The past two years have been crazy for the cryptocurrency community. The year 2021 was surprisingly good for the investors because major cryptocurrencies like bitcoin reached their highest value ever ($68,000) in November 2021. There was a frenzy to buy bitcoin online as people thought its prices would soar higher, which was not the case. The cryptocurrency market has seen a lot of volatility in the first few months of 2022, with the majority of it being negative. The overall crypto market value ranged between more than $3 trillion in November 2021 and less than $2 trillion at times this year before settling at about $2.1 trillion at the conclusion of the quarter. Due to world events in 2022, the market has visibly suffered so let’s take a look at all the major cryptocurrencies and see where they are now.
Dogecoin
Dogecoin is an open-source peer-to-peer digital currency that skyrocketed in early 2021, hitting 74 cents in May after closing the year at less than one penny. Elon Musk has been a supporter of the joke cryptocurrency, tweeting his support for Dogecoin and even accepting the cryptocurrency to buy limited Tesla products. Dogecoin offers very little utility other than trading and holding it as an asset. Current Dogecoin price is $0.058 USD. this currency has a strong community support and has fared well in 2022 so far.
Shiba Inu
Shiba Inu is another highly prospective meme currency in the market that has surpassed its long standing rival- Dogecoin by around 800 percent. Since SHIB was just introduced in 2020, it is still highly variable. It is predicted that the price of Shiba Inu will rise further as it has some exciting projects related to Metaverse in the making. Shiba Inu is definitely a cryptocurrency investors should have their eye on.
Ripple (XRP)
XRP is a payment-oriented digital asset and the original cryptocurrency of Ripple, a crypto payments system. When compared to other digital assets, XRP is noted for its speed, scalability, and cheap cost. The native coin for the XRP ledger, a permissionless, decentralized blockchain technology that can resolve transactions in three to five seconds, is this asset. XRP is a scalable cryptocurrency with a transaction rate of 1,500 per second. The costs on XRP are also relatively cheap, which encourages transactions. Ripple is concentrating on developing new technologies that will broaden the scope of XRP’s applications.
Ethereum
Ethereum is a decentralized blockchain with smart contract capabilities that allows apps to be created on the network and is home to the second-largest cryptocurrency by market value. Ether is its native cryptocurrency. Ethereum was designed to be a computing platform that provides security to open-source blockchains, extending its usefulness to a broad range of applications. Ethereum currently employs the proof-of-work, or PoW, protocol, in which miners validate transactions to ensure the network’s integrity, but it is expected to transition to the proof-of-stake, or PoS, protocol with the release of Ethereum 2.0, which will provide faster transactions, scalability, and energy efficiency.
Bitcoin
By market capitalization, Bitcoin is the most valuable cryptocurrency. It is the most extensively traded and popular cryptocurrency on the market. People are becoming more familiar with it as a means of safely sending digital money to one another. Bitcoin is seen as a store of value or an asset that retains its worth over time despite growing inflation. Despite a recent downturn, the value of Bitcoin has increased dramatically since its inception, far outpacing conventional asset classes, and for those willing to accept the risk, a Bitcoin allocation may be one method to build wealth over time.
Cordano
Cardano, founded in 2017 by an Ethereum co-creator, is an open-source blockchain platform comparable to Ethereum, although it uses the proof-of-stake protocol. While Ethereum has a greater market capitalization, Cardano is the biggest platform to use the PoS consensus process. Cardano has seen rapid growth in the cryptocurrency world. Its staff is dedicated to developing a scalable and secure platform via rigorous research, which it publishes in peer-reviewed academic articles. The platform’s native token is ADA, which enables users to function on the network and may be staked on the platform to be a part of its governance mechanisms.
This year has proven the volatility of the crypto world and how risky it can be for investors that are just starting out. Before you decide to invest your money in any cryptocurrency, always make sure you are up to date on the subject matter and are aware of how the market will turn. It is always recommended that you follow expert advice and then hedge your bets so you can minimize the risk factor involved.