The bulls on parade: Here are some of the top performing cryptocurrencies

The 2021 crypto bull run is something to write home about. Let’s take a look at the top performing crypto assets over the past several months.

The current cryptocurrency bull run started in October 2020, and is still ongoing, even stronger than before. At the time of this writing, we’re looking at an ongoing bull run of over 7 months, which is about a month longer than the previous bull run of 2017, which lasted in total about 6 months (from August 2017 to January 2018).

With the current runup of prices looking stronger than ever before, there seems to be no end in sight in the short term. This could turn out to be the longest running crypto bull run in history. During this time, we are seeing all time highs and top performing crypto assets across the board pushing higher and higher. Here’s a look at just a few of the most popular coins.

Bitcoin (BTC)

Of course Bitcoin (BTC) is having a huge year, as it’s the first and has the network advantage that keeps it going and chugging along. Bitcoin is a beast, with a market cap over $1 trillion, holding true to it’s testament as a store of value. Although some may argue it’s usability has waned, and BTC dominance has fallen sharply down to 42% according to CoinGecko, it is still pulling it’s on weight as a “digital gold.” Looking at the price change, in October the BTC price was $10,626, and it’s currently sitting at $57,402, which is a price increase of 440%.

Ethereum (ETH)

Known for it’s smart contract platform, Ethereum (ETH) has absolutely skyrocketed during this bull run. At a starting price of $343, it has now risen to $3,517. One of the main reasons for the massive gains has been the launch of ETH 2, which is the scaling improvement and other changes such as staking which is driving the prices to all time highs. Looking at the price increase, ETH is up 925% since October.

Dogecoin (DOGE)

Yes, the memecoin has been the winner since the start of this bull run. Mainly due to high profile names such as Elon Musk pumping the Shiba-inu faced coin up, DOGE started the bull run at $0.002, less than a penny. It’s currently priced at $0.59 cents, which is a gigantic run up of 29,400%.

Cardano (ADA)

Another smart contracts platform which has taken people by surprise has been Cardano (ADA). Cardano is an Ethereum competitor in terms of it’s blockchain focus, and has proven to have some staying power, being in the top ten cryptos for the entire bull run. It started out in October at $0.09 cents, and is currently $1.71, which is an increase of 1,800%.

Chainlink (LINK)

LINK is another platform which has outperformed itself. It is chain agnostic, meaning it should work on any blockchain as long as that chain can support it’s programming logic. Chainlink (LINK) is an oracle, which essentially is able to provide data in a decentralized way to other blockchains that want to provide trustless information to it’s users. LINK has gone up from $9.12 to it’s current price of $49.24, an increase of 439%.

Bitcoin Cash (BCH)

Bitcoin Cash (BCH) seems to have caught some people by surprise too. BCH which says it is the upgraded version of Bitcoin, essentially being a blockchain that scales onchain providing bigger blocks, lower fees, and faster transactions with the focus on being “digital cash,” has mooned. It has also brought in some well known names, such as the famous Megaupload tech entrepreneur, Kim Dotcom. It started in October with a price of $217.52, and has run up to $1446, which has been an increase of 564%.

Uniswap (UNI)

Uniswap (UNI) has gained a lot of traction over the past year. They are a decentralized exchange (DEX), and with decentralization being a selling point of cryptocurrencies, it’s no wonder why it has done so well. Leading the pack when it comes to DEX’s, Uniswap issued it’s own governance token by way of airdrop, issuing 400 UNI to anyone that used their exchange in 2020. Since then, Uniswap has also launched their upgraded version 3, which has contributed to it’s success. UNI started at $3.85, and is currently priced at $41.06, an increase of 966%.

Filecoin (FIL)

Another popular coin that has done well this bull run has been Filecoin (FIL). Filecoin made it’s debut at the start of the crypto bull run, which you may just say is lucky timing. Filecoin has several benefits over centralized storage solutions. For example by having a free market of buyers and sellers of hardware storage can help drive down costs. Since it’s a distributed network it scales and connects people from all over the world. When Filecoin launched, the price was at $30.61, and now the price has jumped up to $153.81, an increase of 402%.

The bulls on parade: Here are some of the top performing cryptocurrencies was originally published in OKEx Blog on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.