The year 2022 will be remembered as one of the most brutal bear markets in cryptocurrency history. With major collapses, exchange failures, and widespread sell-offs, few digital assets managed to end the year in positive territory. Yet, amid the chaos, some projects stood out — either through resilience or dramatic downfall. This article explores the top five cryptocurrencies by price movement in 2022, highlighting both remarkable surges and devastating crashes.
🔝 Top 5 Cryptocurrency Gainers in 2022
Despite the harsh market conditions, a handful of crypto assets posted notable gains or limited losses compared to the broader market downturn.
1. Trust Wallet Token (TWT) – +87.52%
Trust Wallet Token (TWT) emerged as the biggest gainer of 2022, rising over 87.5% despite extreme volatility. According to CoinMarketCap, TWT surged as high as 308% during the second half of the year.
The catalyst? The collapse of FTX in November sent shockwaves across the industry, prompting Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao (CZ) to publicly urge users to switch to self-custody wallets. This endorsement significantly boosted demand for Trust Wallet — and by extension, its native token TWT.
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TWT spiked 70% in a single month, driven by increased downloads and usage. However, momentum faded in December, pulling annual returns down from their peak.
Still, TWT’s performance underscores a growing trend: user sovereignty and self-custody are becoming central themes in crypto adoption.
2. GMX – +84.6%
GMX, a decentralized perpetual contract platform built on Arbitrum and Avalanche, ranked second among 2022’s top gainers with an impressive 84.6% increase.
Like TWT, GMX saw strong momentum beginning in June. Its total value locked (TVL) quadrupled over the year, making it the largest DeFi protocol on Arbitrum according to DefiLlama.
Even during a bear market, traders sought leveraged exposure to crypto assets without relying on centralized exchanges — a demand GMX fulfilled efficiently with low slippage and high liquidity.
While prices dipped after December, GMX maintained strong fundamentals and community engagement, positioning itself as a resilient player in the decentralized derivatives space.
3. OKB – -10.46%
OKB, the native utility token of OKX exchange, posted a relatively modest loss of -10.46% for the year — a significant outperformance compared to many blue-chip cryptos.
In the first half, OKB dropped sharply by 57.6%, dragged down by overall market sentiment. But from June onward, it entered a recovery phase, gaining 114% over six months.
A curious spike occurred in mid-December when Elon Musk briefly followed OKX’s Twitter account — sending OKB prices soaring temporarily before stabilizing after he unfollowed.
More importantly, OKX continued expanding its product suite — including DeFi integrations, NFT marketplace development, and Web3 initiatives — helping sustain long-term confidence in the token.
👉 See how exchange tokens evolved beyond trading discounts into full ecosystem utilities.
4. TRON (TRX) – -28.62%
TRON (TRX) finished the year down 28.62%, far better than average given the broader market plunge.
The project gained attention when founder Justin Sun took over Huobi Global, adding credibility and strategic synergy between two major Asian exchanges.
Additionally, in the wake of FTX’s collapse, Sun introduced withdrawal solutions for affected users holding TRON-based tokens — an effort aimed at reinforcing TRON’s role as a fast, low-cost settlement layer.
However, these moves didn’t translate into sustained price momentum. While TRX maintained solid network activity and stablecoin dominance (USDT on TRON surpassed Ethereum), investor enthusiasm remained muted.
5. Monero (XMR) – -41.84%
Monero (XMR), the privacy-focused cryptocurrency, ended 2022 with a -41.84% decline — not stellar, but respectable given the environment.
XMR experienced sharp drops in January and June but rebounded strongly in July. A key milestone occurred on June 8, 2022, when Monero completed its full emission schedule.
With no new block rewards issued after that date, Monero transitioned to a “Tail Emission” model — issuing 0.6 XMR per block indefinitely to ensure miners remain incentivized and network security stays intact.
This shift marked a bold experiment in sustainable mining economics — one that could influence future privacy coin designs.
🔽 Top 5 Cryptocurrency Losers in 2022
Now let’s turn to the other side of the spectrum: assets that suffered catastrophic declines.
1. Terra Classic (LUNC) – -99.99%
Terra Classic (LUNC), formerly known as LUNA, suffered the most devastating collapse in crypto history.
Once valued at $89 per coin** and ranked as the **9th-largest cryptocurrency by market cap**, LUNC plummeted to just **$0.0001449 after the algorithmic stablecoin UST depegged in May 2022.
The implosion triggered a death spiral that wiped out over $40 billion in market value virtually overnight.
Even more astonishing? Despite this near-total loss in value, LUNC still ranked around 40th globally by market cap due to its massive original supply — a haunting reminder of what once was.
2. FTX Token (FTT) – -98.12%
FTT, the native token of Sam Bankman-Fried’s now-defunct FTX exchange, collapsed by 98.12% following revelations of misuse of customer funds and insolvency.
Before the crash, FTT had already declined about 40%, trading around $26. After FTX filed for bankruptcy in November, its value evaporated.
Bahamian authorities confirmed they were holding large amounts of user assets, but circulating FTT became largely illiquid — with little prospect of recovery.
The fall of FTT symbolized the dangers of centralized exchange tokens overly tied to single entities and opaque financial practices.
3. Solana (SOL) – -94.42%
Solana (SOL), once hailed as an “Ethereum killer,” dropped 94.42% in 2022.
Multiple network outages throughout the year damaged confidence, but the final blow came with the FTX collapse — Solana was closely associated with SBF and his ventures.
Total value locked (TVL) on Solana fell from $66.8 billion to just $2 billion, reflecting massive capital flight from its DeFi ecosystem.
Yet some, including Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin, argued this reset could benefit Solana long-term — removing speculative excess and allowing genuine innovation to take root.
4. Convex Finance (CVX) – -93.6%
Convex Finance (CVX), a yield-optimization protocol for Curve Finance, saw its price fall 93.6% from highs near $22 to a year-end close of $3.
Security concerns played a role — vulnerabilities were reported in March and June — but broader depegging risks in Curve pools also undermined investor trust.
As liquidity migrated away from stablecoin pools, CVX’s revenue model weakened significantly.
5. The Sandbox (SAND) – -93.59%
The metaverse hype fizzled out in 2022, dragging SAND down 93.59% for the year.
Alongside peers like Decentraland and Voxels, virtual land sales and NFT trading volumes collapsed. SAND only posted minor gains in three months all year.
Investor interest shifted away from speculative digital real estate toward more utility-driven narratives like DeFi and infrastructure.
FAQ: Understanding Crypto Volatility in 2022
Q: Why did some tokens like TWT and GMX rise during a bear market?
A: These projects benefited from real-world usage growth — TWT from increased wallet adoption post-FTX collapse, and GMX from rising demand for decentralized derivatives trading when trust in centralized platforms eroded.
Q: Is LUNC completely worthless after its crash?
A: While LUNC lost nearly all value, it still maintains a community and limited use cases. However, most investors shifted focus to Terra 2.0 (LUNA), which launched after the original chain’s collapse.
Q: Can exchange tokens like OKB survive future downturns?
A: Yes — especially those backed by strong ecosystems like OKX. Exchange tokens with utility across trading fees, staking rewards, NFTs, and Web3 services tend to show greater resilience.
Q: What caused Solana’s repeated network outages?
A: High transaction loads without sufficient node optimization led to congestion and halts. Ongoing upgrades aim to improve decentralization and reliability.
Q: Will privacy coins like Monero see renewed interest?
A: Regulatory scrutiny remains a challenge, but growing concerns over financial surveillance may fuel demand for private transactions in the future.
Q: How can I avoid investing in high-risk tokens like FTT?
A: Focus on transparency: audit reports, open development teams, diversified revenue models, and decentralized governance reduce reliance on single individuals or opaque structures.
Core Keywords:
- Cryptocurrency price changes 2022
- Top crypto gainers
- Biggest crypto losers
- TWT price surge
- LUNC crash
- FTT collapse
- Bear market performance
- DeFi token trends
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