cryptocurrencies

Digital currencies are generally known for their volatility and investment risks, but over the years, they have been under constant fire for their negative impact on the environment. From Bitcoin to Ethereum, tether to Dogecoin , there are too many cryptocurrencies in the market to choose from. The top cryptocurrencies are attracting investors looking to diversify their financial portfolios. The adoption of cryptos is growing exponentially. Businesses and nations are adopting cryptos as legal means of payment. As the year is coming to an end, let's list out the top 5 most expensive cryptocurrencies in the year 2021. 

Bitcoin (BTC)

Price Today: US$60,360.50

Bitcoin is a peer-to-peer online currency, meaning that all transactions happen directly between equal, independent network participants, without the need for any intermediary to permit or facilitate them. Bitcoin was created, according to Nakamoto’s own words, to allow “online payments to be sent directly from one party to another without going through a financial institution. Bitcoin broke all records in the last couple of months after the launch of the first bitcoin ETF in the US, making it the 6th most capitalized asset class globally. Many businesses have already accepted BTC as payment, which makes it a smart investment option. Even with thousands of cryptos in the market, BTC still makes 43% of the total crypto market.

Bitcoin BEP2 (BTCB)

Price Today: US$60,296.62

Bitcoin BEP2 (BTCB) is a token on the Binance Chain. Each BTCB is 100% backed by a BTC reserve, with the price pegged to Bitcoin at a rate of 1 BTCB = 1 BTC. The reserved address for verification is publicly available to anyone at any time. The Binance cryptocurrency exchange has published the reserved address to demonstrate the transparency of the Bitcoin BEP2 project, as well as to pique the interest of third parties who can freely check the contents of the Bitcoin pool and compare the data with the number of BTCB tokens issued. 

Wrapped Bitcoin(WBTC)

Price Today: US$58,858.92

Wrapped Bitcoin was first announced on October 26, 2018, and officially launched on January 31, 2019. Wrapped Bitcoin is a tokenized version of Bitcoin (BTC) that runs on the Ethereum (ETH) blockchain. WBTC is compliant with ERC-20, the basic compatibility standard of the Ethereum blockchain allowing it to be fully integrated into the latter’s ecosystem of decentralized exchanges, crypto lending services, prediction markets, and other ERC-20-enabled decentralized finance (Defi) applications. WBTC is also backed by Bitcoin at a 1:1 ratio via a network of automatically monitored merchants and custodians, ensuring that its price is pegged to Bitcoin at all times and allows users to transfer liquidity between the BTC and the ETH networks in a decentralized and autonomous manner.

Ethereum (ETH)

Price Today: US$4,210.07

Ethereum is a decentralized open-source blockchain system that features its cryptocurrency, Ether. ETH works as a platform for numerous other cryptocurrencies, as well as for the execution of decentralized smart contracts. Ethereum garnered a lot of attention right upon its main net launch. The price saw a fast rise until it reached the second spot behind Bitcoin in total market capitalization. Recently, cryptocurrencies broke its records, stabilizing its position in the market. Its network allows developers to create their cryptocurrencies utilizing the ether network. Even though it was launched years after several other cryptocurrencies, it has far exceeded its place in the market because of its unique technology.

Maker (MKR)

Price Today: US$2,753.38

Maker is the governance token of the Maker DAO and Maker Protocol respectively a decentralized organization and a software platform, both based on the Ethereum blockchain that allows users to issue and manage the DAI stable coin. Initially conceived in 2015 and fully launched in December 2017, Maker is a project whose task is to operate DAI, a community-managed decentralized cryptocurrencies with a stable value soft-pegged to the US dollar. MKR tokens act as a kind of voting share for the organization that manages DAI; while they do not pay dividends to their holders, they do give the holders voting rights over the development of Maker Protocol and are expected to appreciate under the success of DAI itself.