A few years ago, the world didn’t know what to make of cryptocurrencies. But today, cryptocurrencies are the most talked-about assets worldwide. 2021 witnessed the crypto market cap cross $3 trillion for a short period, and currently, the crypto market cap is valued at around USD 2.3 trillion. There are more than 16,500 cryptocurrencies in existence and more than 300 million users partaking in their sale, purchase, and trade. While some coins have smaller trading volumes, some cryptocurrencies have grown very popular among users.  

Bitcoin and Ethereum are the first and second-largest cryptocurrencies by market cap. They account for nearly 60% of the total crypto market, with Bitcoin and Ethereum accounting for more than 40% and 20%, respectively. The past 12 months have seen both ETH and BTC spike 540% and 90% in value. However, various other tokens have surpassed the two and have gone to make much higher gains.

The following is a take on the top crypto asset gainers which outshined BTC’s and ETH’s 12-month returns last year. 

Gala (GALA)

GALA – an innovative Ethereum-based crypto that powers Gala Games, is among the top crypto asset gainers in 2021, with a return of 50,289 percent over the past year. Gala reached an ATH of $0.824837 in November 2021 and a 24h high of $0.343955. Its market cap dominance stands at 0.11%. With a market capitalization of $1.4 billion as of 24 February 2022.

Axie infinity (AXS) 

Axie Infinity is the hugely popular blockchain-based game powered by the Ethereum token AXS. Amongst the top crypto asset gainers, this token rallied a return of 18,9666 percent in 2021 and reached an all-time high of $164.90. The market cap for AXS stands at over $2.6 billion

The Sandbox (SAND) 

SAND is the native cryptocurrency of blockchain gaming project- The Sandbox. The Sandbox comprises more than enough features to become a formidable metaverse crypto. Among the uses of SAND – there is the redemption of rewards earned by payers. While the token grew by 14,629 percent last year, its market cap dominance is 0.21%. SAND saw an ATH of $8.40, and presently its market capitalization is about $2.97 billion

Polygon (MATIC) 

MATIC is the native token for Polygon, a blockchain scalability platform dedicated to connecting and building blockchain networks compatible with Ethereum. Dubbed “Ethereum’s internet of blockchains,” MATIC saw an increase of 12,817 percent this year and currently has a market cap of nearly $9.7 billion.

Terra (LUNA)

The native cryptocurrency of blockchain network Terra is LUNA. LUNA scaled a new ATH of $90 in 2021 and has witnessed an increment of 11,558 percent last year. Currently, the ninth-largest cryptocurrency, LUNA’s market cap dominance is 1.23 percent, and its total market value comes up to $20.13 billion, putting it among the best-performing crypto-asset gainers in recent times.

As is common knowledge, Bitcoin and Ethereum have long remained top-performers in the crypto and even scored decent gains this year. However, various crypto-asset gainers came into the limelight as they scaled phenomenal returns last year.

Disclaimer: Cryptocurrency is not a legal tender and is currently unregulated. Kindly ensure that you undertake sufficient risk assessment when trading cryptocurrencies as they are often subject to high price volatility. The information provided in this section doesn't represent any investment advice or WazirX's official position. WazirX reserves the right in its sole discretion to amend or change this blog post at any time and for any reasons without prior notice.