Investing very small amounts in cryptocurrencies can reap big rewards if you get in at the right time and make the right choice, but that's not an easy thing to do as there are risks involved.
This requires crypto investors to think more about the options available to them before making any crypto investment choice. With that being said, what is the best cryptocurrency to buy and invest in 2022? In this guide, we explore the 10 best cryptocurrency options to consider investing in 2022.
Below you will find a quick overview of the top 10 best cryptocurrencies to buy in 2022:
Speculators and part-time investors looking for alternative ways to store wealth and turn a profit led more people to look for the best cryptocurrencies to invest in.
But where do you start?
After all, entering the crypto space is an overwhelming experience for first-timers. And even seasoned investors can struggle to keep up with these rapidly evolving technologies and applications.
Too much choice can result in cognitive overload, otherwise referred to as 'overchoice' — it prevents us from making decisions.
But there are many reasons to invest in cryptos in 2022, as we'll see below. And cryptocurrency investing is a great way to diversify your portfolio, reduce risks (especially during the pandemic), and work as a store of wealth.
When it comes to investing, knowledge really is power, as cliché as it sounds. Knowledge is the thing that can keep you ahead of the curve, giving you a chance to spot the next trends before they even happen.
Looking for the best cryptocurrency to invest in 2022? Well, here are the 10 best choices this year!
One of the top cryptos to consider now is Uniswap.
Uniswap is a DeFi king — it is a decentralized exchange (DEX) on top of Ethereum that links buyers and sellers directly to each other for a variety of digital assets.
One of the best reasons to invest in a crypto is when it's making improvements that will likely impact its usability and speed up adoption.
Uniswap's latest big change comes in the form of launching Optimism, which has been in development for two years. Some of the benefits include being able to pay gas fees in any token, scaling, and near-instant and cheap transactions.
For now, Optimism is in Alpha, which means they are still testing it and it will still be a while before it is rolled out to everyone else. Eventually, it will be implemented to Uniswap making now a great time to invest.
Not all is perfect in Uniswap land. There have been a series of controversies over Uniswap's governance because of how voting works.
In short, the more UNI tokens you own, the more voting power you have. And what makes this worse, is users can delegate their voting power to others as well.
Most recently, debates about Uniswap's governance came up when Flipside Crypto, a crypto analytics firm, requested $25 million from Uniswap's grants, as reported by Nathan van der Heyden of Crypto Briefing.
Until attention was drawn to the matter, it looked as if the firm would get the funding without any real competition. It highlighted the amount of power few at the top had at Uniswap.
DEX's are expected to overtake traditional crypto exchanges in the future. Investing in Uniswap crypto now could be like being an early investor in Bitcoin several years ago.
Virtual currencies are highly volatile. Your capital is at risk.
Another crypto worth buying is Compound.
Compound is one of the top crypto-lending platforms today, booming in the emerging Defi market.
Compound has been busy leveling up in the crypto-lending industry launching their new 'Compound Treasury', a service strictly for financial institutions where they can earn 4% fixed interest per year by investing US dollars.
This will provide a massive amount of liquidity to Compound and fuel its crypto-lending services. And with the interest in Defi exploding in 2021, the Compound Treasury looks like a top investment for institutions.
With all this extra liquidity at their disposal, Compound could essentially become the bank of the crypto world.
Aave by far is Compound's biggest issue. Aave is one of the most popular lending platforms in the market but the two differ in the products they offer crypto holders and how they function.
Compound might be leading the way by getting institutional money into crypto-lending and DeFi, but it doesn't mean that it will be the last and most successful.
Furthermore, we also need to consider potential DeFi regulations that could be put into place in the next few years.
Crypto-lending and DeFi are showing very strong growth at the moment and the prospect of bringing big institutional investors into the fold could be another game-changer.
Virtual currencies are highly volatile. Your capital is at risk.
ApeCoin is another common-sense cryptocurrency to buy and invest in 2022.
ApeCoin is one of the most popular and cheap crypto coins in the market today. New cryptocurrencies that draw hype tend to outperform the market. ApeCoin is the governance token for the Ape DAO, which runs the trendy Bored Ape Yacht Club line of NFTs.
ApeCoin is one of the best-performing crypto coins to buy today, and it seems to be gaining momentum. The hype is now being driven by rumors that the Bored Ape Yacht Club will be launching a Metaverse, and ApeCoin will be used as the currency of transaction in it.
APE is an ERC-20 token that developers utilize to empower and incentivize decentralized community building at the forefront of Web 3.0. It also solves one of the crucial issues that DAOs face today by enhancing community participation.
Another key factor that pushes ApeCoin to explode in 2022 is its plans to integrate into play-to-earn games developed by the Ubisoft-backed Animoca Brands. In addition, the crypto would also be integrated into an upcoming game developed by nWay, a subsidiary of Animoca. If these integrations become successful, Bored Ape will create a unique brand name in the market.
ApeCoin is listed on all top cryptocurrency exchanges, which gives it liquidity. Confirming the Metaverse rumors could see ApeCoin emerge as the best performing new cryptocurrency in 2022.
Virtual currencies are highly volatile. Your capital is at risk.
Ripple's institutional adoption would increase tremendously once the SEC lawsuit is settled, making XRP one of the top 10 cryptos to invest in 2022.
Ripple is a global remittance platform that mostly works with large financial institutions, to help them work together more efficiently without the need for banks.
In 2021, Ripple moved into helping central banks create private ledgers based on Ripple's ledger, as reported by Coindesk's Jamie Crawley. These private ledgers will then be used for CBDCs (Central Bank Digital Currencies).
It is also important to remember that XRP, for a very long period, held the position of third-largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization.
And so, with that history, it might be very possible for it to return to these heights. People have seen what Ripple can do.
But the biggest reason why XRP should be on your list is that many believe that Ripple will win their court case with the SEC, which would be great for its price.
It is starting to look like the SEC doesn't fully understand how XRP works and it has already been classified as a 'virtual currency' by FinCen in a previous case, not a security.
The primary concern with Ripple right now is the SEC (Securities and Exchange Commission) in the US.
Before all this drama, it was believed that Ripple had a good relationship with the SEC.
It started to look like Ripple was failing at one of the most important things it was supposed to be good at — working with US government agencies.
Aside from all this drama, some hardcore crypto enthusiasts would argue that as a centralised crypto, it's too risky to invest in.
Virtual currencies are highly volatile. Your capital is at risk.
Ethereum can't miss among the 10 best potential cryptocurrencies to invest in 2022.
With the rollout of ETH 2.0, Ethereum would be one of the top-performing cryptocurrencies to buy now in the crypto sphere.
Ethereum is a global decentralized platform launched in 2015 and led by co-founder Vitalik Buterin. It is hugely popular and is the second-largest cryptocurrency by market cap for almost as long as it has existed.
Many see Ethereum as the second-most important development in cryptocurrency after Bitcoin and to go into all the reasons why Ethereum is so great will take far too long.
Amid the pros of investing in Ethereum, one of the most anticipated events among crypto investors is the launch of Ethereum 2.0 that will shift from proof-of-work to proof-of-take (which is more efficient).
That's not everything! Behemoths like JPMorgan, Amazon, and Microsoft Azure have also embraced Ethereum's blockchain technology to stay ahead of other financial giants, piquing investors' attention worldwide.
Ethereum has a tonne of rivals who claim they can do what Ethereum is doing but better. Cardano, which is also on our list, is one of these rivals.
While Ethereum is the torchbearer when it comes to leading the way with blockchain technology, if it rivals outmaneuver Ethereum, it could be quite troubling.
Another reason why Ethereum could be risky is that there is an unlimited number of coins. This means that Ethereum lacks the scarcity aspect many other cryptos have.
Ethereum is still a long way off Bitcoin in terms of value, but despite this, analysts are very optimistic about Ethereum's future, predicting steady growth over the next few years. In fact, based on ETH price prediction, the leading crypto is expected to reach the $5000 mark by the very end of 2022.
As said above, Ethereum is usually the second favorite choice after Bitcoin and it's hard not to see why.
Virtual currencies are highly volatile. Your capital is at risk.
Cardano is defined as a third-generation cryptocurrency that aims to improve the scaling issues of Bitcoin and the smart contract deployment principles of Ethereum.
After the update to the Cardano network in September 2021, the number of smart contracts based on Cardano has seen tremendous growth, which could help Cardano to compete with Ethereum.
2022 could finally be the year we've been waiting for as traders have been buying up ADA in anticipation. Aside from smart contracts, Cardano also launched other features such as token creation.
On top of that, Cardano had some of its best performance ever in 2021, gaining over 720% at the start of the year and at one point momentarily took the third spot of the largest cryptocurrency by market cap.
Smart contracts could either make or break Cardano. It could always be possible that Cardano really is all bark and it never worked anywhere near as well as claimed. It is simply one of those things we have to see to believe as many other cryptos make similar statements of what they are theoretically capable of doing.
Until we get smart contracts, we will not know.
Cardano definitely looks like it could be a great investment. But it is hard to say if the good times will last for the rest of the year.
Virtual currencies are highly volatile. Your capital is at risk.
As the granddaddy of cryptocurrency, Bitcoin was the first crypto to record financial transactions on a decentralized blockchain.
Though Bitcoin was launched more than a decade ago in 2009, Bitcoin is still the number one choice for existing and new investors.
The main purpose of Bitcoin was to revolutionize traditional financial systems and eliminate the need for government-issued currencies by enabling innovative technology and secure payment architecture.
Interestingly, in the early days, many people started buying Bitcoins because of its promising future. As Bitcoin expert Andrew Badr said: "The best part of owning bitcoin is the feeling of participating in the future".
Though Bitcoin has had numerous ups and downs in the past three years — it skyrocketed up to $30,000 in December 2020, months later, it went slightly above $64,000 in April 2021 and in November hit $68,789.
Since then, Bitcoin price predictions have become fairly stable, making it one of the safest options for anyone entering the crypto space for the first time.
But what got us to $64k was when Tesla invested $1.5 billion in Bitcoin and started to accept the crypto as payment for its products in February 2021. The price of Bitcoin hit a new record of $56,000 per coin after the news broke and it just kept climbing.
But there is also potentially a much bigger reason Bitcoin's price might launch upwards this year — and it's to do with money printing.
According to Nickie Louise of Tech Startups, as of May 2021, 40% of all US dollars were printed in 12 months.
With so many more dollars out there, the purchasing power will massively decline and could even lead to a crash. It has meant that many investors have put their money into assets like Bitcoin, which holds its value better.
As much as we love Bitcoin, it would be irresponsible to pretend that it is a perfect investment (if such a thing exists).
Though people talk about it less these days, it should be remembered that there are plenty of other coins out there that are supposedly more technically sound.
Bitcoin could prove to be a very good investment, According to the potential value it could generate in the coming years. Many predictions expect Bitcoin will reach much higher levels, such as one made by Anthony Pompliano who believes Bitcoin could reach $500,000 or even $1 million per coin by the end of the decade.
Virtual currencies are highly volatile. Your capital is at risk.
Another project from our list of the top 10 cryptocurrencies to invest in 2022 is Terra.
Terra is probably a coin you have heard very little about, until now. It plans to create a network of stablecoins to create a more stable digital economy, something the crypto market lacks deeply at this point.
Today, Terra is the biggest dual-token platform. This means it is a platform with two primary tokens that work separately from each other on the same blockchain — LUNA and Terra USD (TUSD).
LUNA acts as the governance token of the Terra network allowing holders to vote on and make proposals to the platform. On top of that, LUNA is also used to stabilize the price of Terra's stablecoins, if required, and holders can make passive income by staking their tokens (Terra uses a PoS protocol).
But that's not all. Terra is also part of the DeFi scene with billions pledged to create new projects on its blockchain, such as the Mirror protocol, which will allow devs to create assets tied to the value of real ones, like stocks.
This impressive array of features has made Terra one of the hottest cryptos of late 2021. But what's got us excited about SOL right now is the Columbus-5 upgrade, which is rumored to greatly improve the network.
Of course, though, nothing is perfect with any crypto and some aren't sold on the idea of a stablecoin ecosystem because it is too dependent on the current fiat system we already have.
Another concern is its relative youth. Having only been tradeable since late 2019, it is very young meaning there is little data on how it could perform, plus, it is likely not very decentralized at this point.
Virtual currencies are highly volatile. Your capital is at risk.
Currently the third-largest crypto by market cap, BNB had a quietly exceptional 2021, and it's not surprising at all when you look into all the different parts of the crypto market Binance has invested in.
First and foremost, Binance Coin gets much of its value by operating as a discount token at the Binance Exchange; traders can get a discount on trading fees when they use the token.
That's all well and good, but what really made BNB stand out in 2021 is the Binance Smart Chain (BSC). A new chain launched by Binance in late 2020 for smart contracts which also uses BNB as fuel.
In February 2021, Binance Coin dramatically rose in value as many devs jumped ship from Ethereum because of historically high gas fees and moved to the BSC because its gas fees are less volatile. (Compatibility with Ethereum's virtual machine was also a big reason to move to the BSC.)
Today, the BSC is the third-largest platform for DeFi projects, ahead of Bitcoin and second to Ethereum, and as the DeFi market continues to grow, BNB usage could grow too.
And finally, it's worth mentioning that if there is another significant bull run in 2022, holding BNB could pay off massively as traders flock to the Binance Exchange — the largest crypto exchange in the world.
BNB is still a great buy, but with the tightening noose of regulation, Binance may get into a lot of trouble in the next few months and years. This is a significant risk that should be considered before investing in BNB.
Virtual currencies are highly volatile. Your capital is at risk.
Dogecoin has marked its position in the list of top 10 cryptocurrencies to buy and invest in 2022, thanks to the expansion of its network to numerous sectors in the market.
Dogecoin took off in 2021 when a group of crypto Redditors decided to make it their mission to pump up the price of DOGE in a similar way to how WallStreetBets pumped up GameStop stock.
But it's not just Redditors who have been bullish on Dogecoin. Snoop Dogg (or Snoop Doge?) and Kiss bassist and vocalist Gene Simmons are also riding this hype train.
However, we all know that Musk is the real one pulling the strings. Recently, it has been revealed that Musk has been working with DOGE developers since as early as 2019. Though he primarily provided advice and connections, he also offered to help fund them, which they refused.
Dogecoin is perhaps one of the riskier investments on this list. There is always the possibility that Musk and Redditors will get tired of Dogecoin.
Further to that, traders should ask themselves — especially after Musk dumped BTC — can he be trusted? Is it possible that he just wants to manipulate the price for his gain or just because he can?
But in all seriousness, Dogecoin is an important coin. Though it started as a joke, it was supposed to lighten up the often serious tone usually used when discussing cryptocurrencies.
At the time of Doge's creation, people were still talking about Silk Road, murder for hire, Mt Gox and money laundering whenever Bitcoin was mentioned. Dogecoin showed people that it was only a small piece of the picture.
With this approach, they managed to reach a far wider demographic than Bitcoin ever could — a new generation, less interested in cryptography, anonymity, and taking down the current financial system. Dogecoin did a lot for cryptocurrency adoption.
Virtual currencies are highly volatile. Your capital is at risk.
2022 looks like another great year to make some smart investments in cryptocurrency, whether that means going deeper into some already strong cryptos or getting involved in some new ones.
For a variety of different reasons, we might see some cryptos reaching new heights — some lesser-known cryptos are moving into the limelight, and some older names quietly exiting out the backdoor.
What we are seeing is the two biggest coins, Bitcoin and Ethereum both look like they might have one more price boom before the end of the year.
Money is pouring into Bitcoin which will likely feed into other top cryptos and Ethereum or Solana is best positioned to benefit from that influx.
Similarly, Binance Coin and Uniswap look like they might also benefit from this trickle-down investment as many traders swoop over to the Binance Exchange and Uniswap and use BNB for its discount.
One thing is for certain though, interest in Metaverse and NFT coins are changing the current market and lesser-known names, such as Maker, ApeCoin Compound, Terra, and Aave are getting a lot of attention.
Of course, we will have to wait and see if those cryptos bring any real value to investors, but there is a strong feeling that they will continue to lead the way for years to come.
Elsewhere, Cardano and Ethereum have big updates coming and XRP is doing pretty well despite the SEC investigation.
So, what we might be looking at in 2022 is a wealth of coins that should be worth a lot more than they are, and it is only a matter of time before people realize and they start to skyrocket.
Bearing in mind though, not every coin on our list of best cryptocurrencies to invest in right now will shoot off! Who knows what will happen in the following weeks and months?
And, of course, remember to keep your eyes on the growing DeFi and metaverse community as well!
Virtual currencies are highly volatile. Your capital is at risk.
Bitcoin is indeed the best cryptocurrency to buy in 2022 because of how successfully it has been adopted. Its popularity makes it safer to invest in because it is harder to hack, making it technically safer and less prone to big price swings.
Being decentralized across hundreds of thousands of users means hackers need a lot of computing power to hack Bitcoin's blockchain.
ApeCoin is the next crypto to explode in 2022 as it has the biggest potential to increase in value because of its recent NFTs launch which happened in April. While it might not reach the same levels as Shiba Inu, it will likely be a huge increase.
Virtual currencies are highly volatile. Your capital is at risk.
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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.