The crypto market was beginning to recover in Q1 and Q2 of 2023 after the collapse of large crypto firms such as FTX, Terra Luna, Three Arrows Capital, and Celsius.
From December 2022 until May 2023, the entire crypto industry had its lowest market cap of over $788 million in mid-December of last year. after about five months, in May 2023, it peaked at more than $1.2 trillion.
Based on analysis from ICO Analytics, twenty cryptocurrencies caught the attention of users on Twitter as they sparked the most conversation on the platform in the month of May 2023.
Here’s a breakdown of the list:
Pepe
Pepe is a meme-based cryptocurrency that was created in 2016. It is based on the Ethereum blockchain and uses the meme character Pepe the Frog as its mascot. It grew from $0.00000006038 to $0.000003258 representing an over 5,000% growth rate from late April to the first week of May 2023, reaching a market capitalization of $1 billion.
Ether
Ether (ETH) is the native cryptocurrency of the Ethereum blockchain. It was created in 2015 by Vitalik Buterin. Ethereum is a decentralized platform that runs smart contracts, which are applications that run exactly as programmed without any possibility of fraud or third-party interference.
Ether stayed a little above $1,800 all through the month. Pepecoin, released on the Ethereum blockchain, is a key indicator of the surge of activity around the protocol.
Bitcoin
Bitcoin (BTC) is the first and most well-known cryptocurrency. It was created in 2009 by an anonymous person or group of people under the name Satoshi Nakamoto. It rallied around $29,000 and $26,000 throughout the month of May after touching $22,000 in March. Thanks to the new BRC-20 token standard on Bitcoin.
Sui
Sui is a cryptocurrency that runs on the layer one blockchain, Sui. It has been under development since 2021; its mainnet went live last month. The launch of the mainnet is one of the reasons behind the huge conversation around the blockchain. It has an ATH of $1.46.
USDT
USDT (Tether) is a stablecoin pegged to the US dollar. It was created in 2014 by Tether Limited. USDT is a cryptocurrency that is backed by fiat currency, such as the US dollar.
This means that for every USDT token that is in circulation, there is an equivalent amount of US dollars held in reserve. USDT is used to provide a stable alternative to other cryptocurrencies, which can be volatile in price.
Being the most used stablecoin, with a current market capitalization of over $83 billion, USDT seems to be a popular option for fiat-crypto exchange. The stablecoin market between Q1 and Q2 faced challenges such as the clampdown on BUSD and the de-pegging of USDC.
RNDR
RNDR (Render Token) is a cryptocurrency that was created in 2017. It is used to power the Render Network, which is a decentralized network that provides GPU computing power to users. RNDR can be used to pay for rendering services, which are used to create 3D models, animations, and other visual content.
Two major changes expected on the Render network to attract attention in May were the upgrade of its C4D plugin and the launch of a new Render Network Foundation website featuring an artist portal and social sub-communities.
XRP
XRP (Ripple) is a cryptocurrency that was founded in 2011 by Jed McCaleb and Chris Larsen. Ripple is a payment protocol that allows for fast and cheap transactions. XRP is used to power the Ripple network and can be used to pay for transactions on the network.
Since 2020, XRP has been engaged in a legal battle against the SEC. In May, XRP gained an advantage in the lawsuit as the judge ruled in its favor while the case continued.
USDC
USDC (USD Coin) is a stablecoin pegged to the US dollar. It was created in 2018 by Circle and Coinbase. USDC is a cryptocurrency that is backed by fiat currency, such as the US dollar.
While stablecoins experienced de-pegging and rebounded in March, USDCit fell to 87 cents in May after its issuer, Circle, announced its exposure to collapsed Silicon Valley Bank.
QNT
QNT (Quant Network) is a cryptocurrency that was created in 2018 by Gilbert Verdian. Quant Network is a platform that connects different blockchains and allows for the exchange of data and assets between them. QNT is used to power the Quant Network and can be used to pay for transactions on the network.
One of the biggest stories involving Quant in May was its involvement in supporting government-backed CBDCs.
ARB
ARB (Arbitrum) is a layer-2 scaling solution for Ethereum designed by Offchain Labs. Its testnet went live in 2020. Arbitrum allows for faster and cheaper transactions on Ethereum by processing transactions off-chain and then settling them on-chain. ARB is used to pay for gas on the Arbitrum network.
Towards the end of April, the CEO of Arbitrum had to clear the air on the control of the newly formed Arbitrum Foundation. He noted that Offchain Labs was not in control of Arbitrum.
KASPA
Kaspa is a PoW cryptocurrency that implements the GHOSTDAG protocol, which allows blocks to coexist and order them in consensus. It is a blockDAG, with high block rates. Kaspa was envisioned by R&D company DAGLabs, through an investment by PolyChain. Kaspa seems to have had a bullish pull after it was listed on a new exchange, Uphold, in mid-May.
SHIB
SHIB (Shiba Inu) is a meme-based cryptocurrency that was created in 2020. It is based on the Ethereum blockchain and uses the Shiba Inu dog as its mascot. The “meme war” of supremacy triggered by the release of Pepecoin is one of the triggers of conversation around the SHIB token.
DOGE
DOGE (Dogecoin) is a meme-based cryptocurrency that was created in 2013. It is based on the Litecoin blockchain and uses the mascot of a dog like SHIB as its representation. Again, similar to SHIB, the Pepecoin meme challenge was a big reason for large discussions around DOGE on Twitter in May.
Others in descending order are SOL (Solana), BNB (Binance Coin), MATIC (Polygon), OP (Opulous), FLOKI (Floki Inu), LTC (Litecoin), and JASMY (JasmyCoin).
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