Solana, the blockchain network, and its native token SOL have gotten a lot of attention from crypto investors recently. There is a tonne of optimism about the network, especially with the troubles that Ethereum has had lately and the slowdown in Ether, its native token’s price.
Ethereum has a tonne of potential and has created opportunities for new innovation. The ability to run smart contracts has changed the game for the blockchain sector, and new projects are being worked on each day.
The significant drawbacks of Ethereum, though, namely scaling issues, have allowed several competitors to gain market share. And with Solana having such a strong development team and high-potential technology, there’s been a tonne of optimism from investors, which is why it’s been so popular. Currently, it’s worth more than US$52 billion and is the fifth most valuable cryptocurrency.
But with Ethereum’s ecosystem already so large, and Solana just adding Ethereum compatibility in 2021, there could be rapid adoption on other blockchains that already share popular apps with Ethereum. Plus, with Ethereum slated to implement some significant upgrades this year, here are three cryptocurrencies that could end up outperforming Solana in 2022.
Image source: Getty Images
AVAX has been a top performer over the last year
One of the top cryptocurrencies to own in 2022 and hold for years is AVAX, the native token of the Avalanche (CRYPTO:AVAX) blockchain.
Avalanche was created by a group of academics from Cornell University, and its mainnet launched in September of 2020. However, despite its mainnet only being out for a year and a half, AVAX is already the 11th most valuable cryptocurrency, with a market cap just shy of US$26 billion.
Now, it’s extremely easy for users of Ethereum to bridge their tokens and assets onto Avalanche’s network to use the growing number of dapps that are migrating to Avalanche.
So, if more users continue to migrate to Avalanche’s network, it could be one of the top-performing cryptocurrencies this year and could even outpace the heavyweight that Solana is.
MATIC has the potential to outperform Solana in 2022
Another high-potential cryptocurrency that continues to gain popularity and has been gaining in value over the last few months is MATIC, the native token of the Polygon (CRYPTO:MATIC) network.
Polygon is a layer 2 blockchain network created to help with Ethereum’s issues. Layer 2 blockchains are solutions built on top of existing blockchains (in this case, Ethereum) to aid in solving scalability issues. Users of Polygon can do a tonne of the same procedures as they would on Ethereum, and it costs fractions of a cent compared to, at times, hundreds of dollars to pay for transactions.
In addition, though, Polygon is also a protocol for building and connecting Ethereum-compatible blockchain networks. Naturally, over the last year, it has continued to gain popularity and is now the 14th most valuable cryptocurrency, with a market cap just north of US$17 billion.
It’s performed well over the last few months, but with all the potential the cryptocurrency industry has going forward, there is still a tonne of upside for MATIC, and it could even outperform Solana in 2022.
Fantom looks extremely cheap
The third high-potential cryptocurrency on this list that has the potential to outperform Solana this year is FTM, the native token of Fantom (CRYPTO:FTM).
Fantom is another Ethereum-compatible blockchain, much like Polygon and Avalanche. So, it has several of the same catalysts for why it should continue to rally throughout 2021, whether it outperforms Solana or not.
However, in addition, Fantom is also one of the cheapest cryptocurrencies to buy right now. One of the best measures for gauging a cryptocurrency’s valuation is its market cap to total value locked (TVL) ratio. The lower the market cap to TVL ratio, the better, and right now, Fantom’s is extremely cheap.
While Solana, Avalanche and Polygon have a market cap to TVL ratios of 4.5, 2.1, and 3.1, respectively, Fantom’s market cap-to-TVL ratio is just 1.25 times — far cheaper than each of these competitors.
So, if you’re looking for a cryptocurrency that can outperform Solana in 2022, FTM has a tonne of potential.
