The year 2021 was unprecedented for crypto, with Bitcoin (BTC) and Ether (ETH) increasing by 60.58% and 408.5% respectively throughout the year. For the latter, the explosion of decentralized finance (DFI), non-fungible tokens (NFTs), decentralized applications (DApps) and decentralized exchanges (DEXs) created a whole new digital currency cyberspace built on its blockchain that covers all corners of the globe.

But, this year was also an auspicious year for altcoins, which outperformed BTC and ETH during the same period. So, without further ado, let's take a look at five cryptocurrencies that will go from zero to hero in 2021.

1. Shiba Inu

Of course, in the top spot is the iconic meme token Shiba Inu (SHIB). Originally created as a joke and as a spin-off from Dogecoin (DOGE) in August 2020, SHIB holders recognized a mouth-watering profit of 29,513,624.1% from start to finish in 2021. But the network has evolved far beyond meme status. There is now a ShibaSwap DEX with $324.5 million in Total Value Locked (TVL) at the time of publication, with support for two other native tokens and NFT drops.


At the same time, memes are also making a lot of noise this whole time. Last October, Adam Aron, CEO of AMC Entertainment, conducted a Twitter poll asking whether the famous movie theater chain should accept SHIB tokens as payment for movie tickets. The poll received 153,100 votes in favor of 81.4% of users.

And, loyal to the cause, soldiers of the “Shiba Army” have proven themselves to be ardent defenders of the token when faced against enemies of their blockchain. The past December, Canadian medical Q&A platform Ask the Doctor, a former SHIB influencer, went AWOL and decided to file a lawsuit against Shytoshi Kusama, the volunteer project lead for SHIB, alleging libel. Not only did Kusama fire back (with Tweets), but the Shiba Army launched an all-out attack on the entire (cyber) front. Within hours, Ask the Doctor had lost close to 10,000 out of 58,000 followers on Twitter while its TrustPilot page was flooded with hundreds, if not thousands, of one-star reviews before the platform‘s curators began removing them.


2. Solana

With a gain of 11,120% in 2021, Solana (SOL) managed to live up to its beloved nickname of the "Ethereum killer", processing 1,847 transactions per second and with an average cost per transaction of less than a penny at the time. . Publication. Meanwhile, the Ethereum network can process only 15 transactions per second, with gas costing $133.17 per smart contract execution.

Due to its high efficiency, blockchain has attracted the attention of many developers from FTX-backed game studios, and the most successful NFT project originated in the privacy-enhanced browser Brave from Asia, which has over 42 million users. In December, Twitch co-founder Justin Kahn launched Fractal, a new blockchain gaming-focused NFT marketplace on the Solana network that has over 110,000 members.


3. Dogecoin

It's not often that sequels — being SHIB — feature the original release, but DOGE is still a solid meme token story. With a gain of 2,910% at the end of the year, DOGE caught the attention of celebrities, influencers, investors and blockchain enthusiasts alike. But, let's face it, most were probably in it for the money (and jokes) rather than the technology itself.

One of DOGE's greatest evangelists is, of course, Elon Musk. Colloquially known as "Dogfather", Musk has repeatedly given the meme coin to his 68.9 million followers and even confirmed that Tesla will accept DOGE for business payments. In a Time Magazine interview, Musk said, "Bitcoin is not a good choice for a transaction currency. Even though it was created as a silly joke, Dogecoin is better suited for transactions. Total Transactions". -The transaction flow that you do with Dogecoin, such as transactions per day, has a lot more potential than Bitcoin."

What's more, Dallas Mavericks billionaire owner Mark Cuban has launched a cashback rewards program to encourage freight and ticket payments through DOGE. According to CryptWerk, 1,983 merchants worldwide now accept DOGE as payment, up from 1,206 at the beginning of 2021.


4. Binance Coin

Binance Coin (BNB) ended 2021 with a gain of 1,271%. Previously used only as a rebate for trading fees on the world's largest centralized crypto exchange, Binance, BNB has grown to become a leader in the DeFi ecosystem and is ERC-20 compatible. Since its launch in 2020, Binance Smart Chain (BEP-20) has crossed 1.5 billion in lifetime transactions with a TVL of $16.61 billion. 32.98% of TVL comes from DEX and gaming/NFT platform PancakeSwap, where 3,759 coins are available for a total transaction of $760.2 million in the last 24 hours.

BNB is used to pay gas fees on both BEP-20 as well as Binance Chain and is interchangeable. Binance dedicates a portion of its profits to buy back BNB for permanent removal every quarter. During the 17th quarter burn that occurred in October, $639.5 million worth of BNB was burned.


5. Cardano

According to a recent report by CryptoRanks & Sentiment, Cardano (ADA) was the most developed blockchain in 2021. Over 140,000 GitHub events involving Cardano were reported throughout the year, with Kusama and Polkadot in close second and third. Last September, Cardano received its signature Alonzo fork, enabling smart-contract functionality on its proof-of-stake (PoS) network.

Shortly after, the number of ADA wallets crossed the 2 million mark. At the same time, its founder, Charles Hoskinson, updated enthusiasts on the status of the Hydra upgrade that could theoretically enable the network to process hundreds of transactions per second. In early January, Hoskinson announced plans to gradually transition Cardano to a sustainable open-source project. ADA ended the year with a gain of 673.8 percent.