As the final presents are bought and wrapped, and the sherry begins to flow, one question is hot on the tongue of families world-wide this festive season: When will you put down your phone and stop checking crypto?
Little do they understand the woes of a turbulent month of bearish Bitcoin divergence, nor do they understand the endless possibilities of what could happen next – only one thing is certain – it’s Christmas and it’s time to enjoy it.
In the festive spirit, Coin Rivet has compiled a barometer reading of expert’s crypto market sentiments for 2022 – so you don’t have to this holiday season.
Web 3.0 users will take centre stage
For many of the experts, Web 3.0 has been veritably left out this year, although the significance of the sub-sector will continue to grow into 2022. Web 3.0 is focused on extending user utility in a decentralised capacity, and naturally this will place users as the central focus within the emergent technology.
Julian Sawyer, CEO of Bitstamp – the world’s longest-standing crypto exchange, was keen to assert the viewpoint that customer interaction is a vitally human component of high tech systems.
“In crypto especially, we use tech to drive our products and our business, however, our customer service is a space where we can be human,” he explained.
“The technical jargon in our industry is what causes customers to get confused or frustrated and we strive to be a place where people can enter the market with confidence.
“In 2022, the focus should be on innovating products that provide a better customer experience, not to use the technology to separate potential customers out. As more people talk about metaverses, cyborgs and alternative realities, I’m betting that people are going to want to talk to real people.”
And Matt Zhang, the Founder of Hivemind Capital (a $1.5bn crypto fund built on the back of Algorand), concurs with this opinion – adding the decentralised autonomous organisations (DAOs) will revolutionise user engagement in the future of industry, and the tech sector will be first.
“In 2022, we will see more companies explore alternative governance models using DAO and blockchain technology,” highlighted Zhang.
“This trend will be particularly obvious in the consumer tech sector, where consumers’ feedback on products shapes the longevity of the companies that provide those services in the first place.”
Institutional flows into crypto will continue
Many have been quick to label 2021 as the year of institutional crypto adoption, however, the experts seem to suggest this ‘moment’ is far from over amid economic concerns and the current state of adoption.
Diogo Monica, President of Anchorage Digital – the first federally chartered crypto bank, explained how institutional adoption of crypto represented a generational wealth transfer that is evidenced by a maturing multi-asset class industry.
“It’s no longer just speculative investing in Bitcoin or Ethereum; we’re talking about NFTs, DeFi, remittances, capital preservation, and many other verticals,” explained Diogo.
“We’ll also see Bitcoin continue to act as a hedge against inflation, which continues to be important as rates rise.
“Finally, banks and fintechs will continue to add support for crypto services across the board, as 2021 has shown us that the massive transfer of wealth to the millennial generation is well under way, and their needs are much different than their predecessors.”
And Matthew Gould, CEO of Unstoppable Domains, a leading NFT domain name platform, highlighted how the standout performance of stablecoins in 2021 demonstrated the genuine utility of crypto to individuals and banks alike.
“Stablecoins had a breakout year in 2021, reaching a market cap of over $152 billion. I predict that by 2024, the total market cap of stablecoins will reach $1 trillion,” said Gould.
“The biggest thing that’s going to win over crypto skeptics is utility, and stablecoins are the best example of this – stablecoins represent everything good about crypto without the speculation or the FOMO aspect, especially when you look at regulated stablecoins like USDC.
NFT and Metaverse hype is here to stay
Kosala Hemachandra, the CEO of MyEtherWallet, believes that 2022 will deliver a new wave of NFT hype as the real use-cases finally emerge and come to fruition.
“In 2022, I’m looking forward to physical items such as car titles and house deeds becoming NFTs,” said Hemachandra.
“This will introduce a whole new game to crypto. NFTs are easy to understand, similar to collectibles in the real world.
“Every wave of NFTs brings something new to the table, which means we haven’t even seen the full glory of NFTs yet”.
Speaking to the metaverse, Colin Pape (Founder of Presearch), argued 2022 would be a battleground year that would see centralised entities and decentralised networks duke out ownership of online interactions.
“Our collective shift towards the metaverse will continue to accelerate. This raises major concerns about privacy,” explained Pape.
“It’s not just your Facebook account, it’s a shift to everything being online. Centralised companies like Facebook, Google, and Amazon will vie for control over our digital lives, so we need to focus on building a future that is a net positive.
“The best way to do this is by offering alternatives to big tech platforms. As we shift towards a future in the metaverse, we should prioritise decentralised, open-source platforms, and educate people on alternatives to the centralised big tech platforms they use every day”.
