The cryptocurrency industry was nothing short of suspenseful, with a tinge of heart-wrenching events here and there. The many events that graced the year saw some winners but significantly more losers, with several cryptocurrencies going permanently bust.
In this article, we take a quick look at some of the biggest Crypto Winners and Losers in 2022 based on their year-to-date (YTD) performance between January 1, 2022, and December 31, 2022. Information like this is what we need to direct and shape our investment choices in the new year and other years to come.
So let’s take a look at some of the biggest winners and losers in crypto in 2022.
Top Gainers for 2022
Nest Protocol (NEST)
Open Price: $0.0065
Closing Price: $0.0220
Percentage Change: +219.99%
NEST YTD Chart
Coming in at number 1 as the biggest winner in 2022 is the Nest Protocol. This protocol contains the NEST oracle, the Omnipotent Market Maker (OMM) mechanism, the Probabilistic Virtual Machine (PVM), random information tokenization, and the NEST coin.
NEST, the protocol’s native token that powers and controls the platform, is used to reward contributors from the community. In addition to allowing users to vote on the protocol’s direction (1 NEST = 1 vote), NEST holders are entitled to weekly ETH dividends from the protocol’s fees based on the percentage of NEST staked.
Due to its focus on network development and maintaining decentralization, the NEST token saw an outstanding price performance in 2022 of 220%, making it the biggest gainer of the year.
Platon Coin (PLTC)
Open Price: $0.5149
Closing Price: $0.8409
Percentage Change: +163.89%
PLTC YTD Chart
The Platon Coin token is the second-best gainer on the list, with a comfortable gain of 163.89% in a market where the average YTD standing is -50%.
Platon Coin is one of the protocols that constitute the Platon Life ecosystem, which allows users to make transactions using the PLTC token. PLTC provides customers with an insured digital wallet, providing consumers with insurance of up to EUR 1 million against theft, depending on their membership level. Users have the option of using their PLTC as a stake to generate passive income. Additionally, PLTC can be used to make purchases from partner stores and to take part in promotions for luxury brand products.
Trust Wallet Token (TWT)
Open Price: $0.713
Closing Price: $1.449
Percentage Change: +104.30%
TWT YTD Chart
The Trust Wallet Token (TWT) is the native token of the Trust Wallet community and serves as a utility and governance token on the platform. The token declined along with the rest of the cryptocurrency market, mainly in 2022, but recorded a sharp upward reversal in the wake of the FTX exchange’s failure in November.
Reports show that FTX’s failure increased skepticism for centralized exchanges, which may have led investors to transfer their money to self-custody wallets like Trust Wallet. The increase in TWT’s value might have been significantly influenced by speculative activity.
SSV Network (SSV)
Open Price: $6.66
Closing Price: $10.30
Percentage Change: +55.31%
SSV YTD Chart
The SSV Network is a decentralized staking platform that works much like Ethereum validators. This mode of operation for the decentralized protocol involves distributing a validator key among three or more non-trusting nodes. In general, SSV Network converts a validator key into a multi-signature concept that is managed by a consensus layer.
BinaryX (BNX)
Open Price: $67.1
Closing Price: $71.2
Percentage Change: +21.49%
BNX YTD Chart
Our final pick for the top gainers for 2022 is the BinaryX Coin (BNX). The BinaryX platform is the backbone of the BNB Chain-based game CyberDragon. The game runs on a pay-to-earn (P2E) system in which players can win real tokens with real-world value by playing the game.
The BinaryX platform began as a decentralized derivative trading protocol; however, much has changed, and the system has been improved to accommodate the innovations that have been sprouting up in the GameFi sector.
Though it might not seem like a huge win, a 21.5% close for the year places the BNX in the top 90 percentile of the crypto market.
Top Crypto Losers for 2022
Luna Classic (LUNC)
Open Price: $85.55
Closing Price: $0.00014
Percentage Change: -99.99%
LUNC YTD Chart
Topping the list of losers for 2022 is no other than Luna Classic (LUNC), which essentially kickstarted all the woes faced by the crypto industry for the year 2022.
Terra was a colossal failure for the cryptocurrency sector after its market valuation plummeted by 99.99% in May. The network’s downfall came with the historic implosion of Terra’s algorithmic stablecoin, TerraUSD Classic (USTC).
FTX Token (FTT)
Open Price: $38.31
Closing Price: $0.857
Percentage Change: -98.06%
FTT YTD Chart
Another major defining moment for the crypto space in 2022 was the collapse of the FTX exchange, which cemented the year as one of its worst yearly performances on record. The FTX Token (FTT) served as the native token for FTX and was heavily affected by the liquidity crisis that ravaged the company.
The token is still traded on several exchanges, but with low liquidity and volume, and is technically “dead” due to FTX’s defunct status.
Solana (SOL)
Open Price: $169.98
Closing Price: $9.66
Percentage Change: -94.61%
SOL YTD Chart
Due to a string of negative headlines throughout 2022, Solana, a prominent layer-1 blockchain protocol, experienced a 94.61% YTD price drop. Some of the unfortunate events that led to this outcome include six network failures throughout the year, a $200 million wallet heist, and Solana’s unfortunate connection to FTX.
SOL underperformed in 2022 as a result of further negative press that surfaced, including assertions that Solana is not as decentralized as it claims to be.
Axie Infinity (AXS)
Open Price: $93.30
Closing Price: $5.94
Percentage Change: -93.76%
AXS YTD Chart
With over 1 million active users, Axie Infinity is one of the most prominent blockchain games out there. It has NFT creatures that players can employ to team up with and compete against one another.
However, the “Ronin” network, which supports Axie Infinity, was breached on March 29, and $615 million worth of cryptocurrency was stolen. It was one of the biggest heists in cryptocurrency history, as we highlighted in a previous ranking. Since then, the US Treasury Department has claimed that a North Korean hacking group was responsible for the attack, but it has been unable to get the stolen funds back.
The Axie Infinity token price was already suffering from the crypto meltdown when the Ronin bridge was breached. That said, news of the hack pushed it into a complete tailspin, causing it to remain on the back foot till the end of the year.
Filecoin (FIL)
Open Price: $34.20
Closing Price: $2.95
Percentage Change: -91.72%
FIL YTD Chart
Filecoin is a decentralized cloud storage network that hosts reliable industry apps such as Chain Safe Storage, Estuary, and Space Storage by Fleek. These Dropbox and Google Drive rivals aim to upend the cloud storage market by providing inexpensive, blockchain-powered alternatives.
However, despite this grand objective, investors have sold off Filecoin like hotcakes. This comes despite the Filecoin network not being impacted by any significant events in the year. Therefore, it’s not evident why this coin has performed so poorly in comparison to others.
Based on our data and internal research we created this list of the biggest Crypto Winners and Losers in 2022. Do you agree with our list? If you don’t, please put your comments down below and we might extend our list.
