RBC presents a regular selection of the five most appreciated cryptocurrencies. It is based on the percentage growth over the past seven days (from May 15 to May 22), crypto assets are taken from the top 100 largest by capitalization, the data is from CoinMarketCap. The growth of almost every coin was accompanied by the news background in one way or another, but it should be taken into account that prices are influenced by many other market factors.
NEAR Protocol (NEAR)
Growth for 7 days till May 22: +45%
NEAR Protocol is a Tier 1 blockchain that positions itself as a “blockchain for artificial intelligence (AI).” NEAR uses so-called sharding in its architecture, which, according to the developers, allows it to process billions of transactions without increasing fees and network load. The project also develops blockchain abstraction mechanisms that simplify the use of Web3 applications by hiding the technical complexities of different networks from the user.
The main catalyst is the general rise of the AI sector of cryptocurrencies after Nvidia’s May 20 report, which coincided with the active growth of NEAR’s price during the period under review. Thus, NEAR, as a blockchain focused on AI infrastructure, could be one of the direct beneficiaries of positive investor sentiment in the AI sector.
Another key catalyst was the announcement of Dynamic Resharding, a network update that improves network performance, scheduled for June. As NEAR explained, the new features are particularly important for the AI economy, where bots transact with each other. In parallel, the network is implementing protection against quantum computers amid concerns that these machines could hack into blockchains in the future. Additional impetus to NEAR’s price may have come from institutional demand, where the Bitwise Near Staking ETF, a fund registered in Europe, raised $7 million during the week.
NEAR’s price was $2.26 with a market capitalization of $2.95 billion. NEAR has not shown significant positive performance other than the market for many years. There were two attempts to consolidate above the $7 level in 2024, after which the rate stagnated to current values. From the all-time high of $20.4 in January 2022, the asset price is down nearly 89%.
Venice Token (VVV)
Up 7 days through May 22: +30%
Venice Token is a token of the Venice ecosystem, an AI platform on the Base blockchain (a Tier 2 solution from cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase). Venice offers a single interface to work with models such as ChatGPT and Claude, ensuring that user data and requests remain private. The platform tokenizes access to LLMs without censorship, targeting users and developers looking for alternatives to corporate control of AI. The project is run by ShapeShift cryptocurrency exchange head Eric Voorhees, with Tiana Baker-Taylor, who was previously vice president of USDC’s steblecoin issuer Circle, taking over as COO.
VVV’s growth coincided with two major events: general interest in AI tokens in the wake of Nvidia’s reporting, and the announcement of its listing on the US trading platform Robinhood.
VVV is the fastest-growing token since the start of 2026 among the top 100 cryptocurrencies, having added over 1000% since the beginning of January. The exchange rate at the time of writing was $18.3 with a capitalization of $850 million. The historical high was reached when trading started in early 2025 at $22.45.
Hyperliquid (HYPE)
7-day gain through May 22: 30%
Hyperliquid is a decentralized exchange of perpetual futures (perps) operating on its own blockchain with a native HYPE token. The project allows trading of leveraged perpetual contracts without intermediaries and identity verification (KYC) procedures.
On May 21, HYPE hit an all-time high, surpassing the $62 mark, the previous record held since September 2026. At the time of writing, the asset price was $59 with a capitalization of over $15 billion. Since the beginning of the year, HYPE’s exchange rate has also seen a significant increase of 130%, making it one of the fastest-growing stocks this year.
The growth over the period under review coincided with strong institutional investor demand for HYPE-based exchange traded products (ETFs) in the US. Launched just ten days before the record, HYPE ETFs raised more than $80 million in seven trading days. Blockchain analysts also tracked that wealth management firm Grayscale has accumulated $10 million worth of HYPE, while wallets linked to Andreessen Horowitz’s venture capital fund (a16z) have accumulated about 9.2 million HYPE (more than $520 million) since August 2025. Experts noted that “institutional investors are investing in HYPE-ETFs faster than in bitcoin ETFs when adjusted for market capitalization.”
And the key catalyst preceding the growth was a deal with Coinbase, which became the USDC stablecoin operator for the Hyperliquid ecosystem, effectively replacing the project’s own stablecoin (USDH). After the Coinbase deal, project founder Jeff Yang said he spent several days in Washington discussing with U.S. regulators the integration of onchain derivatives into the U.S. financial system.
HYPE has been in tenth place in the ranking of the largest by capitalization for about a year now, behind Dogecoin (DOGE) in ninth place – the gap between them is about $1.3 billion. However, with this week’s rate hike, HYPE surpassed Solana in terms of fully diluted value (FDV), or the full value of all issued tokens: $55 billion versus Solana’s $54 billion.
Zcash (ZEC)
Growth in 7 days through May 22: 20%
Zcash (ZEC) is the largest cryptocurrency in the privacy sector, enabling anonymous transactions using zk-SNARKs technology. The blockchain operates based on the Proof-of-Work consensus mechanism (like Bitcoin), but has built-in privacy features that allow for complete concealment of the sender, recipient, and transfer amount.
ZEC ranks 11th in the ranking of the largest cryptocurrencies with a $10.6 billion capitalization. The growth of the coin over the past seven days almost coincided with its growth since the beginning of January, amounting to 25%. At the time of writing, the asset is trading at $640. Nevertheless, the coin lacks another 20% growth to the peak of the previous year (about $770). The historical maximum of Zcash was recorded at the start of trading in 2016, when the price exceeded $4 thousand.
No important news on the ZEC project itself was released during this period, but the concept of financial privacy is actively promoted in the media space, in the context of which Zcash is often referred to as “a more confidential version of bitcoin”.
An additional possible catalyst for growth was the Glassnode report, which showed that almost a third of all bitcoins are vulnerable to potential quantum attacks. Such infowars traditionally bring cybersecurity to the forefront, and Zcash is one of the few blockchains that has a clear plan of defense against quantum threats.
Worldcoin (WLD)
Up 7 days through May 22: 13%
The World project is being developed by Tools for Humanity, co-founded by Sam Altman, the head of OpenAI (creator of ChatGPT). The startup is based on the idea of creating a biometric World ID to verify users on the Internet. Using special devices, operators scan the iris of the eye, encoding the data into a digital World ID passport. As a reward for passing verification, users receive a small amount in WLD tokens.
The project has received mixed reception in the community. At its launch in 2023, queues lined up for scanning, and the WLD token was immediately added by major cryptocurrency exchanges. But skeptics warn of high risks – the iris is unique, and the use of such information by third parties can bring big trouble. The project is banned in India, Brazil, France, Germany, South Korea and several other countries for security reasons. In Kenya and Hong Kong, the offices of World operators have been searched and closed.
WLD’s rise this week was accompanied by a general upswing in AI sector tokens following the Nvidia report. In addition, the project retains a close associative link to OpenAI through the figure of Sam Altman, making its course sensitive to any news surrounding that company. In particular, an additional driver for WLD could be reports that OpenAI has accelerated its preparations for a possible listing after winning a legal dispute with Ilon Musk. Reportedly, the company may file for an initial public offering in the coming weeks or even days.
Worldcoin is also developing tools to verify AI agents to prove that a real person is behind them.
And yet WLD distinguished itself this week with an anti-record: on May 18, the token fell to a historic low of $0.228. At the time of writing, its rate has corrected to $0.286 with a capitalization of $981 million. The current price of the coin is 97.6% below its historical high of $11.8, recorded in March 2024.
