Written by: Babywhale, Techub News
When everyone thought that the SEC's approval of the Bitcoin spot ETF would recreate the scene of 'all coins rising' as in 2021, reality dealt a heavy blow: aside from Bitcoin aiming for $100,000, many altcoins that shone brightly in the last bull market not only failed to set new highs in this cycle but are still hovering at the bottom.
To some extent, this may also indicate that as cryptocurrency investment gradually becomes mainstream in the United States, new inflows of capital will concentrate on high-quality targets, much like in the US stock market. In this cycle, some tokens that peaked in the last bull market have again become favorites among profit-seekers. I have compiled some tokens that set phase highs in the 2021 bull market and have reached new highs again in this cycle, but my knowledge is limited, and it may not cover all tokens that fit this situation.
SOL
During the hot 'Alt L1' period of 2021, EVM-compatible L1s such as Fantom, NEAR, and Avalanche took on the overflow traffic caused by high gas costs on Ethereum. Among them, Solana did not just follow the trend but rebuilt an ecosystem outside of EVM. With the support of SBF, the founder of the then-booming FTX, and the operations of its own team, SOL's price skyrocketed from under $1 when it first launched on exchanges to over $200.
However, as the overall market transitioned from frenzy to calm, and with the collapse of FTX, one of Solana's biggest supporters, SBF, was imprisoned, SOL dropped to around $7 at its lowest, and many well-known NFT projects on Solana left one after another. Many investors believed that the story of Solana might just come to an end.
Surprisingly to many, in this cycle, Solana regained new vitality through the rise of Meme, coupled with the emergence of several ecological projects like the re-staking project Jito, leading to a continuous rise in SOL's price, which broke the nearly $260 high set in early November 2021 about a week ago.
BNB
As the only public chain that has truly achieved ecological diversification among 'exchange platform tokens,' BNB issued by Binance has made a strong impression both during the bear market and in the bull market. During the bear market of 2022, BNB dropped from a high of around $660 in May 2021 to below $200 at one point. Although the decline was significant, compared to many tokens that fell over 90% or nearly to zero, BNB can be considered a relatively high 'preservation rate' asset.
Subsequently, with the market recovery and Binance launching Launchpool and Launchpad projects at an almost frantic pace, BNB has soared and on June 24 this year, it broke the price peak from the last bull market, reaching a maximum of over $700. Compared to the quiet exit of Huobi's HECO Network, BNB still holds a lot of potential value to be explored both within the exchange and on the BNB Chain.
TRX
The Tron token TRX reaching a new high in this cycle can be described as both unexpected and predictable. The issuance of USDT is nearing 140 billion, and Tron has been the preferred choice for USDT transfers for a considerable amount of time. Although Tron has been surpassed by Ethereum in terms of USDT issuance and is clearly lacking in practical applications compared to Ethereum, it must be acknowledged that at least in terms of capital flow, Tron remains the top choice for USDT holders.
According to DefiLlama data, as of this writing, the TVL on Tron is about $7.555 billion, having exceeded $10 billion in March this year. The price of TRX reached a high of $0.18 on April 17, 2021, and three and a half years later, on November 12, two weeks ago, TRX set a new high and subsequently rose above $0.22 in the days that followed.
TON
The emergence of TON can be traced back to the ICO era, when Telegram raised $1.7 billion for its token Grams through an ICO and planned to launch The Open Network (TON). However, a lawsuit from the SEC put everything on hold. This typical SEC-style litigation, which treats everything as securities, finally settled in 2020, and Telegram paid the price of being unable to continue the development of TON.
Afterwards, TON has been running continuously with the support of the community but has not made much of a splash in the industry. Its token price, after reaching a high of $4.4 at the end of 2021, has continued to decline along with the market.
Fast forward to 2022, during the months from April to July, the TON Foundation frequently launched ecological funds worth tens of millions or even hundreds of millions of dollars along with various institutions, sounding the horn for the rapid expansion of the TON ecosystem. As a blockchain under Telegram with tens of millions of users, TON did not spend much effort on the issue of user numbers; its various games and interactive experiences integrated with Telegram made its journey from 0 to 1 very smooth, and the speed from 1 to 100 was astonishing.
Accompanied by the market's heat, TON's price also briefly broke $8 this June, nearly doubling from its previous 'peak.'
LEO
To be honest, if it weren't for checking data websites, I wouldn't have known about the existence of this token. LEO is a token issued by the well-established exchange Bitfinex, which serves purposes including fee reductions. I haven't found any convincing news regarding why this token set a new high; the only possibility is that the hacker who stole 120,000 Bitcoins from Bitfinex was sentenced, which may be seen as a positive factor to some extent.
LEO briefly broke $8 in early February 2022, and just a week ago on November 20, LEO set a new high, briefly rising to nearly $9.
FET
Fetch.ai, born before the previous bull market, has managed to survive until AI became the 'hot topic' today. The early concept of 'blockchain +' was very popular, with many related projects being established, but the vast majority have since become dust in history. However, some projects have persevered and reached a true second spring, among which are Fetch.ai and IoTeX.
In the first half of this year, SingularityNET, Fetch.ai, and Ocean Protocol proposed to establish a super AI alliance and merge their tokens, and this plan has now been completed. The significant impact of AI on the development of human society is already beyond doubt, but whether Crypto can truly drive this process still requires time to observe.
In early September 2021, FET reached a phase high of nearly $1.2, while this year's AI wave led by OpenAI took FET's price to around $3.5, nearly doubling the previous bull market peak.
OKB
As one of the three giants of domestic exchanges in the past, OKX has performed remarkably well over the past two years. On one hand, OKX has optimized a series of trading-related functions and user experiences, allowing traders to personalize their trading plans more effectively. This has led other exchanges to follow suit; on the other hand, the Web3 wallet launched by OKX may already be considered a phenomenal product, becoming the top choice for many treasure hunters during the peak of inscriptions.
As for the price of OKB, it actually set a historical high as early as the beginning of last year, coinciding with OKX's bold reforms. In March this year, OKB reached a historical high of nearly $74, over 70% higher than the high of around $44 in early May 2021.
STX
It must be noted that some projects whose token prices set new highs in this cycle were not darlings of the last bull market but had existed for many years and found their 'kindred spirits' in this cycle.
Stacks can be considered an early attempt in Web3 to build a smart contract platform using the Bitcoin network. Its design is quite interesting: simply put, Bitcoin holders bid using Bitcoin to earn block rewards and transaction fees for new Stacks blocks, while the packing of the blocks is done by STX stakers. After a block is added to the chain, they can retrieve the Bitcoin used for bidding. Since it also uploads state information to the Bitcoin network for final confirmation, Stacks can be considered a kind of 'Bitcoin L2' to some extent.
The wind from inscriptions has revitalized this project that has been cultivating in the Bitcoin ecosystem for many years. The price of STX also rose to a high of around $3.85 this April, surpassing the phase high of around $3.6 set in November 2021.
INJ
The Cosmos ecosystem is undoubtedly an indelible shadow in the hearts of many investors. Like Polkadot, it possesses a unique style and technical strength in the cross-chain field but failed to spark a trend similar to DeFi. From token price information websites, it seems that Injective was also born before the previous bull market, but perhaps it was only after receiving $40 million in financing in August 2022 that it became known to most people.
From the perspective of the investors and the participants of the ecological funds it launched, including market makers, hedge funds, and other roles, Injective seems to aim to establish a DeFi liquidity center. This plan is not unique and may seem unremarkable on the surface, but the price of INJ has risen significantly. In mid-March this year, the price of INJ exceeded $52, more than doubling from the phase high of around $25 in April 2021.
BGB
If the rise in the prices of BNB and OKB is 'justifiable,' then Bitget's emergence is surely beyond the expectations of most. From my perspective, it's hard to imagine that new players can still conquer territory in the already crowded exchange field, but Bitget has indeed achieved this. Its aggressive market strategy, crazy yet efficient culture, wallet products, and various investment support must have led Bitget to design a comprehensive plan before officially launching the market competition, perfectly seizing the residual heat from the last bull market and the influx of new users into Web3.
In contrast to the previously mentioned tokens that set new highs in 2021 and then declined with the market before setting new highs again, BGB has been in a climbing phase since its birth in 2021, and recently set a high of $1.7.
