Since the rise of Bitcoins price and market capitalization, there has been a sudden hype in the crypto industry around altcoins. This has led to many people becoming curious about which coin will likely create a buzz in the year.
In this article, we have compiled the top 10 coins by market cap at the end of 2021. These coins have had some tremendous developments in the past. They will likely stay in the news in the year – especially their pricing graph, trading volume, and market capitalization.
So, if you have plans to invest in cryptocurrency in the year, you can consider these coins. According to market trends so far, 2021 is going to be the best year to invest in cryptocurrencies. And since there are over 7000 plus cryptocurrencies, we have decided to share with you the top coins by market cap to watch out for this year. With these, you can make your investment decisions accordingly.
Let’s get started.
Top 10 Coins by Market Cap at the end of 2021
Bitcoin (BTC)
It is the first on our list because we cannot talk about cryptocurrency investment without mentioning bitcoin. That is because Bitcoin is the most used cryptocurrency to date, and it is often referred to as “the king of cryptocurrencies.” The main goal of bitcoin is to become a global peer to peer, digital cash, which is detached from any form of government regulations and thus finally decentralized.
Currently, Bitcoin has a market cap of $1 trillion with a circulating supply of 18 million BTC. The coin is presently ranked #1 in CoinMarketCap with 24 hours trading volume of $65billion. The digital coin price has been on the bullish run since the beginning of the year, and we believe that it will continue in the year. With the history of BTC and the popularity, its market cap will continue to increase in the year.
Ethereum (ETH)
Ethereum is a cryptocurrency built on top of the open-source Ethereum blockchain, which runs smart contracts. The cryptocurrency has hosted projects which is, while it is seen as the fuel that allows smart contracts to run, unlike BTC, which is only a unit of currency on a P2P payment network. The Ethers supply is not capped like the BTC. It is the members of Ethereum’s community that determines the supply schedule needed to secure a network. A majority of the decentralized applications are based on Ethereum. This makes the Ethereum cryptocurrency to account for the highest percentage of the total funds staked in the decentralized finance projects.
Currently, the Ethereum price is hovering around $2,000. The coin is ranked #2 in coinmarketcap with a market cap of approx $230 billion. It has a circulating supply of 114 million ETH. Considering the various Defi projects and the surging popularity in Defi, we believe that Ethereum will be one of the top 10 coins by market cap in the year.
Polkadot (DOT)
Polkadot is an open-source protocol for sharding that allows for transferring data and tokens between two different blockchains. It is based on interoperability that seeks to build a fully decentralized and private network to develop applications and services. The three native tokens of the cryptocurrency have three goals; creation of parachains, network governance, and operations.
Since the listing of the coin on major cryptocurrency exchanges late last year, the price of the coin has been surging high.
Currently, the coin’s price is approx $37, with a market cap of $34 billion. The coin is ranked #4 in coinmarketcap with over 909 million DOT in circulation. Polkadot is on the right track to permanently join the group of the most important cryptocurrency projects with the project’s current ongoing growing ecosystem.
Binance Coin (BNB)
Binance, the company behind the BNB, has created a name for itself. The crypto exchange platform is one of the fastest-rising exchanges in the crypto space. The team behind the utility token is experienced, which will lead to more innovations in the platform.
As the platform grows, the BNB value will keep growing due to its affiliation to the platform. Binance coin is one of the most liquid cryptocurrencies right now and is ranked within the top 10 on Coinmarketcap. The BNB coin price is hovering above $250, with a market cap of $45 billion. It is ranked #3 in coinmarketcap with over 154 million BNB in circulation.
Binance is growing fast, and all transactions on the platform are done using Binance Coin, making BNB one of the fastest-growing cryptocurrencies to watch out for this year. The market cap has the capacity of surging in the year.
Cardano (ADA)
The team behind this cryptocurrency is made up of academias and engineers, which entails why it is offering a whole new approach to scaling and securing a blockchain network. Cardano is a non-profit platform with three different bodies which are responsible for the maintenance and development of the platform. The traditional native token of the platform is ADA which can be used for direct value transfer.
The token has been on the news since the beginning of the year. Many crypto enthusiasts see the coin’s value increasing in the year due to the numerous ongoing innovations. Presently, Rock star Gene Simmons tweeted that he has purchased $300,000 Cardano cryptocurrency. These and many other investments on the token will increase the ADA market cap in the year. The current price of ADA is approx $1 with a market cap of $32 billion. There is over 31 billion ADA in circulation, and it is ranked #6 in coinmarketcap.
Tether (USDT)
Tether is a stablecoin issued by a Hong Kong-based company, Tether, which mirrors the United States dollar price. The value of the token to USD is attained through the maintenance of the sum of dollars in reserves that is equal to the number of USDT in circulation. Given its unique feature, which guarantees that the Tether value remains the same as the US dollars, it means that the demand for USDT will increase in the year, thereby increasing the market cap.
Stablecoins like Tether have stirred the cryptocurrency industry by offering more stability in a volatile market. The Tether helps digitalize the US dollar and make transactions easier, faster and cheaper on the blockchain, making it a viable investment. So, it means that as the popularity of cryptocurrency grows, the demand for Tether will increase, which will lead to an increase in the market cap.
Tether has a market cap of $34 billion. Given, it’s a stablecoin and has its value pegged to 1 USD, the circulating supply of Tether directly correlates to its market cap, which is currently around 34 billion USDT and is ranked #5 in coinmarketcap.
Chainlink (LINK)
Chainlink is a tokenized oracle network that provides price and events data collected from on-chain and real-world sources. It aims to offer a solution to the various oracle problems or solve the chain data issues needed to operate any blockchain-based smart contracts.
The various innovations on the chainlink ecosystem (more than over 350 partnerships) and the current growing adoption of cryptocurrencies by individuals and investors are increasingly accelerating the chainlink enterprise.
Already, many crypto experts have revealed that the value of the coin will increase in the year. And looking at the price chart of LINK, you will see that the coin had a promising start at the beginning of the year. LINK’s current price is approx $35 with a market cap of $14 billion. The coin is ranked #9 in coinmarketcap with over 1 billion LINK coins in circulation.
USD Coin (USDC)
USD Coin is a stablecoin that is pegged to the US dollar on a 1:1 basis. The cryptocurrency circulation is backed up by $1 held in reserve in a mix of cash and short-term US treasury bonds. All of the USDC’s in circulation are ERC-20 tokens which are found on the Ethereum blockchain.
The market cap of the USDC is likely to increase in the year because of the current economic challenges which various central banks are facing. The current inflations are making investors look for alternative ways of storing their assets. USDC provides a safe avenue that allows individuals and traders to store their wealth without losing its value because it is dependable and seen as the world’s reserve currency. Another advantage is that the USDC can be changed back to USD at any time without losing its value.
The USDC currently has a market cap of $7 billion and is ranked #13 in coinmarketcap. There is over 7 billion USDC in supply. Similar to USDT, it’s also a stablecoin, and the price of the coin is pegged to $1.
Uniswap (UNI)
Uniswap is a governance token for Uniswap protocol used to exchange ERC – 20 tokens on Ethereum in an automated liquidity provision manner. Just as the Defi sector’s popularity is increasing, the decentralized exchange (DEX) is also rising.
Uniswap exchange, which is the leader of the DEX, has seen increased popularity since the last quarter of 2020. And there are indications that the growth in popularity of this industry will continue this year, 2021. Presently, crypto traders are flocking to Uniswap because it is the preferred platform for crypto strategies like yield farming. It is because some traders are getting triple-digit returns by pooling and lending cryptocurrencies in exchange for interest and fees while being awarded more coins as incentives.
The UNI is ranked #12 in coinmarketcap with over 301 million UNI in circulation. The market cap is $8 billion and is capable of increasing in the year due to the growing popularity of the decentralized platform.
AAVE
Aave is a decentralized finance protocol that allows people to lend and borrow crypto. The system works by enabling lenders to earn interest by depositing digital assets into specially created liquidity pools. The system will enable borrowers to use their crypto as collateral to take out a flash loan using this liquidity.
The way the Aave protocol was designed removes the services of a middleman. It means that Aave users don’t trust a particular institution or person to manage their funds. They only need to trust that its code will execute as written. Its borrowing and lending features are drawing people’s attention to it.
With the rising of Defi, we believe that the Aave market cap will increase in the year. The current price of Aave is $475 with a market cap of $5 billion. The coin is ranked #16 in coinmarketcap with over 12 million Aave coins in circulation.
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Written by: Narender Charan
