Cryptocurrencies have not had a good start of the year. According to data compiled by CoinGecko shows that the total market cap of digital coins declined from $2.04 trillion in January to about $1.9 trillion in April. All recovery attempts have stalled. In this article, we will look at the most promising cryptocurrencies to buy and hold in 2022.
1. Ethereum
Ethereum, the second-biggest cryptocurrency, is one of the best ones to buy and hold in 2022. The platform is going through significant changes that will see it attract more developers and investors. The developers are implementing the transition from a proof-of-work to a proof-of-stake network.
They will also introduce the concept of sharding which will make it significantly faster. As a result, there is a likelihood that more developers will chose it for building their applications. Besides, most of them already use it despite its flaws. Therefore, there is a likelihood that Ethereum price will keep growing in 2022.
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2. Chainlink
Chainlink is the biggest smart oracle platform in the industry. Its work is mostly to connect off-chain to off-chain data. Its use is so important in various industries like DeFi and NFTs that require useful external data. Chainlink has a total value secured (TVS) of over $55 billion. Therefore, there is a possibility that the Chainlink price will likely keep rising.
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3. Bitcoin
Bitcoin is a safe cryptocurrency to buy and hold because of its important role in the blockchain industry. It is the biggest coin in the world and it tends to set the tone for other coins. In most cases, other cryptocurrencies tend to rise when Bitcoin rises and vice versa. It is also one of the most held digital coins in the world.
Therefore, if cryptocurrency prices will have a positive year in 2022, there is a likelihood that Bitcoin will also rise. Bitcoin is also gaining traction among institutional investors.
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4. Near Protocol
Near Protocol is another promising cryptocurrency to invest in 2022. It is a proof-of-stake cryptocurrency that is gaining substantial traction among developers. The creators are currently implementing the nightshade sharding upgrade that is intended to make it faster and more scalable.
To build on this mission, Near Protocol raised almost $350 million in April of this year. The fundraising came a few months after the developers raised over $100 million from investors. These funds will go towards building the ecosystem and incentivizing its developers. Further, its total value locked in DeFi has risen to almost $1 billion and there is a likelihood that it will keep growing this year.
5. Mina Protocol
Mina Protocol is a little-known cryptocurrency that is set to have a good year. Its price has already jumped by about 61% from its year-to-date low. Mina Protocol is a blockchain project that uses zero-knowledge (zk) rollups to help developers build fast applications. Its token has a total market cap of over $1.1 billion.
Mina Protocol developers raised over $92 million from venture capital firms. With its SDK set to be launched in 2022, there is a likelihood that the platform will gain traction. If this happens, the Mina price will likely keep rising as more people interact with its platform.
6. Lido DAO
Lido DAO is a leading blockchain project in the decentralized finance (DeFi) industry. The platform is built in Terra, Ethereum, Solana, Kusama, and Polygon. Its Ethereum and Terra networks are the biggest. Lido’s business is in providing liquidity for staked assets.
For example, Lido Staked Ether has a market cap of over $9 billion. Lido has a total value locked of over $17 billion. Lido DAO token has a market cap of more than $878 million. There is a likelihood that it will bounce back in 2022 as more people embrace the network.
7. Anchor Protocol
Anchor Protocol is another safe cryptocurrency to buy and hold in 2022. It is one of the leading DeFi platforms in the world with a TVL of over $25 billion. It is the second-biggest DeFi network after Curve and is the biggest one in Terra’s ecosystem.
Anchor Protocol lets people deposit money in its platform and then start earning rewards as others borrow. In early 2022, the Anchor Protocol price declined after the developers announced that they will be tweaking interest rate earned per month. Rates will either go up or down by 1.5% per month. Still, Anchor is a safe cryptocurrency because its ecosystem is still growing.
8. Avalanche
Avalanche is a leading blockchain platform that aims at helping developers build decentralized applications that are fast. While Ethereum handles less than 20 transactions per second, Avalanche can handle as many as 4,000 transactions. It is also a relatively cheap network, with the average price of a transaction being a few cents.
While the Avalanche network is seeing strong growth, its developers have announced investments worth over $400 million to boost its ecosystem. The first one was Avalanche Rush and the second one is a $290 million for the metaverse. Therefore, the Avalanche price will likely keep rising in 2022.
9. Terra
Terra is one of the fastest-growing blockchain projects in the industry. The network is well-known for its stablecoins such as Terra USD, which has a market cap of over $16 billion. It has also become a leading player in the DeFi industry. Some of the top DeFi applications in the ecosystem are Anchor Protocol, Lido, and Astroport. As one of the fastest-growing cryptocurrencies in the world, LUNA is a good investment in 2022.
10. Cronos
Cronos is a highly-promising cryptocurrency that is set to have a spectacular growth in 2022. It has also attracted many developers in the network. According to DeFi Llama, the network has hundreds of projects that have a TVL of over $4 billion. Some of the apps in the network are VVS Finance, Tectonic, and MM Finance. Therefore, the Cronos price will likely keep rising.