Cryptos Firm At The End Of A Historic Year

By RTTNews Staff Writer | Published: 12/30/2021 8:26 AM ET

Cryptocurrencies numbering more than 16000 are approaching the fag end of 2021 with mixed emotions. Most of the top-15 cryptocurrencies had found their best levels in 2021. The only exceptions are XRP, and stablecoins Tether and Binance USD.

However, there is palpable gloom as well. Despite the staggering valuation gains in 2021, the aggregate market capitalization which had peaked at $2.97 trillion in mid-November is just around $2.23 trillion near the end of December.

Market leader Bitcoin (BTC), which scaled its best level of $68,789.63 in November 2021 is currently trading at $47,636.19, almost 31 percent below the peak. Bitcoin’s market capitalization which almost touched $1.3 trillion during the same time is now only $901 billion. 2021 would be remembered for Tesla’s investment in Bitcoin, the legal tender status in El Salvador, launch of futures-based ETF as well as the Taproot upgrade.

Rival contender and lead alternate coin Ethereum (ETH) which also touched an all-time high in November 2021 is also significantly lower than the peak level. Ethereum’s current price of $3,742.25 is 24 percent below the $4,891.70 peak. EIP 1559 or the London Hard Fork was a major milestone for Ethereum in 2021.

Third-ranked Binance Coin (BNB) is currently trading at $526.61, 24 percent below the all-time-high of $690.93 level recorded in May 2021.

Fifth-ranked Solana (SOL)’s current price is $175.41. SOL, dubbed the fastest blockchain, had touched a record high of $260.06 in early November. The drop in price since then is around 33 percent.

Sixth ranked Cardano (ADA) had touched an all-time high of $3.10 in September 2021. It has since slipped around a whopping 56 percent to trade at $1.37.

Ninth ranked Terra (LUNA) scaled fresh peak of $103.33 three days ago. But it too has dropped around 17 percent and is currently trading at $87.27.

Tenth ranked Polkadot (DOT) and 11th ranked Avalanche (AVAX) scaled all-time highs in November 2021. DOT is now trading at $27.99, 50 percent below the peak of $55 whereas AVAX is currently trading at $105.08, 29 percent below the all-time high of $146.22.

12th ranked meme-coin Dogecoin (DOGE) slipped more than 75 percent from its peak of $0.7376 touched in May 2021. The coin has seen great support in 2021 from the likes of Elon Musk.

13th ranked meme-token SHIBA INU (SHIB) is currently trading at $0.00003416 versus the level of $0.00008845 touched in late October.

14th ranked Polygon (MATIC) touched a record of $2.92 three days ago and at current level of $2.56, has fallen just 14 percent from that peak.

Market capitalization of the Smart Contracts category is currently at $666 billion. DeFi market cap is at $168 billion whereas Stablecoins command a market capitalization of $163 billion. Web 3 category market capitalization aggregates to $75 billion, closely followed by the Research category which has a $61 billion market cap. NFTs & Collectibles related cryptocurrencies add up to $58 billion in market cap whereas memes category size is $43 billion. Metaverse cryptos have an accumulated market cap of $39 billion.

At press-time, Bitcoin (BTC), Ethereum (ETH), Binance Coin (BNB), Solana (SOL), Cardano (ADA), XRP (XRP), Terra (LUNA), Polkadot (DOT), Avalanche (AVAX), Dogecoin (DOGE), Polygon (MATIC), Algorand (ALGO), Litecoin (LTC), TerraUSD (UST), and NEAR Protocol (NEAR) are the 15 top ranking coins in terms of market capitalization.

In the tokens category, Tether (USDT), USD Coin (USDC), SHIBA INU (SHIB), Binance USD (BUSD), Crypto.com coin (CRO), Wrapped Bitcoin (WBTC), Uniswap (UNI), Chainlink (LINK), Dai (DAI), Decentraland (MANA), Axie Infinity (AXS), FTX Token (FTT), The SandBox (SAND), Bitcoin BEP2 (BTCB), and UNUS SED LEO (LEO) rank in the order of market capitalization.

2021 was indeed a defining year for cryptocurrencies. Valuations skyrocketed as NFTs, Web 3, Metaverse, DeFi etc. and a host of other innovative adaptations of blockchain technology exploded on the global digital assets landscape.

Crypto world would be welcoming 2022 hoping blockchain technology would permeate newer realms, cryptocurrencies would scale new price peaks and digital assets would be accepted even more into the mainstream. Lingering anxiety regarding a tight monetary policy regime and fear of greater regulatory control could moderate price hike expectations to a limited extent.

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Article written by an RTT News Staff Writer, and posted on the RTT News.com website.

Article reposted on Markethive by Jeffrey Sloe