These were the Best Crypto Performers in 2022
In 2022, crypto holders were hit hard.
The global market cap for cryptocurrencies was $2.2 trillion at the beginning of the year. That figure is now just below $800billion as the year comes to an end.
Last year’s industry boom turned into a bear market that reached epic proportions. Many of the industry’s biggest players are now in crisis. Or worse.
The plunge in crypto prices started with central banks cutting the cord on easy money policies, which dragged down risky assets first, and the problems multiplied from there — accounts were frozen, bankruptcies declared, frauds uncovered.
Jared Blikre, Yahoo Finance’s Jared Blikre pointed out, whether in spite of crypto’s epic swoon or because of it, Yahoo Finance’s bitcoin (BTC-USDThe eighth-ranked trending ticker page for the year was occupied by ) quote, which came in behind major stock indices like S&P 500, Dow and Nasdaq and three megacap stocks such as Tesla, Apple, or Amazon.
Layer-1 tokens like ethereum will be powered by cryptocurrencies in 2021ETH-USD), Avalanche (AVAX-USD), Solana (SOL-USD), Polygon (MATIC-USDCosmos (ATOM-USD) stole the show.
The battle for the most outrageous returns was reduced to a race for the least bad losses. These results reflect a more general theme of industry progress than a grab bag full of cryptocurrencies.
Ethereum (-68% YTD).
After outperforming bitcoin by 355% last year, etherETH-USD) came in as the 10th-best performing cryptocurrency in 2022, falling just less than 70% this year.
Despite its performance the second-largest cryptocurrency was able to achieve the Merge upgrade Mid-September transitioning to proof-of-stake From proof-of work, which was one of 2022’s few success stories.
The technology feat has also enabled Ethereum core developers the freedom to explore other possibilities. initiatives It was designed to increase the protocol’s transaction scaling and privacy as well as its use as a financial layer.
Part decentralized banking layer and part tech platform, Ethereum still doesn’t offer the crucial feature of allowing investors to withdraw their staked deposits. Christine Kim, a Galaxy Digital research associate, has described it as follows: notedThe core team of Ethereum developers has stated that the protocol’s Shanghai upgrade could be activated by March 2023. This will allow for staked ETH withdrawals.
Merge made Ethereum blockchain 99.95% energy-efficient and was a deflationary force on ether supply
Bitcoin (-65% YTD).
Although the world’s largest cryptocurrency did better than its smaller counterparts, it was not immune to 2022’s market crash.
Bitcoin trades at $16,500, down 76% from November 2021’s peak of $68,789
Yahoo Finance was contacted by me in AprilAlex Thorn, the head of research at Galaxy Digital, stated that he didn’t believe the market had changed its mind about bitcoin when it traded at $41,000.BTC-USD), which it sees as both “an option on a future where the cryptocurrency is treated like digital gold” You can also find out more about a “protest of the lack of credibility of central banking.”
According to data gathered by the crypto analytics platform and compiled by them, Bitcoin investors have lost $213 billion between November 2021 peak & December 12 according to data. Glassnode.
“In terms of an outlook for next year, it’s really hard to be bullish on bitcoin and crypto in general given the tenuousness of macro and monetary conditions,” Thorn was also added.
Dogecoin (-60% YTD).
Retail investors hold the majority of the original “meme” Coin was the first to suffer a major sell-off that began in the second quarter.
Dogecoin performed better than other tokens in 2022.
However, unlike most major cryptocurrencies, Dogecoin (DOGE-USD) had Already sold off from 64% from its May 2021 peak — reached when Elon Musk appeared on Saturday Night Live — to the end of 2021.
“People know that it’s a joke. They like the joke,” Yahoo Finance was informed by Thorn.
Thorn’s team published a paper DOGE at its peak in 2021, noting “a general lack of development effort,” “no serious long-term narrative or use case.”
Thorn’s team still found Dogecoin “had a fair launch,” meaning it didn’t include a presale or venture capital fundraise, which can be red flags when insiders carry large stakes that put outside buyers at a disadvantage.
The cryptocurrency has outperformed most others through the fourth quarter, due in large part to Elon Musk’s deal to buy Twitter, with users speculating this purchase could have some benefits for Doge holders.
Ethereum (-54% YTD).
Ethereum suffered a 53% drop (ETC-USD) also benefited from speculation leading up to the Merge.
While its use and developer community is a fraction of the size of Ethereum’s, Thomas Dunleavy, a senior market researcher for Messari, pointed out the small-cap token has routinely seen value appreciation ahead of Ethereum-related software upgrades.
As Ethereum’s Merge was reaching completion, skeptical investors viewed Ethereum Classic and other offshoots of the second largest cryptocurrency as a hedge or insurance policy In the event of an upgrade failure
BNB (-53% YTD), and OKB (-17%)
OKB (exchange-associated tokens)OKB-USDBNB (BNB-USDBoth ) and ) performed better than most cryptocurrency this year.
BNB is Binance’s token, and OKB is for the OKX ecosystem.
Recent developments, including the FTX crisis, and the corresponding collapse of FTT’s exchange token FTT, have demonstrated that the value of these tokens can change rapidly based on how they are managed in their respective crypto exchanges.
Tokens that are exchangeable can offer holders special benefits, such as lower trading costs and the ability vote on exchange decisions. Exchange tokens are also almost always linked to a crypto exchange’s success as a business, serving in part like corporate equity.
Monero (-42% YTD)
The tension between privacy and transparency in cryptocurrency transactions will be back as an undercurrent in 2022, just like it was in previous years.
Monero, unlike Ethereum and Bitcoin, is not a currency.XMR-USD) gives users less censorable transaction privacy by default without requiring the use of crypto mixing services.
Monero’s more modest sell-off this year suggests its feature as a privacy coin offered users more utility than the majority of cryptocurrencies in the market.
Tron (-28% YTD)
TRXTRX-USDTron blockchain’s native cryptocurrency,, outperformed all other cryptocurrencies with a loss of less than a quarter of its value in 2018.
The token’s value, according to Messari’s Thomas Dunleavy, has mainly benefited from the Tron ecosystem’s growing amount of stablecoin volume. TRX’s supply-burn is dependent on the volume of transactions.
2021 star LUNA, along with TerraUSD (UST), in May, imploded. The Tron ecosystem then launched its own stablecoin decentralized (TRON).USDD-USD). The Tron ecosystem’s network activity jumped 47% in the second quarter according to Messari.
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