The cryptocurrency industry had a blast last year – growing from $770 million to nearly $3 trillion – which asks the question of what crypto to buy in 2022.
The immediate answer could mean looking at which cryptos jumped the most in price in 2021.
Despite the seriousness of a global COVID-19 pandemic, last year saw incredible gains in memecoins like Shiba Inu or Dogecoin.
But projects to create stable cryptocurrencies pegged to tangible assets also took off, as well as projects that built NFT marketplaces and play-to-earn games.
All these crypto newcomers reduced Bitcoin's 62% stake in the industry down to under 40%.
While last year's top gainers deserve attention, however, the growth of the cryptocurrency industry means more developers building more projects could turn crypto investments in 2022 on their head.
Let's look at a few examples.
Terra (LUNA) is aimed at issuing multiple stablecoins pegged to fiat currencies like the USD, EUR, KRW, and so on.
The blockchain network allows users to make instant transfers and even trade synthesised stocks.
The whole project is aimed at facilitating mass adoption of cryptocurrencies and is backed by several Asian e-commerce companies.
It grew 5071.23% last year according to CoinMarketCap, meaning that a $1000 investment in January would have yielded $50,712 by September.
Evergrow Coin is a new cryptocurrency gainer launched in September last year and achieved more in its first months than many crypto projects in a year.
It rapidly gained over 100,000 holders and hit over a $1 billion market cap in 2021, thanks to innovative features like the ability to earn passive income.
It has distributed over $33 million to date in BUSD rewards – pegged 1-to-1 to the US dollar – which are deposited in a holder's account whenever a transaction is made.
The team of top (and doxxed) developers are also developing an NFT marketplace, a play-to-earn game and a content creator platform in early 2022.
While long-term growth is worth looking at, newcomers on the scene often explode when they get their fundamentals right.
Dogecoin (DOGE) caught attention from the likes of Elon Musk, Snoop Dogg, the Dallas Mavericks, Mark Cuban, and more in 2021.
The memecoin saw sudden spikes that back in May saw Dogecoin accounting for over 3% of the entire cryptocurrency industry.
According to CoinMarketCap, if you invested $1000 in DOGE at the beginning of 2021 you'd have owned $38,550 by September.
Dogecoin is now 81% down from its all-time high of $0.7376 on May 8, 2021.
The coin had a significant media buzz about it after Musk tweeted that Tesla was accepting $DOGE as payment for merchandise, leading to a 20% pump in the coin's price.
Despite these exciting developments, Dogecoin has an unlimited supply and who knows what DOGE-related stories might hit headlines in 2021.
Gala Games was one of the best-performing game-based cryptocurrencies in 2021.
It aims to make blockchain games 'you'll actually want to play and investors agreed.
According to CoinMarketCap its value rose 10891% through last year.
That means that starting the year on a $1000 investment by September you'd have made $108,912.
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Disclaimer: Analytics Insight does not provide financial advice or guidance. Also note that the cryptocurrencies mentioned/listed on the website could potentially be scams, i.e. designed to induce you to invest financial resources that may be lost forever and not be recoverable once investments are made. You are responsible for conducting your own research (DYOR) before making any investments. Read more here.