The crypto lending and borrowing platform Crypto.com has published a postponement that details its five main predictions for crypto in 2022. And judging from the report, 2022 may be the year when even the nation-states realize that crypto is here to stay, leading to a friendlier stance from countries around the world towards the industry.
1. A billion crypto users by end of 2022
The first prediction for 2022 Crypto.com’s analysts make in the report is that 2022 will be the year when the global number of crypto users for the first time reaches 1bn people.
As of November 30 this year, there were more than 292m crypto users worldwide, the report said, while adding that the top three countries in terms of their number of crypto users are India with 100m, the United States with 27m and Russia with 17m.
“Nations can no longer afford to ignore the growing push toward crypto by the public,” which forces them to adopt a friendlier stance towards crypto, the report predicted.
It added that developed nations will likely develop clearer crypto regulations during the year, and that some countries with high inflation could follow El Salvador’s example and “adopt cryptocurrency as legal tender.”
2. Crypto to become “a staple” in investment portfolios
Secondly, Crypto.com predicts that crypto will become “a staple in TradFi [traditional finance] investment portfolios ”through crypto exposure adapted to the traditional financial market.
“Crypto will become a fixture in the alternative asset class for investment portfolios. The first crypto ETFs [exchange-traded funds] launched this year were met with demand beyond their capacity, suggesting that more crypto instruments in the mainstream finance industry will soon follow, ”the report said.
It also noted that major firms from the world of traditional finance, including Morgan stanley, Citi, Goldman Sachs, JP Morgan, and others, are already seeking partnerships with crypto exchanges, and that more firms are likely to follow in 2022.
3. Play-to-earn will fuel crypto adoption
Crypto-based play-to-earn games, sometimes referred to as GameFi, has grown exponentially in 2021, and will become “one of the main vehicles for mass conversion to the crypto space,” the report predicted.
Traditional game studios will be in a race to introduce play-to-earn features in their games, which will accelerate the boom in this field further in 2022, Crypto.com said.
4. Multi-chain becomes the norm
The researchers said that the multi-chain development that we have already seen with many decentralized finance (DeFi) protocols this year, will continue.
“Cross-chain DeFi protocols will become the norm, paving the way for a multi-chain future of replacing the siloed chains of the past,” the report predicted, adding that interoperability and bridging between blockchains is becoming – and will continue to become – “More seamless.”
5. DAOs to change the way we work
Lastly, in this year’s report, Crypto.com predicted that decentralized autonomous organizations, or DAOs, will change the way we work in the new year.
“In the era of Web 3.0, we will see the influence & outreach of [DAOs] expanding significantly beyond the crypto space, and becoming a widely accepted governance mechanism, ”the report noted.
The researchers added that they predict more countries to develop legal frameworks for DAOs, and eventually recognize them “as legal entities,” opening up the possibility of using DAO structures instead of traditional companies.
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