It's still a bear market for many cryptocurrencies. Some have held up better than others, of course. For the most part, though, the jaw-dropping gains from 2021 are beginning to feel like a distant memory.
The good news is that there are some signs that the crypto market is bouncing back. Only a handful of the top 100 cryptocurrencies based on market cap have delivered losses over the past seven days. Here are three cryptocurrencies poised to soar in a full-blown market rebound.
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1. Avalanche
Avalanche (AVAX 6.56%) stood out as the biggest gainer among top cryptocurrencies last Thursday. Although the digital token remains down quite a bit year to date, it's up more than 20% over the past month.
The key catalyst last week was the launch of the capability for Avalanche users to stake the TerraUSD stablecoin in the Anchor Protocol decentralized finance (DeFi) platform. This marked a significant milestone for Avalanche.
This news isn't enough by itself to fuel sustained momentum for Avalanche over the next several months. However, it's yet another sign of the increasingly widespread adoption of the blockchain.
There's a good reason for Avalanche's growing popularity. Its blockchain supports open and programmable smart contracts. Avalanche also boasts the fastest transaction time to finality among its peers. Look for more developers to hop aboard the Avalanche bandwagon as time goes by and for the price of the AVAX token to continue moving higher.
2. Chainlink
Chainlink (LINK 5.74%) is another up-and-comer in the crypto world. It ranks No. 23 on CoinMarketCap's list of the top cryptocurrencies based on market cap. Chainlink hasn't performed very well so far in 2022, with the token's price plunging close to 25%. However, it should be in a good position to rebound strongly if the overall market headwinds subside.
You might say that Chainlink is bridging the gap between blockchains and the external world. Its architecture supports the secure integration of blockchains with outside data feeds. This is critical in paving the way for smart contracts to emerge as the de facto standard for digital agreements.
Chainlink's ecosystem currently features 140 projects. These include DeFi apps, data providers, gaming worlds, and more.
This ecosystem seems likely to expand this year. Chainlink plans to roll out the capability to stake LINK tokens in 2022. The ability to earn rewards could attract even more attention to Chainlink's innovative decentralized computing platform.
3. Ethereum
Ethereum (ETH 4.12%) is practically the crypto equivalent of a blue-chip stock. However, it's a blue-chip crypto that has the blues. The price of its Ether token is down more than 20% year to date.
I don't expect Ether to remain down for much longer once investors shed some of their risk aversion. Ethereum's blockchain remains the 800-pound gorilla in smart contracts. Indeed, more than 40 of the top 100 cryptocurrencies based on market cap are hosted on the Ethereum platform.
Sure, there are several cryptocurrencies touted as potential "Ethereum killers," including Avalanche. While these rivals could put dents in Ethereum's armor, I don't think they'll be able to deliver a fatal blow.
Ethereum's high transaction fees and scalability issues have been problems that opened the door for other blockchains to encroach on its turf. But a merge of the Ethereum mainnet with the Beacon Chain that's already live later this year will enable staking throughout the network. The planned introduction next year of shard chains that expand Ethereum's capacity will help slash transaction costs and increase scalability.
