Cryptocurrencies have had a rough time in the past several months. A number of them have fallen 50% or greater, even those with large market capitalizations have suffered. This article will discuss 7 cryptos that are poised to double during 2022.
For a number of cryptos that would mean essentially moving back to their former heights. As you well know, after falling 50%, a stock or crypto has to rise 100% just to get back to where it previously was. But I will also discuss some of the reasons or catalysts that will push these 7 cryptos higher or back to their former heights.
By the way, this does not mean I don’t foresee that some of these cryptos will keep falling from here. However, I do expect that, given the robust nature of their blockchain developments, they will turn around. By the end of the year, their prices should be at least 100% higher than where they are now.
So, without further ado, here are the 7 cryptos I think will double in 2022:
- Bitcoin (CCC:BTC-USD)
- Ethereum (CCC:ETH-USD)
- Solana (CCC:SOL-USD)
- Cardano (CCC:ADA-USD)
- Polkadot (CCC:DOT-USD)
- Avalanche (CCC:AVAX-USD)
- Polygon (CCC:MATIC-USD)
Let’s dive in and look at these.
7 Cryptos Likely to Double: Bitcoin (BTC-USD)
Market Cap: $809.9 billion
Bitcoin is down to $42,783 per BTC-USD token from a peak price of $68,622 as of Nov. 10. That is a drop of 37.65% in the short space of just two months. This is after its former peak of $63,109 in April. Moreover, since the trough that Bitcoin reached on Jan. 8 at $40,855, it was down 40.5%.
In other words, if Bitcoin were to rise just back to its former peak it will be up over 60%. Moreover, I suspect if that happens, then the price will likely move even higher. For example, last year Bitcoin had two peak events during the year. The second was about 10% higher than the first.
So if this happens during 2022, expect to see at least two more peaks. That could easily bring Bitcoin 70% to 90% higher than its price now. That would also make the crypto higher than its trough.
Ethereum (ETH-USD)
Market Cap: $390 billion
At $3,234 on Jan. 11, Ethereum is now down one-third from its prior peak on Nov. 10 of $4,844. This is after it also had another peak during 2021 on May 10 at $4,168. This is virtually a copy of what happened with Bitcoin since the second peak was over 16% above the first peak in 2021.
As a result, I suspect there will be at least two peaks during 2022, just like in 2021. So if Ethereum were to move up to its prior peak that would be a gain of 50%. Assuming that these two peaks will be higher than the previous ones, they could push ETH-USD 70% to 80% above today’s price.
Additionally, Ethereum could finally switch to a proof-of-stake validation system for transactions during 2022, as I wrote about recently. It might also find a way to lower transaction costs and speed up transaction times.
If these events happen, expect ETH-USD to take off. It might even start to approach Bitcoin’s valuation, although that could take several years. There is no question that over the long-term, Etherium needs to find a solution to its high fees and long transaction times.
7 Cryptos to Double: Solana (SOL-USD)
Market Cap: $46.8 billion
Solana had a pretty good year in 2021. After starting 2021 at $1.8421, SOL-USD closed the year at $172.79. However, since the end of 2021, it closed down to $140.16 as of Jan 11, 2022.
Moreover, after peaking at $258.93 on Nov. 6, SOL-USD has been on a pretty fierce tumble. Since then it has fallen 45.9% from down to $140.16.
I don’t think Solana is going to stay at this depressed price level. If it were to rise to its former peak sometime during 2022 this implies a gain of 84.7%. I also think if that happens, SOL-USD is likely to make a new high. That could easily put it up over 100% from today’s price.
One reason I think this could happen with Solana is its growing popularity with developers. For example, Decrypt recently published a report that shows Solana is more popular with developers and has more active development than Ethereum did at similar points in its history.
The theory here is that the more popular a crypto is with developers, the higher the price eventually goes. They tend to buy the crypto when it is cheap and develop use cases for the cryptocurrency, which in turn makes it more popular.
Cardano (ADA-USD)
Market Cap: $42 billion
Cardano has been on an extended decline ever since it peaked on Sept. 1 at $2.9634 per ADA-USD token. It reached a trough point on Dec. 20 at $1.2084, putting it down 59.1% from its former peak. However, since then, ADA-USD has drifted up (slightly) to $1.21 as of Jan. 11.
In other words, just like a host of other high market cap cryptos, Cardano has experienced a recent peak in early November and has taken quite a tumble since then. It now seems to be forming a trough point and could end up turning around. This depends if most of the crypto-related selling has come to a close.
And just like many other cryptos that we have discussed Cardano had two peak periods during 2021. The first was in April when it peaked at $2.3091 on May 15. So, its second peak in September at $2.9634 was 28% higher than the previous peak.
Right now, assuming that Cardano rises back up to its former peak in September the crypto would be 145% higher (i.e., $2.9634/$1.21-1). Even if it only rises to the former peak from May ($2.3091), the potential upside is 90.8%, or close to a double.
So, assuming that Cardano continues to show a high degree of correlation with other major cryptos when they begin to rise, it’s possible that ADA-USD could do so as well. That is why I think it has a good chance of doubling sometime during 2022.
7 Cryptos to Double: Polkadot (DOT-USD)
Market Cap: $25.8 billion
Like many other cryptos, Polkadot peaked out on Nov. 4 at $55, after having had an earlier peak in mid-May 2021 at $53.55. So at today’s price (Jan. 12) of $27.20, the crypto is down 50% from its prior peak.
This implies that if DOT-USD were to reach its former peak, it could be double. But, as I pointed out with other cryptos, I suspect that DOT-USD will reach a higher peak in 2022, as is typically the case.
One reason for this is that developers are very keen on Polkadot. In the same report mentioned earlier, published by Decrypt, shows that Polkadot is also very popular with developers. Polkadot, like aforementioned Solana, has more active developers than Ethereum did at this point in its development history as well.
I believe that this fact will act as a catalyst for DOT-USD. The more developers there are working to develop apps on a particular crypto platform, the higher the probability that the crypto will rise significantly.
Avalanche (AVAX-USD)
Market Cap: $22.4 billion
Avalanche peaked on Nov. 22 at $143.78 per AVAX-USD token, but it also had a near-term peak on Dec. 20, at $123.33. This is a little different from other cryptos which had prior high crypto peaks in the spring.
At today’s price (Jan. 12) of $93.70, Avalanche is down just $50.08, or 34.8% from its peak price on Nov. 22 at $143.78. This is a lot less of a drop than many other cryptos and shows the resilience of the AVAX-USD.
In fact, even if the price were to rise to its former height the implied gain would be just over 53%. But I suspect that the Avalanche will continue to show strong growth.
One reason for the crypto’s recent rise is the announcement by Circle that its USDC stablecoin would be available on the Avalanche platform. People like using stablecoins to begin investing in cryptocurrencies. That also helps provide liquidity for Avalanche and its crypto coin.
A second reason for its growing popularity was that the Avalanche platform was recently upgraded to allow for issuing smart contracts. This puts it in direct competition with Ethereum and also builds its appeal with developers. That is also helping AVAX-USD’s price to rise.
7 Cryptos to Double: Polygon (MATIC-USD)
Market Cap: $16.8 billion
Recently Polygon reached a peak on Dec. 26 at $2.8988. Unlike other cryptos, it has been rising at the end of 2021 when others were dropping like flies. That is one major reason why I think there is a good chance that it can continue to do well in 2022.
Polygon has become a favorite of developers for non-fungible tokens (NFTs) and other digital collectibles. In fact, according to Decrypt magazine, this might even be one of its faults. It is so popular that transactions are getting clogged on the Polygon platform, driving up fees and slowing transactions. Polygon was originally designed as an Ethereum-killer, with faster transaction times and lower fees.
Nevertheless, major companies are still choosing Polygon as their platform of choice for NFT showplaces and marketplaces. For example, recently the Associated Press said it would launch its own NFT marketplace on Polygon to support journalism.
Moreover, Polygon itself has been spending large amounts of money to upgrade its abilities. Recently the scaling platform announced the acquisition of the Mir protocol. This will allow it to use “zero-knowledge proofs” for building decentralized applications away from the Ethereum network. It paid for the protocol using its own MATIC-USD tokens.
I suspect that given Polygon’s popularity with the NFT developer community combined with its own fast-growing network will continue to push MATIC-USD tokens much higher during 2022. Look for it to double during the year.
On the date of publication, Mark R. Hake did not hold any position (either directly or indirectly) in the securities mentioned in this article. The opinions expressed in this article are those of the writer, subject to the InvestorPlace.com Publishing Guidelines.
Mark Hake writes about personal finance on mrhake.medium.com and runs the Total Yield Value Guide which you can review here.
