As the year is about to end, a number of companies working in the crypto space have shared with Cryptonews.com their predictions for 2022.
To help you understand what some of the major players in the space see for the next year, we decided to take a look at what topics are trending among those who dare to speculate about the future.
- Ethereum’s position to be solidified
Some insiders are optimistic about the future of the Ethereum (ETH) network, which has received its fair share of criticism this year due to prohibitively high transaction fees.
“We believe that once Ethereum transitions to [Proof-of-Stake – PoS], the drop in transaction fee on [Layer 1] will solidify Ethereum’s position as the go-to place for using DeFi applications,” Yenwen Feng, co-founder of the decentralized derivatives trading platform Perpetual Protocol, said.
Layer 1 refers to the Ethereum network itself, while Layer 2 refers to any chain built on top of the base chain, typically to make transactions faster and cheaper.
Also of the opinion that Ethereum’s position as a base layer will be solidified is Will Harborne, CEO & co-founder of decentralized finance (DeFi) platform DeversiFi, who said that 2022 will be the year in which Layer 2 chains built on Ethereum will reach “critical mass adoption” - and that they will surpass the base layer in terms of both total value locked (TVL) and volume.
- Continued growth for play-to-earn games
A trend that has already taken off this year, and that several companies expect will continue to grow next year as well, is the boom of crypto-based play-to-earn games. Sometimes called GameFi, this is a sector of the crypto space that blends DeFi with gaming and the metaverse – all hot areas over the past year.
"Play2Earn or GameFi is where I see the most growth potential because it is the easiest way for over 1 million people to join the ecosystem within 1 to 2 years," said Jori Armbruster, CEO of the social lending platform EthicHub. "The entire gaming industry will pivot to be built on top of public blockchains, bringing millions of users to these networks."
Similarly, George Harrap, co-founder of the Solana (SOL)-based DeFi protocol Step Finance, is also optimistic about the crypto gaming sector, but said these will not rely on Ethereum’s Layer 1, but rather various second-layer solutions and alternative blockchains like Solana.
“For example, Axie Infinity [AXS] had to build their entire new chain on [the Ethereum sidechain] Ronin because Ethereum was slow and expensive. You can’t build a gaming platform on Ethereum L1’s,” Harrap said.
- Ethereum will face competition
Although some are optimistic about Ethereum’s position next year, others say they believe Ethereum will face increasing competition from both Layer 1 blockchains and Layer 2 solutions, in particular when it comes to crypto gaming.
“Ethereum isn’t going to get solved next year, not even close, so there is just going to be a proliferation of more Layer 2’s and Layer 1s,” said Step Finance’s George Harrap, before delivering a final punch to Ethereum fans, saying “you’re not going to see gaming stuff on there.”
- Regulatory clarity and convergence of crypto and TradFi
Several of the companies that shared their predictions for 2022 with Cryptonews.com also said they believe 2022 will be a year where regulations become clearer around the world. According to some, this could blur the lines between crypto and traditional finance (TradFi) further.
“2022 will certainly see greater clarification on national regulatory frameworks, for better or for worse,” said Johannes Schweifer, CEO of blockchain infrastructure provider CoreLedger. He added that crypto “cannot be ignored any longer,” and that countries will be forced to “either support, or suppress, the technology.”
Meanwhile, according to Sidney Powell, co-founder of institutional capital marketplace Maple Finance, a growth of DeFi services that are compliant with regulations will also lead to “a big boom of institutional credit flows into the digital economy.”
“[…] the strengths of DeFi and TradFi will converge,” and institutional sentiment will turn in favor of crypto, Powell argued.