A 2021 Crypto wrap-up with some highs, some lows, and certainly tails of money being made. What to learn for next year.
Estimated reading time: 5 minutes
Table of contents
The crypto market had solid growth
The total market in all coins started the year valued at $775 Billion and will end up northward of
2.5 Trillion.
Bitcoin still dominates the market at 40.3 % of the total cap and had a good year going from the US $23k up to a current us $49k.
For the long-term investor that represents a doubling of your money.
Where to next year is a debating argument and depending on what side you take the results are divided.
I regularly see us$100k or us$150k coin early in 2022 predicted by recognized authorities.
However, some preach a drop from the nest retreating to US$10k because of market forces.
Coin of the year
My vote went to Solana a DEFI coin that competes with Ethereum and Cardano.
Started the year at $2.14 and peaked in August at $41, However, they saw the year out by hitting nearly $180 by December 21
The meme coins went well
ShibuInu went past Dodge coin reaping rewards for gamblers.
A $10 investment could have returned a massive reward.
I mention these because as simple as they are generating little in returns with no real future they get a lot of market sentiment.
Tesla bought Bitcoin and then did a reversal
After spending US$1.4 trillion putting Bitcoin on its balance sheet at US$31k a coin
Elon did a reversal.
He started preaching that Miners in Bitcoin were burning excessive energy and contributing to global warming.
However, change in habits and being reinformed of the standards he reversed his decision and kept his coins.
Certainly, at one stage, he had doubled his money but anyway booked a handsome profit.
It is rumored that SpaceX also owns Bitcoin
China did not ban Bitcoin however they made it better.
China banned Bitcoin mining because it was using up valuable green energy. Well! Who knows why however they did ban mining throughout the country.
This caused an immigration of the China-based miners to other locations around the world.
Mining uses a large amount of electricity so it becomes uneconomical if excess green energy is not available. Solar, Geo-Thermal, Hydro even Volcanic actions are used.
It is now recognised that Bitcoin fixed its problems and saved the bad press thrown at it.
A sovereign country takes on Bitcoin
This may well be the first of many as el Salvador took Bitcoin as a national currency. They issued all residents with a small supply of a locally named coin with an attached wallet.
Furthermore, they bought BitCoin into the national treasury as a hedge against inflation and currently own over one thousand coins.
Access to banking has long been a problem and the world banks have spent billions trying to fix the issue.
Overnight Bitcoin fixed the problem as now most of the population has a saving and spending wallet.
Non Fungible tokens to change the art world
One of the first NFTs was a digital painting by Beeple that sold for$68 a million.
The Beeple sale was the starter’s pistol on one of the fastest and most insane gold rushes in human history – everyone remembers when somebody paid US$1.3 million for a crudely drawn picture of a rock? – and the beginning of crypto’s first proper cultural backlash. It’s little wonder Collins Dictionary declared NFT to be its word of 2021.
In essence, this allows artists to get a return every time their work is sold.
This has to provide proper value return to the originator of the work no matter when or where it is sold.
“Like pieces of art, the NFT can be sold for money or cryptocurrency. However, the token's asset transfer is recorded in the Blockchain just like cryptocurrency. … Each NFT is tied to a digital (or in some cases, physical) asset of the original owner. Technically, anything in digital form can be turned into an NFT.”
A 2021 Crypto wrap-up and the future
Where will the crypto market go in 2022
Certainly, I wish I knew and could give you an informed guide to investing in a volatile market.
James from Invest Answers says that 90% of the 15,000 coins will eventually end up worthless. However, the other 10% will transform our lives in ways unimaginable to many of us.
The use of Blockchain is growing every day and investments into Bitcoin are being made by investors that will not let it go away.
Everyone has their favorites. Raul Paul is into Etherium however Michael Saylor is a Bitcoin fanatic.
Most knowledgeable investors are still bullish on a Crypto future. It may meander along the growth path however it is here to stay.
A fascinating read about cryptocurrency. I am very interested in watching this trend grow and seeing what the different countries are doing about this emerging currency. Personally, I don’t like the idea of it being in a wallet that I could lose the password to (I’m not brilliant at remembering them).
I think for now I will stick with paper money and watch from the sidelines and see what Elon decides in the future.
Hi Lily and I do understand. However the crypto market grew 3x this year which is a reasonable return on investment. Off course the better coins did beet this.
will there be more next year, off course however stay near the top because there is a lot of rubbish.
When 2022 ends and we have another 3x you will be able to say, he told me so.
LOL
Peter H