Most of the leading digital assets in terms of capitalization have doubled or more in price over the past year. But the holders of all the coins are unlikely to be happy that they bought them in January. If bitcoin has brought almost three times profit since the beginning of the year, then XRP has not grown by 100%
2020 has become the year of growth in the cryptocurrency market. Quotes of digital assets began to rise from the first days of January. After a rocket attack in Baghdad killed the head of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps, Qasem Suleimani, and tensions between Iran and the United States increased sharply, not only gold, a traditional defensive asset, but also cryptocurrency rose in price. Bitcoin added more than 20% in 5 days, but this effect was temporary.
In February, growth in the cryptocurrency market, like the stock market, was interrupted due to the growing scale of the coronavirus. Initially, the decline was gradual, but in March it turned into a collapse. The bitcoin rate within two days fell from $ 8.5 thousand to 3.8 thousand. Almost all altcoins lost even more in price – Ethereum, XRP and others.
At the same time, the March decline marked the beginning of a new growth cycle for cryptocurrencies. Billionaires and large institutional investors began to actively invest in them, which positively affected the price of bitcoin and helped to strengthen it in the status of a new asset class.
The editors of topplabs.org have compiled a selection of cryptocurrencies in the top rankings in terms of capitalization, and told how and why the price of these assets increased in 2020.
Bitcoin
Bitcoin entered 2020 at a price of $ 7.2 thousand.In February, the coin rate reached $ 10.5 thousand, but then a sharp drop followed to $ 3.8 thousand.Since then, the growth phase began, which led to an increase in the price of BTC to the current level in $ 27.1 thousand. On December 27, the first cryptocurrency set a new all-time high, rising to $ 28.3 thousand.
One of the growth drivers was the Bitcoin halving that happened in May. Then the reward that miners receive for mining the coin dropped from 12.5 to 6.25 BTC. Also, Microstrategy, Square and other institutional players could have a positive impact, which announced the purchase of the first cryptocurrency as an investment asset that protects capital from the depreciation of the dollar.
Since the beginning of the year, bitcoin has added 275% of its value.
Ethereum
On January 1, the main altcoin was worth $ 130. In February, the Ethereum price climbed to $ 290, but then began to decline along with BTC. In March, the coin fell to below $ 90. After that, a new upward trend began – now ETH is worth $ 735. This is the maximum since April 2018.
In 2020, the key and most anticipated event for Ethereum holders was the launch of phase zero of the second version of the altcoin network. In December, users were able to deposit their ETH into the Ethereum 2.0 deposit contract. Holding coins on this contract allows investors to receive passive rewards for staking the coin.
Ethereum has risen in price by 460% in 2020.
XRP
For the token of the blockchain startup Ripple, the current year was unsuccessful. On January 1, it traded at $ 0.19. XRP showed significant growth in February – then the price climbed to $ 0.34. March brought down the asset price more than twice, on a number of exchanges it dropped to $ 0.1.
Against the background of the beginning of growth in the cryptocurrency market, XRP lagged behind most digital assets. The situation changed in November. In anticipation of the airdrop, the Ripple token rate soared from $ 0.25 to $ 0.9 during the month. However, immediately after that, it fell to the current value of $ 0.29 due to a lawsuit against the company – the US authorities accused it of issuing unregistered securities for $ 1.3 billion.
Since the beginning of 2020, the XRP rate has risen by 59%.
Bitcoin Cash
The Bitcoin fork this year also showed a lagging trend, although the start of the year was good. From January 1 to February 15, the coin rate increased from $ 203 to 493. Probably, the reason for this dynamics was the expectations of halving, which occurred in the cryptocurrency network a month earlier than that of BTC.
In March, the BCH price fell below $ 150. Then she won back part of the decline, but was never able to renew the maximum set in February.
Bitcoin Cash now costs $ 365, 80% more than at the beginning of 2020.
Binance Coin
In 2020, the Binance exchange token was unable to bypass bitcoin and ether in terms of profitability, nevertheless, it brought more profit to its holders than XRP and BCH. On January 1, the altcoin price was $ 13.5. By February, it had grown by almost 100%, to $ 26.5. But like most coins, BNB fell multiple times in March – its rate fell below $ 7.
Then the token began to gradually rise in price. The rise in the value of the coin accelerated after the exchange launched products similar to the DeFi services, which gained great popularity in 2020. So, to date, the coin rate has grown to $ 35, which is close to the local maximum.
In 2020, the value of BNB has increased by 155%.
Litecoin
Litecoin has shown market average results this year. Altcoin lost to Bitcoin and Ether, but bypassed Bitcoin Cash and suffered from the XRP lawsuit. On January 1, LTC was worth $ 42. Within a month, it has risen in price by 100% – to $ 84. During the March collapse, the price of the coin fell below $ 30.
From that moment to October, Litecoin showed moderate dynamics, but then its price began to skyrocket. So, since the end of October, the altcoin rate has risen from $ 47 to the current level of $ 132 and is now at a local maximum.
Over the past 12 months, LTC has increased in value by 218%.
Chainlink
In 2020, the Chainlink token entered the top cryptocurrencies in terms of capitalization, now it occupies 10th position. Altcoin has shown significant growth since the beginning of the year. In January, it cost $ 1.8. By March, the coin has risen in price by 160%, to almost $ 5, but then a rapid drop in price followed to $ 1.6, and on Binance it briefly decreased to $ 0.0001.
Over the next few months, Chainlink has seen exponential growth. Thanks to the popularization of the DeFi sector, for which the developer of the coin provides solutions, its price soared above $ 19. However, this was followed by a fall several times.
Chainlink is currently trading at $ 12.2. The growth since the beginning of the year is 580%.