5 cryptocurrency projects that created waves in 2021

2021 was a breakthrough year for the cryptocurrency market in many ways, and most investors are thrilled that the Bitcoin (BTC) price established a new all-time high of $ 68,789. In the same time frame, Ether (ETH) went on a parabolic rally that got a price increase of 565% from January 1 to reach a record high of $ 4,859 on November 10.

Although it was a banner year for high-value cryptocurrencies, some of the biggest gains and most effective developments came from the altcoin market where decentralized finance (DeFi) and non-fungible tokens (NFTs) increased by thousands of percent and contributed to to usher in a new level of awareness and adoption for blockchain technology and cryptocurrencies.

Here̵[ads1]7;s a look at five altcoin projects that made significant contributions to the cryptocurrency ecosystem in 2021.

Uniswap

The decentralized exchange Uniswap (UNI) has undoubtedly had the greatest impact on the crypto ecosystem as a whole since its launch in the summer of 2020, with DEX seeing significant growth through 2021 as it helped ease the launch of thousands of new crypto projects by removing barriers to launch. existed on centralized exchanges.

Data provided by Dune Analytics shows that Uniswap has been the dominant DEX throughout the year, and it has consistently seen more trading volume than all other DEXs combined.

As the chart above shows, the volume traded on decentralized exchanges really started to increase in the second half of 2021, mainly led by activity on Uniswap.

Throughout 2021, Uniswap also led the field in development, with the developers behind the protocol that announced the release of Uniswap v3 in March. The V3 upgrade included several protocol upgrades, and it built the foundation for integrating layer-to-scale scaling solutions such as Optimism and Arbitrum with Uniswap as a way to reduce transaction costs and processing time for users.

Aave

Aave (AAVE) is a DeFi lending protocol that allows users to deposit tokens and lend them as a way to earn a return or provide them as collateral to borrow another asset.

As the DeFi sector began to gain traction in early 2021, AAVE emerged as a community favorite thanks to the wide range of supported cryptocurrencies and the support of some well-funded players.

During the year, AAVE expanded its capabilities and reach with the release of AAVE v2, which added support for Polygon, a layer-to-scale scaling solution, and Avalanche, a popular cross-chain blockchain network.

As a result of these additional opportunities, the total liquidity available on the AAVE protocol has exceeded $ 25.7 billion, making AAVE the top-ranked DeFi protocol with total value lock (TVL).

Curve

Curve Finance is a stablecoin-focused protocol that uses an automated market maker to manage liquidity across the platform and across the DeFi ecosystem.

Stablecoins have emerged as a fundamental part of the cryptocurrency community as a whole in 2021 because they provide sufficient liquidity to the market and a safe haven for traders seeking refuge during periods of high volatility.

The growing importance of stablecoins in favor of the Curve protocol and its original CRV by accelerating the integration of stablecoins into many of the best DeFi protocols, including the Yearn.Finance ecosystem and Convex Finance.

Despite the fact that a significant part of the assets locked in the Curve protocol are stack coins, the platform now ranks as the second leading protocol when it comes to TVL behind AAVE, with data from Defi Llama showing that 21.77 billion dollars in value now is locked in the Curve vault.

Curve has also integrated with many of the most active blockchain networks, including Ethereum, Avalanche, Harmony, xDAI, Polygon, Arbitrum and Fantom, which are further evidence of the protocol’s quest to be the stablecoin liquidity provider for the entire crypto market.

Related: The US Financial Stability Oversight Council identifies stack coins and cryptocurrencies as threats to the financial system

Axie Infinity

Axie Infinity is a play-to-earn (p2e) trading and fighting game that allows participants to collect, breed, raise, fight and trade NFT-based creatures called Axies.

The P2e model emerged as a new fan favorite during 2021 because it gives users the opportunity to earn a daily income in addition to gaming, which provides some unique benefits compared to the traditional pay-to-play model.

Along with the increase in popularity of Axie Infinity came a new all-time high for the platform’s original AXS token. As the token stormed to new heights, the platform generated a daily revenue of $ 17.55 million on August 6.

Axie Infinity was also one of the earliest projects to establish the trend of migrating away from the Ethereum network due to high fees and slow transactions. Earlier this year, the project migrated to the Ronin side chain, and in November, the project launched its own DEX called Katana.

Dogecoin

Dogecoin is an open source certificate on cryptocurrency that leads the field of “meme” coins that made headlines throughout 2021.

Although the project has few contributions on the technology or development front, frequent shillings from the likes of Tesla boss Elon Musk and Shark Tank star Mark Cuban helped push Doge into a rally of 23,746% that led to the price rising from $ 0 , 0031 on January 1st. to a record high of $ 0.74 on May 8.

On top of the gain seen in the DOGE award, the token received increased attention after it was announced that it would be used to help fund the launch of a lunar satellite by SpaceX, and the Dogecoin movement also started a meme coin rally and created a number of copy-dog projects such as Shiba Inu (SHIB) and Dogelon Mars (ELON).

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