In the second article of the Cryptocurrency-2022 series, we will no longer talk about top coins, but also about other coins that occupy a significant market share in terms of capitalization, but are not among the most popular (well, almost).
So, today we will talk about smart contract platforms . Briefly and with the latest up-to-date data. And of course, we will denote the factors that can affect the pricing of each asset. So that my dear readers can track them and make decisions in a timely manner. Plus we collect statistics.
I will tell you about decentralized finance projects (which are gaining popularity in the last couple of years), non-fungible tokens and metaverses in the following three articles.
Of course, the first crypto asset touted as a powerful emerging (but not ideal, but evolving) smart contract platform is Ethereum. Keep in mind that with varying success, but I cited positive dynamics in the first article in the series. As we know, today it is already trading above $3,000. In addition, the previously mentioned BNB also applies there. We will not repeat. and go further down the list from the top by capitalization.
In third place, with a capitalization of $36 billion, is ADA Cardano. To date, the asset has rolled back to the level of July-2021 with a price of $1.10.
This coin is one of the few that show less dependence on the first cryptocurrency. While Bitcoin reached its new ATH, ADA was already in a negative flat. The All Time High Cardano reached in September 2021 ($3), for Bitcoin it was the time of an upward correction. ADA in that period, on the contrary, went into a negative sideways trend.
This coin is mainly in the hands of “cruisers” (the holding time on the accounts is from 1 month to a year). Today it is more than 70% of holders. The number of asset holders decreased at the beginning of 2021. Today it is 7%. A year ago, it was about 22%, a year and a half – 50%. This could indicate a possible speculative interest in the asset, if not for the indicator of the number of traders. Today it is 21%.
To understand the picture in the last 3 months, let’s take into account the figures of IntoTheBlock, according to which the inflow of funds on the accounts of large investors fell by 90%. However, in the context of the week increased by 130%. Whereas the outflow of funds from such accounts (containing more than 0.1% of the circulating supply) amounted to – 87% and + 155%, respectively.
Finally, given the fact that Cardano is a balance of anonymity and regulatory requirements (due to the collection of metadata, as WhiteBIT analysts write, on which I trade in particular), it is unlikely that this asset will be of interest to the same SEC next year. . This is likely to happen, but in the future, in my opinion. In anticipation of the Basho and Voltaire updates (2023), which should include ecosystem optimization, this asset has a chance to stay stable and, in my opinion, can become an asset for risk hedging (considering, again, not as obvious as for everything market,
The fourth largest asset by capitalization from the sector of smart contract platforms ($22.6 billion). At the same time, it is quite young – the project entered the market in September 2020, but has already earned the title of one of the “Ethereum killers”. It is developing quite quickly (from the latest – the launch of USDC on Avalanche). In addition, the amount of funds blocked in the project’s smart contract (TVL) reached $11.8 billion, which indicates the growth in the prevalence of this network and the interest of institutionalists. For comparison, at the end of January this year, this figure reached 8 billion, and a year ago – $72.4 million.
Investors in it at one time were not only the well-known American venture fund Andreessen Horowitz, but the same Polychain project.
Around mid-August 2021, the Avalanche broke out of the negative sideways movement and began climbing towards its All Time High. The asset reached peak values in November 2021, when AVAX cost $146 per unit.
It should be noted that this is a rather volatile asset. In the last 3 months, a month, a week and even a day, it migrates from recession to recovery. At the same time, it has not fallen to the values of August 2021 since September of the same year.
Finally, the last project in this article is Chainlink with a market capitalization of $7.7 billion. Not only is there a weekly drop of almost 10%, but in general, during the year, the asset showed a high level of volatility (which indicates speculative interest, on the one hand. But more on that later).
LINK’s current price is 68.5% below its May All Time High of $52.8 per unit. At a time when Bitcoin, traditionally leading the crypto market, rose to its top in November 2021, LINK made a slight increase, after which it entered a protracted negative correction.
But it’s worth turning to IntoTheBlock data to build a broader and more detailed picture. More than 64% of the total asset supply (640 million LINK) is concentrated in the hands of whales, which is not typical for most assets. Let’s say for bitcoin the figure is 1.21% (252.6 thousand BTC).
Much depends on the mood of investors. Judging from the statistics of this portal, the number of active traders (coin holders for no more than 1 month) fell by 32.7%, while the number of holders (more than 1 year) increased only in the last 30 days by 23.2%. To date, the number of LINK holders is 43.35%, while a year ago this figure was at the level of 12.34%. Traders, on the contrary, fell from 25.45% to 2.81%, which indicates a low speculative ability of the asset and, probably, investors’ faith in it for the long term. At the same time, the number of “cruisers” (1-12 months retention) remains practically unchanged: 42.21% at the moment now and – 53.84% – a year ago.
However, to understand more precisely, let’s look at investor sentiment in terms of inflow and outflow. Receipts to the accounts of large investors (more than 0.1% of the total supply) increased by 152% over the last week. The outflow of funds keeps around these indicators: +139.7% for the week. If we analyze the mood of large investors in the context of 3.5 months (11/1/2021 – 02/16/2022), calculating the data, we have the following figures: inflows – about 217 million, outflows – about 191 million, while the indicators in February of this year have significantly decreased . Thus, large investors are more interested in storage than resale.