These were the most talked about cryptocurrencies in 2021

23 Dec 2021

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GlobalData has revealed a list of the top 10 most-mentioned cryptocurrencies on social media in 2021.

Bitcoin, Ethereum and Dogecoin have emerged as this year’s most talked about cryptocurrencies on social media, as crypto analysts and influencers flocked to platforms such as Twitter and Reddit to advise investors in the rollercoaster sector.

Data analytics company GlobalData has revealed its list of the top 10 most-mentioned cryptocurrencies on social media in 2021 – a year that saw a 400pc rise in conversations around crypto on social platforms.

“Mentions by technical experts, blockchain experts, CEOs and fintech experts were found to be more impactful to drive discussions around crypto,” said Smitarani Tripathy, social media analyst at GlobalData.

Of these crypto influencers, Tesla CEO Elon Musk proved to be one of the most influential, Tripathy said, acting as a catalyst when it came to bitcoin and Dogecoin.

Polkadot, Binance Coin, Tether, Solana and Shiba Inu were some of the other top mentioned cryptos in the list, with Shiba Inu seeing a surge of more than 16,000pc.

GlobalData’s social media analytics platform found that bitcoin had the highest share of crypto conversations on social media, boosted by news of it trading at an all-time-high of more than $68,000 in November.

The currency was also in the news in June when it dipped in value after the Chinese government shut down bitcoin mining farms and ordered financial services firms to cease crypto activities earlier in June.

Conversations around bitcoin surged in May when Musk announced that Tesla would no longer accept the cryptocurrency as payment for car purchases. In February, Tesla said it had bought $1.5bn in bitcoin and that it could go on to acquire more digital assets.

Ethereum, which has long been the second biggest cryptocurrency behind bitcoin, was also a hot topic in the crypto world as it outperformed bitcoin in 2021. Its association with ancillary growth sectors in crypto, such as decentralised finance and NFTs, makes it a strong performer. The cryptocurrency has also been hailed as one of the big tokens for the metaverse.

Dogecoin emerged as the third most talked about cryptocurrency in 2021, with GlobalData reporting a more than 8,000pc rise since 2020. Conversations around the meme token jumped and its price skyrocketed after Musk tweeted plans to launch a satellite named Doge-1 in 2022 and called it the “future of currency”.

Musk also boosted conversations around Dogecoin after he told Time Magazine in his Person of the Year feature that Dogecoin is better to buy things with than bitcoin.

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Vish Gain was a journalist with Silicon Republic

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