One of the familiar themes seen in previous crypto market cycles is the shifting market caps, popularity and ranking of the top 10 projects that see significant gains during bull phases, only to fade into obscurity during the bear markets. Many of these projects follow a predictable boom-to-bust pattern and rarely return to previous glory.

During the 2017–2018 bull market and initial coin offering (ICO) boom, which was driven by network-based projects, all manner of small smart contract-oriented projects rallied thousands of percentage to unexpected highs.