Top five crypto winners (and losers) of 2022

1 year ago

Cointelegraph looks backmost connected the champion and worst-performing cryptocurrencies of 2022 among the apical 100 assets by marketplace capitalization. We utilized the highest and the lowest year-to-date (YTD) returns done the adjacent of Dec. 25, 2022.

Overall, Cryptoindex.com 100 (CIX100), an scale that tracks the 100 best-performing cryptocurrencies, fell astir 68% YTD, suggesting astir apical coins underperformed successful 2022.

Stablecoins are naturalomitted from the database below. Similarly, coins tracking the worth of golden and akin mainstream assets person besides been ignored.

Instead, the coins mentioned beneath see decentralized currencies, astute declaration tokens, speech tokens, and others.

Top 5 crypto of 2022

1. GMX (GMX)

YTD return: 111%
Sector: Decentralized Exchange
Market Cap: $379.4 million

GMX acts arsenic a inferior and a governance token wrong the GMX decentralized exchange (DEX) ecosystem and is the best-performing integer plus among the apical 100 coins (excluding stablecoins).

GMX's terms uptrend mostly picked its cues from the illness of FTX, a centralized exchange, and its listing connected fashionable trading platforms—including Binance and Huobi Global—across 2022. In addition, the token rallied impressively successful precocious November aft its platform briefly surpassed its apical DEX rival, Uniwap successful regular trading fees.

2. Trust Wallet Token (TWT)

YTD return: 92%
Sector: Payment Platform
Market Cap: $570 million

Trust Wallet Token (TWT) serves arsenic a inferior and a governance token wrong the Trust Wallet ecosystem. The token moved little successful tandem with the remainder of the crypto market, mostly successful 2022, but similar GMX, its upside momentum accrued amid the illness of the FTX speech successful November.

As Cointelegraph reported, the FTX's illness boosted mistrust for centralized exchanges, which whitethorn person prompted investors to determination their funds to self-custody wallets similar Trust Wallet. The speculation could person played a large relation successful boosting TWT's valuation.

3. Unus Sed Leo (LEO)

YTD return: -3.5%
Sector: Centralized Exchange
Market Cap: $3.44 billion

Unus Sed Leo (LEO) is autochthonal to the iFinex ecosystem. The token suffered losses successful 2022, but astatine -3.5%, they were small compared to astir apical coins, including Bitcoin (BTC) and Ether (ETH), which mislaid implicit 65% successful the aforesaid period.

One of the reasons wherefore LEO outperformed astir top-ranking assets could beryllium iFinex's pledge. Notably, the steadfast declared astatine the clip of LEO's backstage merchantability successful 2018 that it would employment 27% of its gross to bargain backmost the tokens until the full proviso of 985.24 cardinal units was removed from circulation.

IFinex besides said it would usage the funds it mislaid during the August 2016 Bitfinex hack to acquisition LEO tokens. That explains wherefore LEO rallied by much than 100% astatine the commencement of the year, fixed the uptrend came aft the U.S. Department of Justice recovered 94,000 BTC from Bitfinex hackers.

The rally took LEO's terms to a YTD precocious of $8.15 successful February. However, the token has dropped 55% since, though inactive remaining 1 of the best-performers successful 2022.

4. OKB (OKB)

YTD return: -19%
Sector: Centralized Exchange
Market Cap: $1.38 billion

OKB is the autochthonal token of the OKX exchange. It provides users discounts connected trading fees, entree to OKX's initial speech offering (IEO) platform, and voting rights for tokens to beryllium listed connected the exchange.

OKB trended synchronously with the broader crypto marketplace successful 2022, including its 150% betterment aft bottoming retired astatine astir $9.50 successful June. The token's bullish retracement occurred contempt the lack of a large market-moving event, suggesting it had been mostly speculative.

Overall, OKB's volatile betterment helped it bounds its YTD losses compared to astir top-ranking assets.

5. The Open Network (TON)

YTD return: -33.5%
Sector: Smart Contracts
Market Cap: $3.52 billion

The Open Network is simply a layer-1 blockchain ecosystem developed by the Telegram founders Nikolai Durov and Pavel Durov. Its autochthonal token, TON, trended downward successful enactment with different apical crypto assets during astir of 2022, but recovered impressively up of the year's close.

TON's betterment play coincided with back-to-back optimistic news. For instance, successful October, Telegram announced that it would employment the Open Network to auction usernames. Similarly, the Open Network built a bot the adjacent period that allows Telegrams users to commercialized cryptocurrencies in-app.

Nonetheless, TON failed to recoup each of its losses, inactive down 33.5% YTD astatine $2.36.

Worst 5 cryptos of 2022

1. Terra (LUNA)

YTD performance: -99.99%
Sector: Smart Contracts
Market Cap: $604 million

Terra (LUNA) was became a debacle for the cryptocurrency secti aft its marketplace valuation crashed by 99.99% successful May. The unraveling started with the implosion of Terra's algorithmic stablecoin TerraUSD (UST), marking 1 of the biggest busts successful the crypto industry's history.

Terra's implosion prompted its laminitis Do Kwon to suggest a fork to revive the project. Eventually, Terra underwent a chain split, with the aged concatenation existing arsenic Terra Classic (LUNC) and the caller concatenation arsenic Terra 2.0 (LUNA2).

LUNC jumped astir 100% aft its motorboat successful precocious May 2022 portion LUNA2 dropped astir 40% successful the aforesaid period.

2. FTX Token (FTT)

YTD performance: -98%
Sector: Centralized Exchange
Market Cap: $307 million

FTX Token (FTT) served arsenic a autochthonal token to FTX, which collapsed aft facing a liquidity crisis successful November.

The token continues to commercialized crossed respective exchanges but accompanies mediocre liquidity and volume. It is technically "dead" fixed the defunct presumption of FTX.

3. Solana (SOL)

YTD performance: -93.35%
Sector: Smart contracts
Market Cap: $4.11 billion

Solana (SOL), a layer-1 blockchain protocol, crashed 93.35% YTD owed to a series of atrocious quality each crossed 2022. That includes six network outages successful the year, a $200 cardinal hack connected a Solana-based wallet, and Solana's association with FTX.

More atrocious sum appeared successful the signifier of accusations that Solana is not arsenic decentralized as it claims to be, resulting successful SOL being 1 of the worst-performers of 2022.

4. Axie Infinity (AXS)

YTD performance: -93%
Sector: Gaming/Metaverse
Market Cap: $775 million

Axie Infinity Shard, oregon AXS, serves chiefly arsenic the governance token for Axie Infinity, a play-to-earn (P2E) gaming ecosystem. It besides acts arsenic a ineligible tender successful the Axie Infinity marketplace, wherever in-game nonfungible tokens (NFT) tin beryllium purchased.

The AXS marketplace has consistently trended little successful 2022 owed to underwhelming players turnout (which lowers request for tokens), a $650 hack concerning Axie Infinity's blockchain Ronin successful precocious March, and fears surrounding the unlocking of 8% of supply successful October.

AXS is down astir 93% YTD, becoming 1 of the worst-performing assets successful the existent carnivore market.

5. The Sandbox (SAND)

YTD performance: -92.50%
Sector: Gaming/Metaverse
Market Cap: $690 million

Like Axie Infinity, the Sandbox is simply a virtual level wherever users tin create, own, and monetize their gaming skills utilizing NFTs and SAND, the platform’s inferior token. But contempt archetypal success, the level present has little than 500 unsocial users, according to data from Dappradar.

The little turnout has affected SAND's request crossed spot exchanges, which, successful crook has pushed its terms down 93.50% YTD, arsenic shown below. Other factors down the declining involvement see a wide deficiency of request for riskier assets successful a higher involvement complaint environment.

Other tokens that fell much than 90% YTD are Fantom (FTM), Avalanche (AVAX), Algorand (ALGO), Decentraland (MANA), BitTorrent (BTT), etc.

This nonfiction does not incorporate concern proposal oregon recommendations. Every concern and trading determination involves risk, and readers should behaviour their ain probe erstwhile making a decision.

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