What are the best performing crypto assets in 2021?

The top two crypto assets by market cap, Bitcoin and Ethereum, have both hit all-time highs in 2021, up 67% and 450% respectively. However, they are not the biggest crypto market winners this year. Let's take a look at the best performing crypto assets in 2021.

Lido Staked ETH (stETH)

stETH is the 1:1 native token of the Lido platform, which allows users to stake their ETH without technical lock-in. These tokens are minted when users deposit ETH and are burned when they are redeemed. The Lido platform's staking protocol is managed by the Lido DAO.

As of December 15, stETH’s market capitalization has increased by 48,633%, from $12.3 million at the beginning of January to $6 billion.

Solana (SOL)

SOL is the native token of the Solana network. It can be used to pay transaction fees and for staking. The growth of SOL price and the development of the Solana ecosystem are the reasons why Solana is the best token of the year.

As of December 15, the price of SOL has risen from $1.84 at the beginning of January to $178.26, an increase of 9588%.

Shiba Inu (SHIB)

SHIB is an ERC-20 token on the Ethereum network, founded in August 2020. It was created to mimic Dogecoin, but it has surpassed Dogecoin to become the top memecoin.

As of December 15, the price of SHIB has increased by 42,349,900%, from $0.00000000008 at the beginning of January to $0.00003388.

MicroStrategy (MSTR)

MicroStrategy, a business intelligence and software company led by Michael Saylor, owns 122,478 bitcoins as of December 16.

As of December 15, MSTR's stock price had risen from $425.22 at the beginning of January to $598.59, a 41% increase.

Nvidia (NVDA)

NVIDIA is a multinational technology company founded in 1993. The company produces specialized graphics processing units (GPUs) used by crypto miners, such as the NVIDIA CMP HX. Its NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2070 is an older GPU that is also popular among crypto miners.

As of December 15, NVDA's stock price has risen from $131.04 at the beginning of January to $304.59, an increase of 141%.

Marathon Digital Holdings (MARA)

Marathon Digital is a bitcoin mining company headquartered in Las Vegas. The company was founded in 2010 and is the parent company of Australian software manufacturer Uniloc. It was not until 2021 that the company really turned to bitcoin and purchased a large number of mining machines.

As of December 15, MARA's stock price has risen from US$11.01 at the beginning of January to US$38.73, an increase of 252%.