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Investing.com – The cryptocurrency market has been ultra volatile and full of twists and turns in 2021, a year that has also seen an explosion in the adoption of crypto as an investment, both by individuals and by institutional.
The remainder is undeniably the most important cryptocurrency, its capitalization representing more than 40% of the market. However, Bitcoin is far from being the best performing crypto of the year, other secondary cryptocurrencies, sometimes referred to as altcoins, and much more recent than BTC for some have far surpassed the queen of cryptos in terms of performance. in 2021.
In this article, we will therefore suggest 5 cryptocurrencies other than Bitcoin to keep on your radar for next year. We immediately excluded shitcoins and crypto-memes from our research, to focus on solid projects, which have real usefulness, and which have already proven their worth, while maintaining considerable room for improvement for 2022.
Ethereum: ETH 2.0 launch could change everything
Although it is often criticized for its network congestion which gives rise to slow transfers and / or prohibitive fees, it is difficult to ignore, as the second most important cryptocurrency on the market, just behind Bitcoin. . But above all, Ethereum remains the preferred network for many crypto projects. Indeed, whether in DeFi or NFT, it is often ETH which serves as a platform. For example, more than 90% of transactions related to NFTs take place on its platform.
Additionally, the year 2022 is expected to see a major update to Ethereum, which will become Ethereum 2.0, which will solve the biggest problem Ethereum faces, which is transaction speed. ETH 2.0 will in fact increase the capacity of the network from around 30 transactions per second to 100,000, mainly by switching to the “proof-of-stake” validation method, which eliminates the tedious validation method. involving complex calculations, which also significantly reduces grid energy consumption, a crucial point as investors around the world are now concerned about the ecological impact of their investments.
Decentraland: The ideal crypto to bet on the metaverse
The new strategy of Meta Platforms (NASDAQ :), ex-Facebook, centered on the creation of a metaverse shining the spotlight on several cryptocurrencies that did not wait for Mark Zuckerberg to put the concept into practice. One of the most important of these is without doubt, which is a fully functional metaverse, in which one can buy properties, and participate in games or other online experiences.
MANA, the cryptocurrency used in the Decentraland metaverse, posted a sky-high rise following Facebook’s announcements, and then gave up a good chunk of its gains as part of the current cryptocurrency correction. However, once the dust settles, investor interest in the metaverse will likely still be there, and even heightened, and Decentraland will still be one of the best cryptocurrencies to profit from the phenomenon.
Solana: Ethereum’s most serious competitor
The Ethereum network flaws discussed above have spawned a specific category of cryptocurrencies that display a similar value proposition to Ethereum, while also correcting several major flaws in ETH. is often cited as Ethereum’s strongest and most serious challenger.
Indeed, Solana highlights its massive capacity for processing transactions. At present, Ethereum can only process a few dozen transactions per second, and although ETH 2.0 will eventually remedy this problem, Solana presents a particularly effective immediate alternative, since the network is capable of processing 50,000 transactions. per second.
Solana is also an unexpected candidate in the fight for NFT’s market share. But he turns out to be a strong opponent for Ethereum. When the NFT Solana Apes launched in August, 10,000 tokens were sold in just a few minutes. This event allowed Solana to make herself known. More importantly, it allowed Solana to slowly start taking market share from Ethereum.
IOTA: Crypto specialized in IoT and partner of Dell
Unlike the 3 cryptocurrencies mentioned earlier in this article, rarely made the front page of the specialized press this year. IOTA offers a data security service for IoT (Internet of Things) devices, in other words electronic objects connected to the Internet, such as smart speakers or surveillance cameras. However, this field is set to explode in the coming years, in particular thanks to the possibilities opened up by the speed of 5G mobile networks, which should be fully deployed in 2022.
In addition, IOTA received support earlier this year from Dell Technologies, the computer giant that has partnered with this crypto project. Known as the Alvarium Project, this partnership will focus on measuring the confidence of data before it is used by an application. But beyond the project itself, the fact that a renowned international company such as Dell is working with the IOTA network is a good reason to take cryptocurrency seriously and monitor it closely in 2022.
: Allows blockchains to communicate with each other
Cryptocurrencies and tokens, and the blockchains on which they are based, are more and more numerous in all fields. However, if all blockchains are based more or less on the same basic principles, they are not for all that capable of “communicating” with each other. , created by one of Ethereum’s co-founders, offers a solution that addresses this problem.
Polkadot consists of a main network – the relay chain – and parachains that work in parallel, acting as bridges by connecting to other blockchains. Blockchain technology being used well beyond the cryptocurrency market (for example in the context of supply chain management), and being called upon to become widespread in several sectors, the communication needs between public blockchains, or between blockchains private companies are expected to explode. This should logically be of great benefit to Polkadot, although there are other cryptos that meet this need as well.