Yahoo Malaysia's top 10 most-searched cryptocurrencies in 2021
2021 has been a groundbreaking year for the fast-growing cryptocurrency industry. Some countries are considering legalising crypto following in the footsteps of El Salvador which now accepts Bitcoin as legal tender.
The meteoric rise of Bitcoin has made it increasingly tougher for governments and the biggest players in finance and business to dismiss the highly volatile cryptocurrency.
Billionaires including Jeff Bezos, Elon Musk and Jack Dorsey among others have been showing great interest and faith in the possibility that cryptocurrency may be the currency of the future and pave the way forward in the fintech space.
Irrespective of whether it should be considered a fiat currency or a risky, unregulated asset given that there are more than 10,000 cryptocurrencies in the world, the fact remains that people have been actively searching information related to them.
Here are Yahoo Malaysia readers’ top ten most-searched cryptocurrencies in 2021.
1. Bitcoin (BTC)
The market bellwether and the world's biggest cryptocurrency by market capitalisation, BTC witnessed its ATH (all-time high) of US$68,521 in November 2021.
2. Dogecoin (DOGE)
Interest in this meme coin seems to rise and fall with each Elon Musk tweet and Dogecoin still seems to have the Tesla founder's firm backing.
3. Ripple (XRP)
As the Ripple vs US Securities and Exchange Commission legal battle enters its conclusive stretch, several big-time investors have bet big on a win for not just XRP, but for the entire crypto universe.
4. Ethereum (ETH)
Billed as the Bitcoin-killer, Ethereum saw massive growth in ancillary sectors such as DeFi, NFTs and the metaverse, and also hit its ATH this year.
5. Shiba Inu (SHIB)
Bizarre fluctuations in its price notwithstanding, it must count for something that Shiba Inu has nearly 300,000 more Twitter followers than Ethereum.
6. Uniswap (UNI)
Uniswap is both a cryptocurrency and a decentralised exchange. One of the biggest decentralised exchanges in the world, Uniswap failed to enthuse investors this year, although it remains a top 20 cryptocurrency by market capitalisation.
7. Chainlink (LINK)
Chainlink (LINK) is an Ethereum token that powers the Chainlink decentralised oracle network. This network allows smart contracts on Ethereum to securely connect to external data sources, APIs, and payment systems. The LINK token was launched in 2017 with a price under 20 US cents.
8. Cardano (ADA)
Faithfuls waited with bated breath for smart contracts to become active on the Cardano blockchain, but the new functionality failed to send the price to the moon.
9. Solana (SOL)
The world's fastest growing blockchain, Solana went parabolic this year, soaring from under US$4 to over US$250.
10. Tether (USDT)
The company behind Tether in October was fined US$41 million by the US Commodity Futures Trading Commission on charges that it misled investors for years by falsely claiming the stablecoin was fully backed at all times by US dollars and other fiat currencies.
