Coming in at number 10 is the largest cryptocurrency by market cap on this list by a long shot. Ethereum is a distributed blockchain computing platform that was created as an alternative to Bitcoin that had utility, not just value, and included a scripting language for applications on the Ethereum network. The more than 300% increase in the size of the decentralized finance market in 2021, along with the the rise of non-fungible tokens and other decentralized applications, or dApps, pushed Ethereum to make plans to switch from proof-of-work (PoW) validation, where mining computers ensure the integrity of the crypto, to the more energy efficient proof-of-stake (PoS) model, where owners put up their tokens as collateral to validate the blockchain data. Ethereum 2.0, which refers to its shift to PoS, is scheduled to happen sometime in the first half of 2022, though there have been delays. As the platform with by far the largest number of dApps – nearly nine times as many as the second-place contender, according to State of the dApps – Ethereum justified its meteoric rise in 2021.
Year-to-date gain: 416%
Market cap: $441 billion
