Top Trends in the Cryptocurrency Market 2021–2022
The blockchain and cryptocurrency industry is one of the most fast-paced and dynamic industries around. The market is alive and moving 24/7 and there’s always something going on. Trying to predict or anticipate the market’s direction, both in terms of price and in terms of developments, can be daunting for even the most experienced trend followers.
In this article, we’ll briefly discuss different trends that could affect the industry in 2021–2022.
5G
“The 5th generation technology standard for broadband cellular networks”. 5G technology improves network connectivity to 10 gigabits per second, which is about 100x faster than 4G. This means much faster download times, low latency, higher capacity and connectivity for devices. Understandably, this improved level of performance is promising for sectors like Virtual Reality (VR), Augmented Reality (AR), Artificial Intelligence (AI), and Internet of Things (IoT) that all require having a great network connectivity.
Gaming & NFTs
Polygon is raising $100 million to support blockchain game developers. They already have over 100,000 gamers and over 500 dApps. They’ve developed the Polygon Gaming Studio to help gaming developers and the Polygon NFT Studio to help the development of custom NFTs and marketplaces.
Blockchain adds transparency to gaming processes and online gambling platforms. Cryptopunt for example intends to launch with 3 casino games such as Coinflip, Blackjack and Jackpot.
Non-Fungible Tokens (or NFTs for short) are tokens that cannot be split, represent a unique asset and cannot be interchangeable. They can be used to represent digital assets such as photos, videos, or any other file. NFT Tech is creating the first NFT marketplace with a Smart Liquidity Matching Engine to take advantage of NFT liquidity across all marketplaces, allowing users to buy and sell NFTs more effortlessly. Additionally, users can use their NFTs as collateral to take out loans. NFTs can greatly revolutionize other areas as well, such as real estate (Vertalo), arts, music, e-commerce (BOSON), verification of official documents, etc.
Metaverse
The Metaverse is the collective shared virtual space. This encompasses the wide variety of virtual experiences, environments and assets. In Ernest Cline’s “Ready Player One” it refers to a fully digital world outside of the physical world.
Decentraland, SandBox, Roblox, and FortNite are all platforms that represent the concept of the Metaverse well. Platforms where users can exist, play games, attend concerts, purchase art (physical and NFTs), purchase physically redeemable items through NFTs (BOSON), etc. Even Zuckerberg wants in, saying recently that he wants Facebook to become the online Metaverse. Tencent has already established their dominance in this area with gaming for example. This is going to be an area that will continue to get more attention as the online experiences become more refined and rich.
Crypto Tax
As more established companies, individuals and even countries are getting into the blockchain and cryptocurrency industry, it is logical to assume that crypto taxes are going to follow. Many countries already have a form of crypto tax, namely taxing cryptocurrency profits as capital gains. Some countries, however, consider any cryptocurrency transactions for personal benefit as tax free. This trend doesn’t necessarily mean that cryptocurrencies will be taxed, it does mean that the rules / policies / regulations are going to become clearer and more well-defined.
DeFi
DeFi, or Decentralized Finance, has been one of the biggest trends in 2020 and 2021 so far. Defi projects have already built a strong foundation and are likely to boost the adoption of digital asset storage. Especially as banks start to charge more fees and we move towards more negative interest rates, stable coins and yield farming protocols will start to gain more traction as mainstream audiences look to preserve capital.
Blockchain-powered Travel
Blockchain technology can revolutionize the travel industry. We can already see signs of this with platforms like Travala and CheapAir, where you can already book full vacations using cryptocurrencies as payment. We can have digitalized passports and visas, instant redemption of loyalty points, easy tracking of missing luggage, digitalized travel insurance policies (such as with Polkacover) and obviously, we can have safe and secure transfer of data and payments amongst the different parties. The travel and hospitality industry are primed for innovation in these areas and more companies are going to start trying to offer revolutionary solutions using blockchain.
Conclusion
These are the overall themes that will continue to make waves within the blockchain ecosystem. Following along with developments in these areas — and any new areas that might appear as the year continues — is a great way to make sure that you can anticipate for and hedge against moves in the market.
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