t a household name.

Bitcoin’s market cap hovers around $ 894.7 billion, per CoinMarketCap. It’s the closest thing to a blue chip cryptocurrency and hit $ 68,789.63 in 2021. Although the price of Bitcoin has since fallen to $ 46,444.71, it’s still good for a 60% gain since the start of the year.

Next, Ethereum, with a market cap of $ 443 billion. Even after falling recently from a high of $ 4,891.70, it is up almost 392% year-to-date. It was recently trading at $ 3,628.53.

Binance Coin has had an exceptional year in 2021. With a market cap of $ 86.9 billion, it is up 1275% year-to-date to $ 514. It is trading as low as $ 35.17 this year.

Tether is the fourth largest coin by market cap, but its price hasn’t changed much. But that’s the point. It is a stable coin that is pegged to the US dollar. Still, its popularity has jumped with its market cap from around $ 21 billion at the start of the year to $ 78.4 billion now. Tether’s total volume is north of $ 34 trillion this year.

The biggest winner of the group was Solana. It has grown in popularity amid the interest of developers and NFT enthusiasts alike. The price of Solana has risen 11,202% this year, reaching a market cap of $ 53.6 billion.

What comes next for crypto is one to guess. Developers and artists are working hard to think about the metaverse as a decentralized online utopia, with crypto essential to commerce. Still, there are a lot of skeptics.

Write to Connor Smith at [email protected]

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