The crypto market hasn’t had the best start this year. Uncertainty around COVID-19 and the Russia-Ukraine war may have pushed away many investors who were thinking about making a long-term investment in digital currency.
However, the decline in cryptocurrency prices also offers an opportunity for investors to buy quality cryptocurrencies at lower prices. Amid such a backdrop, let’s take a look at the ten worst-performing cryptocurrencies in 2022 so far.
The Ten Worst-Performing Cryptocurrencies So Far In 2022
We used the year-to-date return data from CoinMarketCap as of Feb. 28 to rank the ten worst-performing cryptocurrencies in 2022 so far, in reverse order. We have only included cryptocurrencies with a market cap of more than $1 billion.
10. Aave (-46%)
Aave was originally launched in November 2017 as ETHLend but was rebranded to Aave in September 2018. Aave is mainly a decentralized finance protocol that allows users to lend and borrow cryptocurrency. AAVE is down by over 19% in the last 30 days and is currently trading at around $114.60. It has an all-time high of $666.86 (May 2021).
9. Stacks (-46%)
Initially known as Blockstack, this cryptocurrency was rebranded to Stacks in the fourth quarter of 2020. Stacks is primarily a layer-1 blockchain solution that aims to bring smart contracts and decentralized applications (DApps) to Bitcoin. STX is down by almost 22% in the last 30 days and is currently trading at around $1.046. It has an all-time high of $3.61 (November 2021) and an all-time low of $0.04501 (March 2020).
8. Solana (-46%)
Officially launched in March 2020, Solana uses the permissionless nature of the blockchain to offer decentralized finance (DeFi) solutions. Its proof-of-history (PoH) consensus enables greater scalability of the protocol, which boosts usability. SOL is down by almost 16% in the last 30 days and is currently trading at around $81.4. It has an all-time high of $260.06 (November 2021) and an all-time low of $0.5052 (May 2020).
7. The Sandbox (-47%)
Launched in 2011, Sandbox is a blockchain-based virtual world that enables users to design, develop, buy and sell digital assets in the form of a game. Sandbox uses decentralized autonomous organizations (DAOs) and non-fungible tokens (NFTs) to create a decentralized platform. SAND is down by over 23% in the last 30 days and is currently trading at around $2.778. It has an all-time high of $8.44 (November 2021) and an all-time low of $0.02894 (November 2020).
6. Celo (-49%)
Launched in April 2020, Celo is a blockchain ecosystem that focuses on boosting cryptocurrency adoption among smartphone users. It uses phone numbers as public keys to enable smartphone owners to transact in cryptocurrency. CELO is down by almost 18% in the last 30 days and is currently trading at around $2.646. It has an all-time high of $10.66 (August 2021) and an all-time low of $0.7955 (May 2020).
5. Algorand (-51%)
Launched in 2019, Algorand is a self-sustaining, decentralized blockchain-based network that supports a wide range of apps. It has been designed to reduce transaction fees and eliminate mining, as it is based on a permissionless pure proof-of-stake (PoS) blockchain protocol. ALGO is down by almost 30% in the last 30 days and is currently trading at around $0.7332. It has an all-time high of $3.28 (June 2019) and an all-time low of $0.1024 (March 2020).
4. Arweave (-53%)
Officially launched in June 2018, Arweave is a decentralized storage network that aims to provide a platform for storing data indefinitely. It was initially launched in August 2017 as Archain but was later rebranded to Arweave in February 2018. AR is currently trading at around $27.50. It has an all-time high of $90.94 (November 2021) and an all-time low of $0.4854 (May 2020).
3. Kusama (-55%)
Kusama refers to itself as "Polkadot's wild cousin." It aims to make available a massively interoperable and scalable framework for developers. KSM is currently trading at around $117. It has an all-time high of $623.75 (May 2021) and an all-time low of $0.9158 (January 2020).
2. Curve DAO Token (-60%)
Launched in January 2020, Curve DAO Token is a decentralized exchange for stablecoins that utilizes an automated market maker (AMM) to manage liquidity. Its native token is used for governance, including rewarding users depending on their liquidity commitment and length of ownership. CRV is currently trading at around $2.008. It has an all-time high of $60.50 (August 2020) and an all-time low of $0.3316 (October 2020).
1. Loopring (-61%)
Loopring is an open protocol for developing decentralized crypto exchanges. This cryptocurrency aims to bring together the features of centralized and decentralized crypto exchanges to develop a protocol with its own unique advantages while eliminating inefficiencies. LRC is currently trading at around $0.689. It has an all-time high of $3.83 (November 2021) and an all-time low of $0.01986 (December 2019).