The Year of the Doge? 2021, crypto's wildest year yet

FILE PHOTO: Representation of cryptocurrency Dogecoin is seen in this illustration taken November 29, 2021. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration/File Photo

LONDON (Reuters) - Bitcoin close to $70,000, "memecoins" worth billions of dollars, a blockbuster Wall Street listing and a sweeping Chinese crackdown: 2021 was the wildest yet for cryptocurrencies, even by the sector's volatile standards.

Digital assets started the year with a stampede of cash from investors large and small. And bitcoin and its kin were rarely out of the spotlight since, with the language of crypto becoming firmly entrenched in the investor lexicon.