Cryptocurrency and Blockchain had an outstanding year in 2021.
just look at the numbers: 80 million unique crypto wallets; Bitcoin and Ether grew by 60% and 407%, respectively; El Salvador adopted bitcoin as its official currency; the NFT market generated $2.5 billion in business. Even Burger King announced a big lie when it filed the NFT suit. Impressive? Absolutely. Have we reached a point where crypto and blockchain achieve mass adoption? Well, not exactly.
Although DeFi, cryptocurrencies, blockchains, NFTs and a host of other products have come online in 2021, only about 1% of the world’s population has a unique cryptocurrency wallet. Media coverage, financial institutions and companies with large marketing budgets came in and made it look like mass adoption was already here. But in reality, we are not there yet.
However, we anticipate this to change in 2022. From more creative cryptographic inputs to the impact of inflation and new technologies, here are five trends we can expect in 2022 and what you can do to meet the challenges ahead.
Expect more diverse uses for encryption
Most of the time, consumers are aware that cryptocurrency exists but do not understand its day-to-day benefits. For many, it is seen as an investment tool for institutional or retail investors, a novelty or something that mainly caters to the more modern generation Z. With blockchain and GameFi games, as well as rewards redemption platforms that exchange airline miles in cryptocurrencies. on the horizon, this is expected to change in 2022.
We’ve already seen some of this in 2021 with NFTs catering to art collectors and sports enthusiasts. We’ll see this branch out into other areas like wine, sneakers and other collectibles, bringing in new users.
For the mass consumer, understanding these technologies can be a challenge, but when NFTs are tied to something they know and are excited about, it will start to grow among that community. Keep an eye out for entrepreneurial companies operating in these areas – specifically collectibles – as a way to broaden the reach of cryptocurrencies and blockchain in 2022.
A rise in crypto apps
Encryption is considered technically complicated to hold, and for the layman, even the terminology is difficult to understand. Crypto and blockchain need to be easy to use and understand before mass adoption can happen, and that is what we will see in 2022.
Cheaper blockchains are allowing new users to integrate DApps, which are decentralized applications that run on a P2P network or blockchain. They do not require users to submit their personal information. It will start with global payments for digital assets, recurring purchases or tips, but will grow to include multiple types of transactions, which will only increase user adoption.