Crypto bear hug: evaluating the performance of blue-chip and meme tokens

moneycontrol.com:

The cryptocurrency market has evolved exponentially since Bitcoin first came into existence in 2009, with traders and investors having access to over 20,000 unique tokens to choose from.

Compared to increased interest in blue-chip tokens today, meme coins sparked huge interest among investors in 2021 and continue to be of interest even now, despite their high volatility.

However, having reached a peak combined market capitalisation of over $3 trillion in November 2021, crypto markets have been in a prolonged bear phase ever since.

Comprising BTC, Ethereum (ETH), altcoins, stablecoins, and meme coins, investors would find it interesting to note how these segments of the crypto space have behaved relative to the broader market.

Let us focus on how the top blue-chip cryptocurrencies have performed compared to the largest meme coins during this extended crypto winter.

Bitcoin and Ethereum

The top two spots of the cryptocurrency market have always been reserved for BTC and ETH, together contributing nearly 60 percent of the total market cap of the entire listed cryptocurrency space.

In fact, they have displayed similar performance as well, with BTC and ETH having dropped by 65 percent and 63 percent, respectively, from their all-time highs (ATH).

However, long-term investors would still be sitting on a healthy profit considering that both cryptocurrencies continue to trade well above their pre-COVID levels.

This particular statistic has been repeated during every past bear cycle, with both BTC and ETH eventually moving towards a new ATH.

Tether, USD Coin and Binance Coin

The other three spots in the list of top five cryptocurrencies have some surprising winners. While both Tether (USDT) and USD Coin (USDC) are stablecoins pegged to the