Elrond Cryptocurrency Has Soared 723% This Year, Dwarfing Bitcoin, Dogecoin Gains — Here's Why

While Bitcoin (BTC) and Dogecoin (DOGE) have been getting attention in recent days for reaching new highs, a Romanian cryptocurrency — Elrond (EGLD) — has soared over 700% so far this year.

What Happened: EGLD rose 722.60% on a year-to-date basis and 203.53% over a seven-day trailing period. The cryptocurrency was trading 16.91% at $202.77at press time.

See also: Best Cryptocurrency Brokers

Comparatively, BTC and DOGE rose 25.79% and 118.96%, respectively, on a seven-day basis. BTC was trading 0.11% lower at $46,235.10 at press time while DOGE traded 8.53% lower at $0.074.

In September, Elrond began swapping its old ERD token to EGLD at the rate of 1000 ERD for one EGLD.

Other smart contract currencies were mostly in the green as of press time. 

Ethereum (ETH) and Cardano (ADA) traded 2.8% and 13.21% higher at $1,790.22 and $0.78 respectively. 

TRON (TRX) was up 12.99% at $0.048 and Terra (LUNA) higher by 32.97% at $6.88.

Solana (SOL) was down 2.75% at $8.17 and was an outlier to the trend.

Why It Matters: The most recent spike in EGLD prices comes after the release of the Maiar wallet, which has the capability of making social payments, according to Cointelegraph.

New partnerships and protocol upgrades have reportedly increased confidence in Elrond. 

Prices got a further boost when interoperability with Binance Smart Chain was announced on Jan. 25, which allows for cross-chain participation in decentralized finance opportunities across various networks, as per Cointelegraph.

EGLD has also been listed on Coinbase custody, according to Beniamin Mincu, CEO of Elrond.

Elrond $EGLD gets significant exposure to US institutions by listing on Coinbase Custody @CoinbaseInsto, the most reputable provider of custodial services for digital assets in the US.
#hypergrowth100 day 24.

More context on our recent milestone. https://t.co/RtYNBeuRzy

— Beniamin Mincu  (@beniaminmincu) January 28, 2021

The project has also established a partnership with Razor Network (RAZOR), a decentralized oracle provider, as per Mincu.

Related Links: Dogecoin Hits New All Time-High As Elon Musk Takes Twitter Frenzy To A New Level

For news coverage in Italian or Spanish, check out Benzinga Italia and Benzinga España.