Solana (CRYPTO: SOL) had the sort of 2021 that investors dream about. The coin skyrocketed more than 12,000% in a year. If you had invested $100 back in January, you'd be a millionaire now.

Solana Price data by YCharts

Although it will be next to impossible to duplicate Solana's success, investors might do well to research coins that are collaborating with the Solana blockchain. If Solana continues to outperform, coins that are compatible with its network might appreciate as well. Both Arweave (CRYPTO: AR) and Ankr (CRYPTO: ANKR) fit the bill. Read on to see why these two small coins might have big futures.

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This coin is powering a different kind of internet

Keith Noonan (Arweave): The Arweave network provides decentralized data-storage solutions, and it's at the foundation of the so-called permaweb -- a new take on the internet that's focused on making all content permanent and easily retrievable. Arweave's AR token is the currency used to pay for distributed data-storage and computer-network services, and its price could soar if demand for these technologies continues to climb.

The Arweave organization describes its platform's core technology as a "collectively owned hard drive that never forgets." With the importance of gathering and analyzing data sets becoming increasingly vital to business success, the Arweave technology may see increasing traction as the ability to record large amounts of tamper-proof information and content takes on added importance.

With the number of connected devices set to surge during the next decade and machine-to-machine communications expanding at a dramatic clip, there are some potentially powerful tailwinds that could help spur demand for Arweave's permaweb services. Solana has already partnered with Arweave for some of its data-storage and public-ledger needs, so the AR token could be primed to grow in conjunction with the evolution of the broader Solana blockchain ecosystem.

Following recent volatility in the crypto market, AR's token price is down roughly 40% from its high and has a market capitalization of about $1.9 billion. For investors willing to take on risk, Arweave is still small enough to leave the door open for huge returns, and the token is backed by an intriguing technology that suggests relatively attractive fundamentals compared to most other tokens.

This blockchain might supplant AWS and Azure one day

Taylor Carmichael (Ankr): Chandler Song's first job was as a software engineer for Amazon's cloud platform, Amazon Web Services (AWS). It was while working there that he began brainstorming the idea of using peer-to-peer networking to decentralize cloud computing. His idea is that a distributed network of node providers could offer cloud computing to users at much cheaper prices than Amazon, Microsoft, or Alphabet charge. And so, in the fall of 2017, Ankr was born.

While Ankr is building out its network, the company strives to collaborate with multiple blockchains and achieve cross-chain interoperability. Right now the company offers a way for developers of decentralized applications (dApps) to make remote procedure calls (RPC) and access data from multiple blockchains, including Solana, Ethereum, Avalanche, Fantom, and Polygon.

Every day, 2 billion RPC calls are made on the Ankr network. By enabling developers to interact with blockchain data, RPC is a mechanism that allows users to earn Ankr coin across blockchains. In other words, Ankr is incentivizing individual node operators to serve traffic.

How does it work? Crypto owners can keep their coins in a digital wallet and stake the crypto. This is used in proof-of-stake blockchains to validate DeFi (decentralized finance) transactions on the blockchain. Owners who stake their crypto in this fashion receive interest on their coins. Ankr is small right now -- its market cap is just under $1 billion -- but it's rapidly becoming a hub for DeFi across multiple blockchains.

While nobody should assume that Arweave or Ankr will zoom 12,000% higher in 2022, these small coins have significant upside. Investors who want to jump on the Solana bandwagon should research those small blockchains that are collaborating with Solana today. Small investments in these coins today might result in big rewards in the future.

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Suzanne Frey, an executive at Alphabet, is a member of The Motley Fool's board of directors. Teresa Kersten, an employee of LinkedIn, a Microsoft subsidiary, is a member of The Motley Fool's board of directors. John Mackey, CEO of Whole Foods Market, an Amazon subsidiary, is a member of The Motley Fool's board of directors. Keith Noonan has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. Taylor Carmichael owns Amazon, Ankr, and Solana. The Motley Fool owns and recommends Alphabet (A shares), Alphabet (C shares), Amazon, Ethereum, and Microsoft. The Motley Fool recommends the following options: long January 2022 $1,920 calls on Amazon and short January 2022 $1,940 calls on Amazon. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.