The cryptocurrency and blockchain industry experienced explosive growth in 2021, particularly in its decentralized finance (DeFi) and nonfungible token (NFT) sectors. The year was also marked by continued price volatility, baffling behavior from China, a grand experiment in Central America, escalating institutional interest, and the rise of some faster smart-contract networks — all of which is reflected in this year’s list of industry “winners and losers.” Winners in 2021 Kazakhstan When China effectively banned Bitcoin (BTC) mining operations in May 2021, Kazakhstan rushed in to fill the vacuum, pitching displaced miners and others on its cheap and plentiful coal supply. …

Avalanche (AVAX) strengthened its case for a potential upside run towards $160 in the coming sessions as it broke out of a classic bullish pattern earlier this week. Dubbed "bull flag," the pattern emerges when the price consolidates lower/sideways between two parallel trendlines (flag) after undergoing a strong upside move (flagpole). Later, in theory, the price breaks out of the channel range to continue the uptrend and tends to rise by as much as the flagpole's height. AVAX went through a similar price trajectory across the last 30 days, containing a roughly 100% flagpole rally to nearly $150, followed by …

Solana (SOL) has become a top contender in the smart contract industry and in the past year the network's total value locked (TVL) grew by $660 million and stretches across more than 40 decentralized applications to hit an all-time high above $11 billion. Even with this growth, investors have reason to question whether the current $56 billion market capitalization is justified and how it compares to competing networks like binance smart chain (BNB), Avalanche (AVAX) and Polygon (MATIC). By analyzing the past 6-month price performance, there's an apparent decoupling from Terra (LUNA), Solana and Avalanche when compared to other smart …

A popular cryptocurrency trader under the Twitter pseudonym "Sicarious" donated a portion of its crypto profits to buy Christmas presents and other utilities for underprivileged children. The donations included $7,250 worth of livestock, clean water, Bibles, emergency food for Compassion International, a child sponsorship nonprofit, and another $1,500 to purchase and donate toys for kids — who would otherwise do without at Christmas — via Toys for Tots Foundation. Shorting the crypto price declines Sicarious also shared the screenshot of its profits and loss statements that showed that it had made nearly $6,500 and $27,500 in gains by shorting Terra …

Bitcoin (BTC) is attempting to extend its recovery by rising above the psychological mark at $50,000, but several popular analysts believe that BTC could remain range-bound for a few weeks or even months. On-chain analytics firm CryptoQuant said that Bitcoin “whales are still depositing BTC to exchanges.” This simply indicates that whales are setting themselves up to react at short notice depending on which path the price elects to take. The sharp correction of the past few days has pulled the Crypto Fear and Greed Index to 16, which indicates a sentiment of “extreme fear.” Some believe the current fall …

Cosmos (ATOM) has the potential to record major gains in the upcoming weeks primarily because its longer-timeframe chart is showing a bullish continuation pattern. Dubbed "bull flag," the structure appears as the asset trends lower while bouncing between two downward sloping trendlines. However, it eventually breaks out of the range, in the direction of its previous trend, with a profit target at length equal to the size of its previous uptrend which is also known as the flagpole. Therefore, in a "perfect" world, if ATOM is to break above the flag's upper trendline (with a rise in trading volume), it …

Bitcoin (BTC) and Ether (ETH) have turned down from their respective overhead resistance levels, suggesting that bears continue to sell on rallies. New research in Australia suggests that the Ethereum Improvement Proposal (EIP) 1559 upgrade has turned Ether into a better store of value than Bitcoin. The report said the annual rate of increase in Ether’s supply since EIP-1559 is 0.98% compared to an increase of 1.99% in Bitcoin’s supply. Demand for Ether has been on the rise following the surging popularity of nonfungible tokens, decentralized finance and Metaverse-related altcoins. Several analysts remain bullish on Ether and anticipate it to …

Bitcoin (BTC) finished the month of November with a decline of about 7%. This was in sharp contrast to the prediction of the “worst-case scenario” of $98,000 by PlanB, the creator of the popular stock-to-flow model. Although the analyst described it as a “big miss”, he said he would give the Floor model one more month. In its latest “Week On-Chain” report, Glassnode analysts said that Bitcoin’s correction in November was the “least severe in 2021.” Analysts now expect Bitcoin to witness a Santa rally, similar to the 47% up-move in December 2020 or the sharper 80% surge that occurred …

Avalanche ecosystem accelerator Colony has raised $18.5 million in seed investments to bootstrap the next generation of Avalanche blockchain projects, underscoring heightened demand for the proof-of-stake ecosystem. The investment round was led by the Avalanche Foundation, an organization overseeing ecosystem development grants, with additional participation from Shima Capital, HashKey, GBV Capital and Bixin Ventures. Members of the Avalanche community also participated in the seed round. Colony will use the funds to finance early-stage projects building on the Avalanche network and to provide liquidity for decentralized finance, or DeFi, protocols. Colony’s community will also have the opportunity to invest in early-stage …

The crypto markets and the global equity markets staged a strong recovery on Nov. 29 in spite of the uncertainty from the newly discovered Omicron variant of COVID-19. Long-term investors seem to view the recent dip as a prime buying opportunity. A recent filing by MicroStrategy showed that the firm purchased 7,002 Bitcoin (BTC) at an average price of $59,187. That boosted MicroStrategy’s total stash to 121,044 Bitcoin, bought at an average price of about $29,534 per coin. However, analytics resource Material Scientist, cited order book data, said “a lot of Bitcoin liquidity has been taken” and warned that “stop …

Bitcoin (BTC) and most major altcoins sold off along with global equity markets and crude oil on Nov. 26. The markets were roiled on news of a new coronavirus variant detected in South Africa that is worrying scientists due to its large number of mutations in the spike protein. The sharp fall has resulted in cross-crypto liquidations of over $750 million over the 24-hour period but the funding rates across exchanges remain elevated. This suggests that the selling may not be over yet. Bitcoin’s monthly close for November is most likely not going to hit analyst PlanB’s worst-case scenario of …