2022 has been a tough year for most crypto investors so far.
Cryptos have broadly proven susceptible to the same market forces that have seen risk assets take a bath this calendar year.
With fast-rising inflation seeing central banks in developed nations hike interest rates, the tech-heavy Nasdaq is down 28.9% year-to-date. ASX tech shares have gone the same direction, as witnessed by the 33.1% fall in the S&P/ASX All Technology Index (ASX: XTX) over that same period.
With risk assets under pressure, Bitcoin (CRYPTO: BTC) is down 36.9% this year, while the world's number two crypto by market cap, Ethereum (CRYPTO: ETH) has tumbled 46.9% since 1 January.
In fact, only three of the top 100 cryptos have returned a gain of more than 6% in 2022.
We'll leave off the second and third spots and shine the spotlight directly onto the top-performing crypto in 2022, Kyber Network Crystal v2 (CRYPTO: KNC).
The digital token is up 3.6% over the past 24 hours, bringing its gains in 2022 to an impressive 62.9%.
At the current price of US$2.24, it has a total market valuation just shy of US$400 million.
What is Kyber Network?
If you haven't heard of Kyber Network Crystal v2, rest assured you're not alone.
Here's what CoinMarketCap says makes the crypto unique:
Kyber Network is the first tool that allows anyone to instantly swap tokens without the need of a third-party, like a centralised exchange. The unique architecture of Kyber is designed to be developer-friendly, which enables the protocol to be easily integrated with apps and other blockchain-based protocols.
For investors who may be considering KNC, do take note of the serious volatility it's undergone just in the past month alone.
Here's what we mean.
The token hit all-time highs of US$5.72 on 28 April. Then, only two weeks later, it sank to record lows of US$1.13 on 12 May.
Since the 12 May low, KNC has leapt 98% higher.
What's intriguing crypto investors?
In the lead up to hitting its all-time highs last month, Kyber Network Crystal v2 said it was integrating with numerous leading blockchains.
As Cointelegraph reported:
KyberSwap, the main decentralised exchange interface on the network, now offers trading across ten separate networks including Ethereum, Avalanche, Polygon, BNB Smart Chain, Aurora, Arbitrum, Fantom, Oasis, Velas and Cronos.
Interoperability has become one of the main themes driving growth not just in DeFi, but in all sectors of the crypto economy because the ability to send assets and data across multiple chains is a necessary feature in the future of DeFi, the nonfungible token (NFT) sector and the Metaverse.
Things move quickly in the crypto space.
But, as of today, Kyber Network Crystal v2 is hands down the biggest gainer of 2022 so far.
