The crypto market had a blast last year. With numerous new investors showing interest in adding digital token assets to their portfolio, the global crypto market capitalization skyrocketed to surpass the $3 trillion mark. While bitcoin hit its all-time high, several new and small cryptocurrencies gave thousands of percent returns.
The cryptocurrency market’s nature is highly volatile. You can never always be correct on how a coin would perform. This has led to the losses of several investors. But as the old Wall Street saying goes, “Volatility works both ways.”
Although bitcoin reached its all-time high in 2021 with over $17,000 up change from its initial Jan 1, 2021 price, it’s not a part of the highest performer list.
There are a few cryptocurrencies that have made investors millionaires in 2021. While the world was finding ways to deal with the pandemic, some lucky investors who chose the suitable cryptocurrencies to invest in were making millions.
But which were these cryptos with the highest returns? Let’s have a look at those best performers of 2021.
Cryptocurrencies With Highest Returns: Shiba Inu (SHIB)
Touted to be the “Dogecoin killer,” Shiba Inu tops the list of cryptocurrencies providing the highest returns in 2021 with close to 20 million percent in returns. It is the only coin with a return percentage in millions.
Shiba Inu is a meme coin, but that never stopped investors from putting in thousands of dollars as investments, thanks to Elon Musk’s backing.
Shiba Inu was created by an anonymous person with the pseudonym “Ryoshi”
Mr. Musk was backing Dogecoin initially but later switched to back up Shiba Inu, leading to a staggering increase in the investments for this meme coin. Here are the details of the returns provided by the Shiba Inu coin according to the pricing on CoinMarketCap.
- Jan 1, 2021: $0.000000000168
- Dec 31, 2021: $0.00003341
- Highest in 2021: $0.00008
- YTD change: $0.00003340983
- YTD change (%): 19,886,804%
The best thing about Shiba Inu is that even after giving around 20 million percent of returns to the investors in 2021, the coin still sits at a price of a mere $0.000022.
A vast surge in Shiba Inu investment came a few days after being listed on Coinbase, the biggest crypto exchange based in the USA. The crypto news about the listing created hype around the coin, helping it reach its peak value.
The current price of Shiba Inu sits at around $0.000022 with a supply of over 549 trillion SHIB coins, taking the live market capitalization value over $12 billion. It has a 24-hour trading volume of over $2.5 billion and a fully diluted market capitalization of over $13 billion.
Cryptocurrencies With Highest Returns: GALA Games (GALA)
Next on the list is the GALA coin of Gala Games. It is a blockchain project focusing on Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs). With the help of NFTs, Gala Games aim to revolutionize the traditional in-game assets concept of the gaming industry.
With Gala Games, players can control and own the game they play and how they play it.
Instead of purchasing in-game assets, which can be taken away by the game developers, Gala Games enables players to buy NFTs that they own for a lifetime. Hence, no one can take away those assets from the players, even if the game is not available for playing.
Since its launch back in 2019, Gala Games have grown to become a community of 1.3 million monthly active users. A total of over 26,000 NFTs are already sold on the platform, with the most expensive being priced at $3 million.
Due to the Gala Games’ popularity and unique approach, its underlying cryptocurrency token, GALA, performed immensely well in the crypto market. It was able to rake in 43,920% returns to the investors.
Here’s how much this cryptocurrency gave back to the investors in terms of returns, according to CoinMarketCap.
- Jan 1, 2021: $0.001028
- Dec 31, 2021: $0.4515
- Highest in 2021: $0.7121
- YTD change: $0.450472
- YTD change (%): 43,920%
The current price of GALA stands at close to $0.2, with a 24-hour trading volume of around $778 million. With a circulation of over 6.95 billion GALA coins, it has a live market capitalization of over $1.3 billion and a fully diluted market capitalization of close to $6.9 billion.
Cryptocurrencies With Highest Returns: Sandbox (SAND)
Sandbox is a platform that introduces blockchain technology to the gaming world. It brings together the strengths of Decentralized Autonomous Organizations (DAO) and NFTs to create a unique platform for the gaming community.
Using Sandbox, anyone can build, buy, and sell NFTs in the form of a game. Users of the platform can use it both as creators and as players to play different games, thereby facilitating the play-to-earn model.
The Sandbox team’s mission is to build a system where creators will be able to craft, play, share, and trade without central control, enjoying secure copyright ownership with the ability to earn SAND. — Sandbox Whitepaper
Although SAND coin has been in the crypto market for a while, it gained significant momentum only in 2021. Having started the year below $0.05 and ended it over $5.5, it gave returns of over 15,700%.
The breakdown of SAND token’s returns in 2021 based on the information from CoinMarketCap is given below.
- Jan 1, 2021: $0.03702
- Dec 31, 2021: $5.8477
- Highest in 2021: $8.4022
- YTD change: $5.81068
- YTD change (%): 15,796.1%
The live SAND token price while writing this article is $3.19. It has a 24-hour trading volume of over $1.3 billion and a circulating supply of over 992 million coins. SAND coin’s live and fully diluted market capitalization is above $2.9 billion and $9.5 billion, respectively.
Cryptocurrencies With Highest Returns: Axie Infinity (AXS)
From its initial launch price of $0.15 to the all-time high of $160.36, AXS crypto has had a tremendous journey. Axie Infinity is a blockchain-based game. It allows the gamers to breed, train, trade, and battle token-based creatures called Axies.
Axie Infinity is a game inspired by the likes of Pokemon. Each creature in the game is an NFT with a different set of attributes and strengths.
Aie Infinity Shards (AXS) is the token that helps govern the gaming network. Axie Infinity was launched in 2018 by a Vietnamese game developer named Sky Mavis.
Having started the year at $0.59, AXS finished it at $93.3, giving a potential return of over 15,750%. Here’s how the numbers stand according to the details from CoinMarketCap.
- Jan 1, 2021: $0.5926
- Dec 31, 2021: $93.3
- Highest in 2021: $160.36
- YTD change: $92.7074
- YTD change (%): 15,750%
AXS coin’s current price at the time of writing this article is $53.93, with a 24-hour trading volume of $384 million. With the current coin supply of 60 million coins and a max of 270 million coins, AXS live market capitalization and fully diluted market capitalization stand over $384 million and $14 billion, respectively.
Cryptocurrencies With Highest Returns: Polygon (MATIC)
Polygon, previously Matic Network, is a well-reputed Ethereum scaling and infrastructure development platform. The core component of this platform is a flexible framework called Polygon SDK that enables blockchain developers to build different types of Decentralized Applications (dApps).
By building multiple chains of the Ethereum blockchain, Polygon can transform Ethereum into an Internet of Blockchains (multi-chain system) for enhanced interoperability.
The key differentiator of Polygon is that it was the pioneer in Ethereum scaling space with a well-structured and easy-to-use platform.
MATIC is the token that helps govern the Polygon platform. It also plays a vital role in helping secure the system. Having started 2021 at just over $0.015 and ended it at around $2.5, MATIC has given potential returns of over 14,000%.
Here’s the detailed breakdown of the returns given by MATIC token based on the information from CoinMarketCap.
- Jan 1, 2021: $0.01781
- Dec 31, 2021: $2.5271
- Highest in 2021: $2.8768
- YTD change: $2.50929
- YTD change (%): 14,089.25%
MATIC token’s current price at the time of writing this article is $1.64, with a last 24-hour trading volume of over $2 billion. Its current circulating supply is close to 7.5 billion MATIC coins with over $12 billion live market capitalization. MATIC’s total supply is 10 billion coins, bringing the fully diluted market capitalization to over $16.3 billion.
How to Calculate Cryptocurrency Return?
Calculating Returns on Investment (ROI) for cryptocurrency may sound intimidating, but it’s actually straightforward. You need to take the initial cost of an investment, subtract it from the asset’s current value, and then divide it by the initial value. Next, multiply the result by 100, and you have your answer.
Let’s consider an example for better understanding. We will use Shiba Inu’s example. Suppose you have purchased one SHIB coin on 1st January 2021. Let’s calculate the returns and see if they match what we wrote above.
ROI = ((present value – initial value)/initial value) * 100
Considering the price of the SHIB coin on 1st January and 31st December 2021:
ROI = (($0.00003341 – $0.000000000168)/$0.000000000168) * 100
ROI = 198868.047619 * 100 = 19886804.7619
As you can see, the ratio of the returns matches. Hence, you can use this method to calculate your ROI on cryptocurrency.
Is It a Good Time to Invest in These Cryptocurrencies?
Although the cryptocurrencies listed in this article have given significant returns, it does not mean that they will continue to do the same in 2022. Cryptocurrency is a highly volatile market where the price of coins can vary vastly.
There are several factors like the popularity of a coin, the potential of the blockchain network it governs, potential partnerships, new announcements, etc., that influence a coin’s price. Hence, no prediction about a crypto’s price can be 100% accurate.
Investors should ensure that they go through crypto news everyday to understand a crypto asset before investing. The market’s volatility should not stop you from investing, as it can work very well for you if you choose the right coin for investment.
The global cryptocurrency market capitalization has recently surpassed the $3 trillion mark. Looking at the hype around digital tokens, the capitalization increase is likely to continue in the coming years. However, you should not invest blindly. Do your homework to get the best returns.
Conclusion
Those were the cryptocurrencies with the highest returns on investment. The list does not end with only these coins. There are many more tokens like Terra (LUNA), Solana (SOL), Fantom (FTM), etc.
You, too, can get such high returns on your investments if you select the right coin. However, you need to be aware only to invest what you can afford to lose because crypto trading is subject to high risks. If you do your homework efficiently and read crypto news daily to understand the market better, making money through cryptocurrencies won’t be a big challenge.