5 cryptocurrency tasks that made waves in 2021

2021 was a breakout 12 months for the cryptocurrency market in lots of respects and most buyers are completely thrilled that Bitcoin (BTC) worth established a brand new all-time excessive of $68,789. In the identical timeframe, Ether (ETH) went on a parabolic rally that noticed its worth achieve 565% from Jan. 1 to hit a document excessive at $4,859 on Nov. 10.

While it was a banner 12 months for giant cap cryptocurrencies, a number of the greatest beneficial properties and most impactful developments got here from the altcoin market the place decentralized finance (DeFi) and nonfungible tokens (NFTs) rallied by 1000’s of p.c and helped to usher in a brand new degree of consciousness and adoption for blockchain expertise and cryptocurrencies.

Here’s a have a look at 5 altcoin tasks that made important contributions to the cryptocurrency ecosystem in 2021.

Uniswap

The decentralized trade Uniswap (UNI) has arguably had the best impression on the crypto ecosystem as an entire since launching in the summertime of 2020, with the DEX seeing important development all through 2021 because it helped facilitate the launch of 1000’s of latest crypto tasks by eradicating the limitations to launch that existed on centralized exchanges.

Data offered by Dune Analytics reveals that Uniswap has been the dominant DEX all year long and it has constantly seen extra buying and selling quantity than all different DEXs mixed.

As seen on the chart above, the amount traded on decentralized exchanges actually began to ramp up within the second half of 2021 led largely by exercise on Uniswap.

Throughout 2021, Uniswap led the sphere in growth as nicely, with the builders behind the protocol saying the discharge of Uniswap v3 in March. The v3 improve included a number of protocol upgrades and it constructed the muse to combine layer-two scaling options like Optimism and Arbitrum with Uniswap as a means to assist cut back the transaction prices and processing occasions for customers.

Aave

Aave (AAVE) is a DeFi lending protocol that permits customers to deposit their tokens and lend them out as a approach to earn a yield or pledge them as collateral as a way to borrow one other asset.

As the DeFi sector began to realize traction in early 2021, AAVE emerged as a neighborhood favourite because of the huge swath of crypto belongings supported and the backing from some well-funded gamers.

Over the course of the 12 months, AAVE expanded its capabilities and attain with the discharge of AAVE v2, which added assist for Polygon, a layer-two scaling resolution, and Avalanche (AVAX), which is a well-liked cross-chain blockchain community.

As a results of these added capabilities, the overall liquidity obtainable on the AAVE protocol has surpassed $25.7 billion, making AAVE the top-ranked DeFi protocol by complete worth locked (TVL).

Curve

Curve Finance is a stablecoin-focused protocol that makes use of an automatic market maker to handle liquidity on the platform and throughout the DeFi ecosystem.

Stablecoins have emerged as a foundational piece for the cryptocurrency neighborhood as an entire in 2021 as a result of they supply enough liquidity for the market and a secure haven for merchants looking for shelter in periods of excessive volatility. 

The rising significance that stablecoins have benefited the Curve protocol and its native CRV by accelerating its integration of stablecoins into most of the high DeFi protocols, together with the Yearn.Finance ecosystem and Convex Finance.

Despite the truth that a good portion of the belongings locked on the Curve protocol are stablecoins, the platform now ranks because the second main protocol by way of TVL behind AAVE, with information from Defi Llama exhibiting that $21.77 billion in worth is now locked in Curve vaults.

Curve has additionally built-in with most of the most lively blockchain networks, together with Ethereum, Avalanche, Harmony, xDAI, Polygon, Arbitrum and Fantom, which is additional proof of the protocol’s quest to be the stablecoin liquidity supplier for the whole crypto market.

Related: US Financial Stability Oversight Council identifies stablecoins and cryptos as threats to monetary system

Axie Infinity

Axie Infinity is a play-to-earn (P2E) buying and selling and battling sport that permits individuals to gather, breed, increase, battle and commerce NFT-based creatures referred to as Axies.

The P2E mannequin emerged as a brand new fan favourite over the course of 2021 as a result of it supplies customers with the flexibility to earn a every day earnings alongside their gameplay, which affords just a few distinctive benefits when in comparison with the standard pay-to-play mannequin.

Alongside the rise in reputation of Axie Infinity got here a brand new all-time excessive for the platform’s native AXS token. As the token stormed to new highs, the platform generated a every day income of $17.55 million at its top on August 6.

Axie Infinity was additionally one of many earliest tasks to ascertain the development of migrating away from the Ethereum community due to excessive charges and sluggish transactions. Earlier within the 12 months, the undertaking migrated to the Ronin sidechain and in November, the undertaking launched its personal DEX referred to as Katana.

Dogecoin

Dogecoin (DOGE) is an open-source proof-of-work cryptocurrency that leads the sphere of “meme” cash that made headlines all all through 2021.

While the undertaking has few contributions on the technological or growth entrance, frequent shilling from the likes of Tesla CEO Elon Musk and Shark Tank star Mark Cuban helped to push Doge right into a 23,746% rally that noticed the worth rise from $0.0031 on Jan. 1 to an all-time excessive of $0.74 on May 8.

On high of the beneficial properties seen in DOGE worth, the token acquired elevated consideration after it was introduced that it could be used to assist fund the launch of a lunar satellite tv for pc by SpaceX and the Dogecoin motion kicked off a meme-coin rally, spawning a bevy of copy-dog tasks like Shiba Inu (SHIB) and Dogelon Mars (ELON).

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