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Happy New Year fintech fans! Let’s kick things off in style.
With 2021 behind us we can look to the road ahead and what lies in store for all things blockchain. Simon Taylor sat down with Cuy Sheffield, Head of Crypto at Visa, to do just that. Will crypto keep soaring or go bust? Are NFTs bound for the mainstream? What kind of DAOs can we expect to see springing up? For all this and much, much more, listen to the latest episode of our Blockchain Insider Insights podcast.
Like to read? We've got you covered. Here are the big takeaways from the podcast.
Your predictions
We asked you (yes, YOU) for your 2022 crypto predictions:
- 41% think we're headed for a crypto crash
- 40% think crypto will continue to rally
- 14% think the crypto payroll will be normalised
- 5% voted for ‘Other’
With crypto success and failure hanging in the balance, let’s hope the space can keep attracting the top tier talent that has given rise to NFTs, DeFi, you name it. We’ve seen it move from a financial entity to a cultural and community-based phenomenon in a pretty short space of time. Not bad at all. Kudos.
We’ve seen it move from a financial entity to a cultural and community-based phenomenon in a pretty short space of time.
And now the moment you’ve all been waiting for…it’s our predictions.
A Patrick Swayze DeFi mullet
Fintech in the front, DeFi in the back. Need I say more?
We’re going out on a limb and predicting 2022 will be the year this really comes into fruition. Our thinking?
Well, DeFi has a lot of great use cases. It offers a different way to generate yield and annual percentage yield (APY) for consumers and a new look at lending and borrowing. It’s very early days so the user experience needs a bit of TLC.
And who’s really good at creating great UX? Well, fintechs of course. Just look at how they’ve taken traditional financial services and given them a facelift.
Barring any sort of catastrophic crash (touch wood), expect DeFi to really take off in 2022.
Regulators killed the crypto star?
Expect a lot of regulatory activity. Hopefully we’ll gain clarity on how banks and other businesses can come into the space - in a compliant manner.
There’s definitely a real hunger for it in the industry. With $150bn in Stablecoins now in circulation, market participants are keen for transparency with the way Stablecoins are managed.
And with crypto here to stay, the pressure on regulators to introduce clear guidance is only going to go up.
And with crypto here to stay, the pressure on regulators to introduce clear guidance is only going to go up.
The policymakers are one potential banana skin. Some people are uneasy that crypto leads to scams and hacks. Let’s hope they see its real potential.
So regulators might be able to slow the pace of this industry a little. But ultimately the train has left the station.
NFTs are dead! Long live NFTs!
Will the bubble burst in 2022? In a word - no.
They’re not going anywhere. While it’s impossible to predict how individual NFTs will fare, you can’t put the genie back in the bottle.
More interesting is the question of which verticals NFTs expand into. Don’t be surprised if the worlds of music and NFTs overlap even more. Last year we saw a few artists dipping a toe in the water with minted records and artwork. But there’s a dizzying amount of potential yet to be explored.
Don’t be surprised if the worlds of music and NFTs overlap even more.
One thing we’ve got our fingers crossed for is more diversity in the space. 77% of art sales are currently going to male creators. More balance in 2022 is a must! With more and more collectors getting onboard, it’s surely only a matter of time.
Web3, metaverse…is this real life or is this just fantasy?
That’s a tricky one.
What will be really interesting to see is if these virtual worlds start to take off from a gaming perspective. Until now we’ve had two parallel approaches. On the one hand, centralised metaverse environments are partnering with large brands for commerce and events. On the other, the likes of Decentraland and Sandbox allow people to buy digital land and build their own experiences on top of them.
The former offers a more polished experience with higher production value. But the latter is arguably more interesting. People can own parts of properties and invest in whatever they want to build. Time till tell which metaverse comes out on top.
Here’s to a happy and healthy 2022!
