2021 was quite the year for the crypto sector. Many of the popular digital currencies as well as emerging tokens saw a surge in adoption. The industry’s market capitalization reached an all-time high thus further proving its potential. Now, as we embark on a new year, stakeholders and enthusiasts are also starting to think about what to expect.
If the previous year is anything to go by, 2022 is also set to be an action-packed year for crypto. With all the trends that have taken already taken off, there is a lot of optimism about what the future holds. A few of the things that will be worth paying attention to include:
More Mainstream Institutional Interest
Crypto and blockchain have certainly come a long way. The skepticism about the technology and its potential to revolutionize global finance has been fading away. This was largely accelerated by institutional involvement. That is, financial and corporate institutions have also gotten in on crypto.
Decentralized Finance, or DeFi, was one of the many revolutionary developments as financial service providers noticed how beneficial blockchain can be to transaction processing. Cross-border payments especially in developing regions began leveraging the technology and that should only get better in 2022.
More Regulation on the Way
It is not just corporates and the financial sector that are paying attention to crypto. Even government and various state authorities are baying for a seat at the table. One of the ways they will be contributing is through regulatory intervention. This not only intends to bring some sort of stability to the rather volatile market but also seal some loopholes that most skeptics have had concerns about.
We, of course, need to fully assess the impact of crypto and blockchain on the economy before any law comes into effect. 2022 seems to be the best year for that as we have had plenty of time over the past couple of years to see how impactful the sector can be.
NFTs and Web 3.0
Non-fungible tokens (NFTs) were all the buzz in 2021. While this was mostly because of the mind-boggling price tags that accompanied them, they carry more significance, especially for artists. It is a great way for them to finance their art and get compensated for the same. 2021 was a great year for NFTs. 2022 is likely to be an even better year.
One other thing that is growing just as fast as NFTs is Web 3.0, that is, the third version of the internet. It comes with a ton of amazing capabilities that will supercharge what we already have. For the crypto industry, Web 3.0 will have a positive impact as the two concepts are closely tied to each other.
