The year 2017 provided cryptocurrency enthusiasts with a lot of interesting statistics to keep an eye on. Although it is evident that a lot of currencies gained a lot of value, there are plenty of altcoins which flew under the radar despite their gains. Moreover, a lot of the top 300 cryptocurrencies were created in the year 2017, which is both exciting and worrisome at the same time. Whether or not the year 2018 will yield similar returns has yet to be determined. For now, things are certainly looking up.

A Recap of the Year 2017 for Altcoins

Although we already discussed which currencies noted major gains in 2017, it is evident this list is a lot longer than most people would expect. A lot of things changed in the world of cryptocurrency throughout 2017, and we can expect even more surprises in the year 2018. Recent statistics from Coincall provide a wealth of information well worth looking into, especially when it comes to the performance of cryptocurrency overall, and how new coins are all the rage.

First of all, the top gainer in 2017 was none other than Verge. That’s a bit surprising, as most people only started talking about this currency in late 2017 and early 2018. Astonishingly, Verge grew over 1 million percent in value throughout 2017. It certainly makes Bitcoin’s gains pale in comparison, even though people are still on the fence as to whether or not Verge has any real purpose. Its Wraith implementation has been pretty interesting, although it subsequently made the price tank by 25%.

Other currencies which noted massive gains that aren’t exactly mainstream include Hempcoin, Groestl, and a few others. There’s a lot of good money to be made with cryptocurrency, assuming you know which targets to shoot for. Focusing merely on the major cryptocurrencies is the safe approach, but it is evident some of the gambles made by early investors in specific tokens have also paid off. After all, investing US$1 in some of these currencies would have netted you a five-figure return today. It is uncanny how much (dumb) money can be made with these penny coins.

What is rather disconcerting is how over half of the top 300 cryptocurrencies did not exist prior to 2017. Most of these currencies are ICO tokens, which were the most popular trend in all of cryptocurrency last year. There are also a fair amount of altcoins, pump-and-dump schemes, and Ponzis to contend with. Whether or not the world needs so many different currencies and tokens will always be subject to debate. After all, most of them don’t serve any real purpose, regardless of their recent price gains.

As is usually the case, cryptocurrencies outperformed regular stocks by quite a margin. Although 2017 was not a terrible year for stocks – there were multiple opportunities to double your money over the span of the year – cryptocurrencies netted returns of up to 1,740 times one’s initial investment. It almost feels like comparing apples and oranges in this regard, but it’s always worth the effort to see how both sectors compare to one another. This trend in cryptocurrency is not sustainable, though; that much everyone can see.

At the same time, there are still a lot of currencies with market caps below US$50 million. Although that may seem like a high number, it is relatively small when it comes to cryptocurrency. After all, most ICOs raise that amount of money in a matter of days, and thus it was only normal to have made it the threshold for these rankings. It will be quite interesting to see how all of this plays out in the future, as this money has to keep coming from somewhere.