The year of the Doge? 2021 was cryptocurrency's wildest year yet

Dogecoin, launched in 2013 as a bitcoin spinoff, soared over 12,000 per cent to an all-time high in May before slumping almost 80 per cent by mid-December

Bitcoin close to $70,000, “memecoins” worth billions of dollars, a blockbuster Wall Street listing and a sweeping Chinese crackdown: 2021 was the wildest yet for cryptocurrencies, even by the sector’s volatile standards.

Here is a look at some of the major trends that dominated cryptocurrencies this year.

Bitcoin: Still no.1

The original cryptocurrency held its crown as the biggest and most well-known token —though not without a host of challengers biting at its heels.

Bitcoin soared over 120 per cent from January 1 to a then-record of almost $65,000 in mid-April. Fuelling it was a tsunami of cash from institutional investors, growing acceptance by