Gerry Palmers Tech 11.14.2021 06:Nov AM EST

Crypto Will Rapidly Grow in 2022: Where to Invest Aside from Bitcoin, Ethereum

Cryptocurrencies have reached record-highs this month, owing to rising interest among mainstream investors.

Bitcoin, the world's largest cryptocurrency, skyrocketed to its new all-time high of about $70,000 per coin the past week. It has soared around 125 percent this year, showing immense might as more investors get into the crypto craze without having bought the coins outright.

Ethereum, on the other hand, also hit a record $4,851 over the week, rising 560 per.cent year-on-year, due to its expanding use cases from smart contracts to non-fungible tokens (NFTs).

Analysts Bullish About Crypto Market Through 2022

Because of this, many analysts are bullish about these leading digital tokens and the crypto market in general, which they emphasize will continue its rapid growth towards the end of 2021.

But for Blockchain.com founder Peter Smith told Yahoo! Finance that this incredible growth will continue through 2022, where more competition in the industry is set to emerge.

Next year, Smith said, will see the crypto space "get into a harder, more competitive environment," which is "going to be net good for the market" as this would allow investors to separate "the good from the bad."

Smith said the market is expected to gravitate towards cryptos experiencing the highest growth from a usage point of view than merely an investment perspective. This would allow investors to differentiate "momentum machines" from crypto assets with "real technical value."

Smith also cited that institutions are starting to look beyond Bitcoin and Ethereum in their investment decisions. He noted that volume and flow among institutional business at present seem to reach beyond Bitcoin and Ethereum. This happened at a faster pace than expected - a trend that would "impact prices."

Other Cryptocurrencies to Invest in 2022 Aside from Bitcoin and Ethereum

With Ethereum's surge due to rising decentralized finance (DeFi) apps, other players carrying DeFi in their blockchains are also steadily soaring. A good option to invest is in Solana, which has also skyrocketed in value since the start of 2021. The coin had once been considered as an "Ethereum killer" but achieving that seems unlikely. Yet, Solana is among the top cryptocurrencies by market capitalization due to its usability.

Similar tokens that have been in the green recently and are also seen to achieve surges next year are smart-contract giants Cardano and Polkadot. Cardano has gone up 1,000 percent this year, particularly with its similar usability and sustainability as a digital token, Analytics Insight noted. It also unleashed a smart contract feature that led to its lofty $3 price recently. Polkadot is another good option next year having rallied immensely in recent days with its parachains assuring interoperability, scalability, and security. Use cases include transactions and finance, file storage, and identity verification, Business Insider reported.

Binance Coin is also a wise investment choice next year, being the largest cryptocurrency by volume traded, Investing Cube posted. With a cap of 200 million BNB tokens, they are "burned" to reduce supply and stabilize value over time. It has also achieved a surge the past week due to mainly its strong ecosystem growth, leading investors to become increasingly bullish in the coming year.