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Year in, and year out, people continue to wonder how long the crypto hype is going to continue. The volatility of the market keeps leading some to believe that the digital currency’s time has ended. But without fail, it always pops back up again… why?

This month at The Fintech Times we will be looking at what makes digital currencies so popular. We will also uncover the emerging alternatives to cryptos and why the digital future looks so intriguing. Rounding out the month, our focus is going to be on quirky currencies, looking at the top-performing currencies of the year, as well as which are most sustainable.  

In this article, we hear from Rashid Ali, CEO of Exarta; Grzegorz Drozdz, junior market analyst at Conotoxia; and Daniele Servadei, co-founder of Sellix, about their top cryptos over the last year

Grzegorz Drozdz, Junior Market Analyst at Conotoxia Ltd.

Since the beginning of the year, the cryptocurrency market seems to have been in a cyclical downturn.

According to data from the Statista portal, the capitalisation of the entire market has fallen by about 58 per cent since the beginning of the year, from $2.3trillion to $0.97trillion. Still, in terms of capitalisation, Bitcoin tops the list. It accounts for about 40 per cent of the cryptocurrency market’s turnover, according to Coingeco statistics. Additionally, more than 90 per cent of all 21 million bitcoins have already been dug up.

The biggest winners since the beginning of 2022 among the TOP 200 according to the current capitalisation of the Cryptorank portal are:

BinaryX (116 per cent YTD)

Trust Wallet Token (57 per cent YTD)

ABBC coin (31 per cent YTD)

Bitgert (15 per cent YTD)

UNUS SED LEO (14 per cent YTD).

After numerous votes and statistics regarding the CO2 emissivity of the system for digging cryptocurrencies, of which bitcoin is one, many projects have decided to change their computing architecture to “Proof of Storage” or “Proof of Stake.”

The largest project that has done this is Ethereum. It is estimated that ETH’s energy consumption has decreased by 99.99 per cent. Additional examples of green cryptocurrencies include: Cardano (-81 per cent y/y)., Stellar (-67 per cent y/y), and IOTA (-80 per cent y/y).

The most volatile cryptocurrencies since the beginning of 2022, according to the Cryptorank portal, are:

Bankera (OLD) (41990 per cent YTD)

Tierion (15588 per cent YTD)

Insolar (12286 per cent YTD)

smARTOFGIBING (4890 per cent YTD).

AREON (4027 per cent YTD)

As it turns out, the current year has been extremely difficult for the broad market. Someone could get the feeling that cryptocurrencies have become one of the biggest beneficiaries of low-interest rates and global additions. Presently, they seem to appear as one of the biggest casualties.

Additionally, this seems not to be helped by the damaged confidence towards stablecoins. Until countries change their monetary policies and attitudes towards the cryptocurrency market, there seem to be no positive signs for them.

Daniele Servadei, co-founder of Sellix

It seems like we’ve seen everything in crypto this year—from video games that allow players to earn money to coins with feeless transactions. It seems as though there is a crypto token option for everyone and we have really enjoyed watching it take shape. Our top 10 cryptocurrencies in 2022 are:

1. Bitcoin

It all started with Bitcoin. The original still has one of the best blockchains, an UTXOs model almost lost in new coins and a fantastic community behind it.

2. Ethereum

This coin is really great for smart contracts and it’s one of the most used cryptos on the market. Plus, they made enormous strides in reducing their carbon emissions.

3. Monero

As privacy is concerned, Monero is the very best.

4. Bitcoin Lightning

The lightning network has all the perks of bitcoin, but the transactions are instant and its fees are very low.

5. Tron

This company has one of the most used chains and it’s a viable alternative to Ethereum.

6. USDT

Legal troubles notwithstanding, USDT is pegged to the USD and maintained by Tether. USDT is a stablecoin and it’s the most used crypto coin for trades.

7. USDC

Like USDT, USDC is a stablecoin pegged to the USD. However, it’s maintained by Coinbase, a US alternative to USDT, regulated by the United States government.

8. Nano

Nano is—in our opinion—the first digital currency for everyone. It has no fees and doesn’t rely on mining, printing or minting. It’s a truly sustainable solution to money.

9. Concordium

Legislations are on the way, and Concordium is the best choice for protecting privacy while ensuring accountability across the board.

10. Binance Coin

Powering the Binance ecosystem, BNB and the BEP20 chain are key to low fees for transactions and token interchanges (such as USDT).

A lot happened in the crypto realm this year and we’re eagerly anticipating 2023.

Rashid Ali, CEO of Exarta

This year has been incredibly exciting for crypto. As decentralised currencies become more mainstream, investors have more confidence in crypto, more ways to use their digital tokens and more ways to find a coin that suits their needs.

The Ethereum company has made huge strides in helping protect the environment. They reduced energy consumption by 99 per cent, and it’s still the second-largest decentralised currency behind Bitcoin, which hasn’t managed to reduce its carbon emissions.

Not only has Ethereum reduced its emissions drastically, it has experienced enormous growth. In 2016, one Etherium coin was $11. In September of 2022, it was $1,388. That is 12,518 per cent.

This is exciting because it sets an example for other companies to follow. Not only does reducing energy consumption helps the environment, it makes producing crypto coins much more efficient for the company. That reduces costs and makes it more enticing to potential investors.

Binance Coin, at its beginning, was a form of decentralised currency people can use to trade and pay fees on the Binance crypto exchange. Investors can still use it for that, but it can also be used for trading, payment processing or even booking travel arrangements. Users can also use Binance Coin for buying other cryptos such as Ethereum or Bitcoin. Binance grew from $0.10 in 2017 to $283 in 2022.

Investors looking for a fun, creative coin may want to check out Dogecoin. It started as a joke, sure, but it’s no joke that it went from $0.0002 in 2017 to $0.06 in 2022. That’s an increase of nearly 30 thousand per cent in only a few years. Who would have thought memes could have that kind of value?

This year has been fantastic and I am optimistic and eagerly waiting to see what 2023 holds for decentralised currency.