How the Rankings of the Top 10 Cryptos Have Changed Over the Past Year

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We’ve spent a lot of time reflecting on the ups and downs of 2021 – a year punctuated by historic highs, adoption milestones, and daring hacks.

Over the past 12 months, the major cryptocurrencies by market cap have changed dramatically. Established digital assets that have been a mainstay of the markets have slipped up the rankings, with surprising alternatives taking their place.

In this article, we’re going to shine a light on the 10 cryptocurrencies at the start of 2022, reveal their percentages of gains over the past year, and find out if their rankings have improved or worsened.

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Price January 1, 2021: $ 29,374.15 Price January 1, 2022: $ 47,686.81 (+ 62.3%)

As we explained in our 2021 look back, Bitcoin has had a successful year. And indeed, analysts, including Bloomberg Intelligence’s Mike McGlone, are extremely optimistic about what lies ahead for 2022. That being said, BTC’s 62.3% gains over the past 12 months are paltry compared to up 308% in 2020, a year when prices started at just $ 7,200.17. Presenting his 2022 forecast for Bitcoin, Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele said he believes the world’s largest cryptocurrency will reach $ 100,000 – and two more countries will adopt it as legal tender. He also promised that construction of Bitcoin City would begin, with volcanic bonds oversubscribed. Bukele went on to suggest that there would be a “huge surprise” at the 2022 Bitcoin conference in Miami, which is due to be held in April.

January 1, 2021 price: $ 730.37 January 1, 2022 price: $ 3,769.70 (+ 416.1%)

Despite an ever-growing number of so-called “Ethereum killers” around its neck, ETH significantly outperformed BTC in 2021. Indeed, in December, the ETH / BTC trading pair hit its all-time high. in three and a half years. Much of this has been attributed to the upgrades that have been made to the Ethereum blockchain, with the supply of new ETH entering the market drastically reduced.

There is still a lot of work to be done. The full transition to a Proof-of-Stake blockchain is not yet complete, and this is seen as crucial to alleviating pressure on the network and lowering transaction fees to affordable levels.

Price January 1, 2021: $ 37.91 Price January 1, 2022: $ 527.35 (+ 1.291%)

Binance Coin significantly increased the ranking in 2021. The BNB token can be used for transactions on the Binance crypto exchange, offering lower fees. It is also at the heart of Binance Smart Chain, which has quickly become the hotbed of crypto projects seeking refuge from high transaction costs.

Since this is a stable coin – which means it’s still supposed to be worth $ 1 – there’s no point in checking how the price of USDT has changed over the past year.

However, there is one interesting metric we can take a look at: how Tether’s market cap has evolved. In January 2021, it stood at $ 21.1 billion. A year later, the total value of USDT in circulation stands at $ 78.3 billion, up 271%.

Some avid observers of the crypto markets find all of this extremely concerning and argue that the stablecoin issuer has failed to prove that the USDT is fully backed by cash held in reserve. There are fears that if Tether collapses it will drag the rest of the cryptocurrency industry with it.

Price January 1, 2021: $ 1.84 Price January 1, 2022: $ 178.52 (+ 9.602%)

Now we start to discuss the altcoins which had an astonishing performance in 2021. Solana was a relative unknown – No. 120 in the CoinMarketCap rankings – at the start of last year. A parabolic bull run would change all that.

Considered the fastest blockchain in the world, Solana claims that the typical transaction on its network costs $ 0.000025. It’s infinitely cheaper than $ 2.25 of Bitcoin and $ 3 of Ether. All of this could make SOL an essential choice for decentralized financing projects in particular.

However, there were some startup issues. A major outage in September meant the Solana network was offline for 17 hours. (At this point, Bitcoiners would smugly point out that the BTC blockchain had 100% availability for all of 2021.)

Price January 1, 2021: $ 0.17 Price January 1, 2022: $ 1.38 (+ 711%)

Let’s continue with the Ethereum killer theme now, and our attention turns to Cardano. A particularly bullish development comes here in the form of a report from Santiment, which reveals that this blockchain was # 1 in aggregate development activity for all of 2021. Cardano fended off competition from Kusama, Polkadot and Ethereum to claim the top prize.

A milestone for the project, founded by Charles Hoskinson, led to the successful deployment of the smart contract functionality in September. Cardano currently has 2 million users, but Hoskinson believes that could reach 20 million in the next 12 months.

USD Coin is another stable coin that has seen its market capitalization swell over the past 12 months. At the start of 2021, there were approximately USDC 4 billion in circulation. This has now increased by over 950% to reach $ 42 billion USD.

All of this comes despite the prospect of stablecoins being subject to more stringent regulation in the United States. Six prominent crypto executives appeared before the House Financial Services Committee in late 2021. In a particularly enlightening exchange, they argued that stablecoins do not attempt to undermine the US dollar, but strengthen its dominance. , thereby facilitating access for consumers in emerging economies around the world.

Price January 1, 2021: $ 0.23 Price January 1, 2022: $ 0.85 (+ 269%)

At first glance, gains of 269% seem incredibly impressive. But dig a little below the surface and you will start to see that XRP has suffered a lot of turmoil over the past 12 months.

This all ties into a lawsuit filed by the United States Securities and Exchange Commission against Ripple, the company that founded it. The regulator alleges that the sale of XRP amounts to an unregistered securities offering.

These legal proceedings began in December 2020, causing the value of XRP to drop dramatically. As we have seen, XRP saw an impressive rally in 2021 as Ripple entered into partnerships with a number of leading companies and central banks, particularly in emerging economies.

Crypto watchers will be keeping a close eye on whether a settlement is found in this long-standing and bitter legal dispute as 2022 kicks off.

Price January 1, 2021: $ 0.69 Price January 1, 2022: $ 91.36 (+13 140%)

When it comes to astronomical price gains, Terra (known by its symbol LUNA) is in a class of its own in the top 10 cryptocurrencies.

What is all the more remarkable about LUNA’s ascendancy is how the token managed to ignore the woes that seemed to be affecting the rest of the crypto markets, particularly in November and December.

Terra is becoming an increasingly important player in the world of decentralized finance, especially in algorithmic stablecoins. It also runs on a Proof-of-Stake blockchain – the exact same consensus mechanism that Ethereum is currently transitioning to.

Algorithmic stablecoins raised eyebrows as they are not backed by any collateral held in a bank, such as a precious metal or fiat currency. Instead, complex codes are used to ensure that the prices remain at a stable level. There can be dire consequences if things go wrong.

Price January 1, 2021: $ 8.31 Price January 1, 2022: $ 28.58 (+ 243%)

We’re rounding out the list with another Ethereum killer: Polkadot.

The latter part of 2021 was dominated by parachain auctions. Parachains are layer one blockchains that have their own tokens and governance mechanisms, but they can connect to Polkadot’s core chain. Dubbed a “protocol for protocols,” Polkadot was started by Ethereum co-founder Gavin Wood.

Of course, there were notable (and rather furious) entrants to the top 20 in 2021. Dogecoin and SHIBA INU remain at # 12 and # 13 – despite the value of both altcoins having cooled significantly in recent months. . They have come a long way in the past 12 months. DOGE was No. 38 at the start of 2021, while SHIB was nowhere to be found. Crypto.com Coin also made its way into the top 20. Brand recognition was fueled by a number of major partnerships, with the exchange becoming the brand. new Staples Center sponsor in multi-million dollar deal. Some of the top 20 most notable victims include the Monero privacy coin, Bitcoin SV, Stellar, EOS, NEM, THETA, and TRON.

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