Not many predicted the events of the past 2 years. In 2021, Bitcoin had a massive surge. Its price has reached an all-time high (ATH) of $68,521 in November. Crypto market capitalization now stands at $2.91 trillion. In the meantime, the DeFi market in particular has gained popularity among investors. It grew by almost $100 billion since the beginning of 2021 and reached a $112 billion market cap.
These and other factors pinpoint that we can expect to see more than just Bitcoin and Ethereum be on the rise next year. There are plenty of altcoins that have promising chances of gaining momentum. Being a PR head at a big crypto processing and exchange platform, I can share my view into what happens in the crypto industry. In this article, I will review seven promising projects and explain why investors might be more likely to take an interest in them in 2022. Please don’t take my personal opinion as any kind of financial advice.
Solana (SOL)
In my view, one of the strongest altcoins in 2021 that can be expected to have steady growth in 2022 is Solana. Previously, I mentioned Solana among gainers, and I remain confident that it’s a promising asset.
It’s built on a proof-of-history (PoH) consensus mechanism which allows the network to be more efficient. While standard blockchain relies on a sequential production of blocks that requires confirmation across the network, PoH allows validators to compute the state of the network from the ledger itself. So the Solana protocol can depend on its own internal clock and sustain a throughput of more than 50,000 transactions per second.
It’s not exactly a new coin but it has seen an astronomical rise in the past few months. In part, this happened due to several prominent dApps operating on the Solana network in the fields of DeFi, e-commerce, non-fungible tokens (NFTs), and gaming.
Solana has a market cap of $65 billion with average volumes of over $1 billion per 24 hours. It is in the top 10 currencies according to the daily volume. It reached an all time high of $260.06 earlier in November and is now trading at $215.54.
Waves (WAVES)
Waves is a platform that can be used to build dApps, smart contracts, and new tokens. It utilizes a proof-of-stake (PoS) consensus WavesNG and the network’s native token WAVES. The token is used as a reward and incentive for mining, payments, and voting. Since it’s an ERC-20 token, WAVES also makes Waves interoperable with the Ethereum network.
With a market cap of over $2.3 billion, WAVES token is strongly placed in the top-100 of crypto coins. Prominent projects are built on the platform including a cross-chain network Gravity, DeFi platform Neutrino, and crypto exchange Waves DEX.
The price of the token reached an all-time high of $41.33 in May 2021. Today it’s trading at around $21 which may mean the price might grow back to this year’s high levels later in 2022. Therefore, I believe it’s worth keeping an eye on.
Terra (LUNA)
Another notable crypto is LUNA, the native currency of the Terra protocol. This base-layer protocol uses stablecoins pegged to the popular fiat rates, for example, TerraUSD. LUNA acts as a reserved asset and helps to maintain the price of these stablecoins.
In October, Terra underwent a Columbus-5 upgrade which enabled Inter-Blockchain Communication (IBC) standard to let users easily transfer LUNA, TerraUSD, and other assets from Terra, making it interoperable with other networks.
Immediately after this update, the price of LUNA token reached a record high of $49.43. The next month, a current all time high followed at $54.77. Right now the token is trading at $43.15 and I expect it to have positive growth during the next year.
yearn.finance (YFI)
Yearn Finance is a group of protocols on the Ethereum network. The yearn.finance platform offers services such as showing interest rates APY, identifying the highest rates for lending, collecting investment strategies in DeFi, and trade bundling that saves costs and labor.
The native token of the platform is yearn.finance (YFI) also known as yEarn. It’s used as yUSDC, yUSDT, and yDAI for executing user transactions. With the help of YFI tokens, users can also earn lending and trading fees.
YFI has reached an all time high of $93,435 in May and is now trading at $32,312. If there are no unexpected bumps in the cryptocurrency markets, I believe YFI is going to be able to affirm its strong position among the investor community during the next year.
Feed Every Gorilla (FEG)
FEG token is a part of the DeFi market that has reached new levels of interest from investors in 2021. This token is hyper-deflationary with a 2% transaction tax that is distributed among token holders and an inaccessible burn wallet. This reduces the circulating supply of currency making it scarcer and more valuable.
Just launched in 2021, it’s still a cheap currency with the current price of $0.000000006. It is only listed on DEX exchanges with centralized exchange listings in the nearest plan, which might help the price and community grow.
Decentraland (MANA)
A few articles ago, I spoke about MANA’s recent solid growth and why it’s worth paying attention to. Decentraland is a 3D virtual reality platform built on the Ethereum network. It allows the creation of applications, games, and dynamic 3D scenes as well as making it possible for creators to monetize their content and applications.
The platform utilizes MANA and LAND tokens. MANA is an ERC-20 token that is used to acquire non-fungible ERC-721 LAND tokens. LAND tokens are basically free NFT slots that can be used to build a part of various districts in the Metaverse. In addition to LAND acquisition, MANA tokens can also be used to purchase avatars, wearables, and other digital products on the Decentraland exchange.
MANA token has reached an all-time high of $4.69 in October. Right now it’s trading at around $3 and seems positioned for a further rally as the Decentraland Metaverse gets bigger.
SuperFarm (SUPER)
SuperFarm is a DeFi protocol that supports the launching of new NFTs on the SuperFarm platform with no programming skills required. SuperFarm is an NFT marketplace that allows users to create their own NFTs, farm coins for NFTs, create ERC-20 tokens, and bind NFTs to videogame items.
SUPER is the utility token of SuperFarm. It’s used for governance, fees, staking, and NFT giveaways. Launched at the beginning of 2021, the token already has a market cap of over $700 million.
In May, SUPER token reached an all-time high of $4.73 and is now trading at $2.06. The future growth will depend on various factors: announcements, new technological solutions of the SuperFarm projects, and the crypto environment in general.
Things You Need to Know Before Buying Altcoins
As can be noticed from the entries we have picked, the DeFi and NFT markets are in the spotlight this year. There are several noteworthy projects in these areas expected to gain traction in 2022, so it’s worth following them. We can also expect several new projects to emerge on the scene. The main priority factors for investors right now are the real or virtual world application of cryptocurrencies as well as the flexibility and security of blockchain protocols.
Most of the tokens we have discussed can be purchased on popular crypto exchanges such as Binance and Coinbase and on DEXs like Uniswap and Sushiswap. If you want to buy or swap them without the hassle of registering and verifying your account, ChangeNOW is a great way to buy one of these coins quickly and without large commissions.
It’s always crucial to do your own research before making any investment decision. While these up-and-coming coins have the potential for big returns, crypto investments can be unpredictable and come with high risks.