From FTX to Terra Luna; what are the top five cryptocurrency which fizzled out in 2022

It has been a whirlpool of a year for the cryptocurrency market. Add to that the collapse of cryptocurrency platforms such as FTX, Terra, and Celsius Network, among others. As per TradingView, a network of traders and investors, the total market capitalisation of cryptocurrencies has dropped by roughly 70% year-to-date (YTD), from $2.5 trillion to $770 million. However, the list of the worst-performing cryptocurrencies for 2022 does not include Bitcoin or Ethereum.

1. Terra LUNA

The market valuation of Terra LUNA dropped by 99.99% in May, and that caused quite a stir. But it was the algorithmic stablecoin TerraUSD (UST), which caused the unraveling.

Meanwhile, Do Kwon, the founder of Terra, proposed a fork to resurrect the project after it imploded. Terra eventually experienced a chain split, with the new chain existing as Terra 2.0 and the old chain continuing as Terra Classic. After its launch in late May 2022, Luna Classic (LUNC) increased by almost 100% while LUNA (LUNA2) decreased by about 40% during the same time frame.

2. FTX 

FTX was used as a native token by FTX, which failed in November following a liquidity crisis. This was followed by the arrest of FTX CEO  Sam Bankman-Fried. The token still trades on a number of exchanges, but with low volume and liquidity. 

3. Solana (SOL)

The layer-1 blockchain protocol Solana crashed 93.35% YTD as a result of a string of unfavourable bear markets in 2022. This includes six network outages throughout the year, a wallet based in Solana that was breached for $200 million, and Solana’s connection to FTX. SOL was one of the top cryptocurrencies of 2021 and had a return of over 9000%. The coin was popular in 2021, but in January 2022, its price fell by 44.1%, making it one of the top losers for the time period.

4. Axie Infinity (AXS)

In 2022, the AXS market has shown a persistent downward trend. Play-to-earn (P2E) gaming ecosystem Axie Infinity uses AXS primarily as its governance token. Additionally, it served as an accepted payment in the Axie Infinity market, where players could buy in-game nonfungible tokens (NFT). AXS has experienced a YTD decline of roughly 93%, making it one of the worst-performing assets in the current bear market.

5.   The Sandbox (SAND)

Users can create, own, and monetise their gaming skills on Sandbox using non-fungible tokens (NFTs) and The Sandbox SAND, the platform’s utility token. However, despite its initial popularity, as per a report by DappRadar, a cross-blockchain browser, the platform now only has 500 or fewer unique users. The demand for SAND has been impacted by the lower turnout across all spot exchanges, which has caused its price to decline by 93.50% YTD.

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