Crypto investors will, broadly, have enjoyed some significant price gains in the year just past.
While those gains certainly didn't come in a straight line, with plenty of gut churning dips along the way, the top altcoins in 2021 delivered some jaw dropping gains, as we discussed here.
Of course, not every crypto gained last year.
Below, we take a look at the 5 worst performing tokens of the year.
As with our top performers, to eliminate the large potential price moves from tiny altcoins, these 5 come from the list of top 100 tokens by market cap and are sourced from data by CoinMarketCap.
2021's fourth and fifth worst performing digital tokens
The fifth worst performing crypto in 2021 was Pax Dollar (CRYPTO: USDP).
And, in a sign of just how well cryptocurrencies performed last year, Pax Dollar finished the year down just 0.3% trading at US$1.00. The token had a market valuation of US$946 million as at 31 December, making it the number 89 crypto in virtual circulation.
Pax Dollar is what's known as a stablecoin. It was founded in September 2018.
So, what does Pax Dollar do?
According to CoinMarketCap, the fiat collateralised stablecoin "offers the advantage of transacting with blockchain assets through minimized price risk".
Which brings us to our fourth worst performing crypto of 2021, fellow stablecoin Dai (CRYPTO: DAI).
Dai lost 0.4% during the year, also finishing at US$1.00. That left it as the 19th biggest token, with a market cap of US$9.2 billion.
Dai is an Ethereum-based stablecoin that's soft-pegged to the US dollar.
CoinMarketCap tells us it's "collateralised by a mix of other cryptocurrencies that are deposited into smart-contract vaults" every time new tokens are issued. Dai's "issuance and development is managed by the Maker Protocol and the MakerDAO decentralised autonomous organization".
2021's second and third worst performing altcoins
The third worst crypto performer of 2021 was Bitcoin SV (CRYPTO: BSV).
Bitcoin SV lost 24.2% during the past year, trading for US$123.73 on 31 December. That gave the token a market cap of US$2.34 billion and placed it as the 58th largest crypto in circulation.
Despite making the worst performers' list, Bitcoin SV hit all time highs this past year, reaching US$491.64 on 16 April 2021.
The token came out following the hard fork of the Bitcoin Cash (BCH) blockchain in 2018. It's designed to "offer scalability and stability in line with the original description of Bitcoin as a peer-to-peer electronic cash system, as well as deliver a distributed data network that can support enterprise-level advanced blockchain applications".
Moving on to the second worst crypto performer, we arrive at Celsius (CRYPTO: CEL).
Celsius finished the year down 29.4% to US$3.86. That saw it drop to the number 94 spot of largest crypto list, with a market cap of US$922 million as at 31 December.
The token was launched in June 2018, providing "rewards for depositing cryptocurrency, along with services such as loans and wallet-style payments". Investors using the Celsius platform receive interest payments for their crypto holdings.
The worst performing crypto of 2021
Coming in at the bottom of the barrel in 2021 is NEM (CRYPTO: XEM).
NEM finished 2021 down 42.7% at 12.8 US cents. That left it as the number 83 crypto in terms of size, with a market cap of US$1.15 billion as at 31 December.
NEM stands for 'New Economy Movement' and it has been in active use since March 2015. According to CoinMarketCap, the crypto is an "ecosystem of platforms that use blockchain and cryptography to provide solutions for businesses and individuals".
