Best Crypto Highlights of 2021 VS Expectations For 2022
Without a doubt, 2021 was a really memorable year in the crypto world. A lot of groundbreaking events were recorded, including the total crypto market capitalization, which increased radically from about $800 billion to a massive $2.2 trillion.
In this article, we will examine a few of the best highlights of 2021 and what to expect in 2022.
Notable Crypto Highlights of 2021
NFTs: Non-fungible tokens trended all year long, so much so that a few days to the end of the year the number of Google searches for ‘NFT’ officially surpassed that of ‘Crypto’. A host of other interesting events happened that shook the NFT world, such as when Chinese e-commerce giant, Alibaba launched its own NFT Marketplace, Nike also acquired an NFT Fashion Studio and the famous Merriam-Webster Dictionary added the term ‘NFT’ to the dictionary. What a year it has been for NFTs!
Stable coins: These coins are the pillars of the crypto economy and decentralized finance (DeFi). Their supply notably increased from $29 billion to $151 billion, which is a staggering increase of 421%. This indicates a rising interest in the use of these cryptocurrency coins.
Government Regulations: Several surprising regulations were made, such as that of El Salvador accepting Bitcoin as a legal tender and in reverse, China dubbing crypto illegal.
Venture Capital Investments: A whopping $30 billion in venture capital funds was invested in cryptocurrency companies in 2021, as opposed to 2018’s $8 billion record.
What To Expect in 2022
The SPAC deal of Circle: The SPAC, issuers of USDC, the second-largest stable coin have had their deal of circle which was supposed to take place in late 2021 postponed. The SPAC will most likely take place in 2022: and because of the increase in the supply of stable coins, this action will have a significant influence on the crypto market.
Ethereum 2.0: The much-awaited upgrade of the second-largest cryptocurrency, after Bitcoin, is expected to take place in the first or second quarter of the year. This upgrade is known as ETH 2.0, and it is expected to make the currency more secure, scalable and, of course, sustainable, among many other benefits.
Government Regulations: Though we only saw a few regulations in 2021, regulation sentiments change daily. We can only sit back and keep our fingers crossed in 2022, as we can never really know what to expect.
The Flip: We are probably in the year when Ethereum might overtake Bitcoin. There is a high probability of this happening because Ethereum competed favourably in 2021 and had higher rates of adoption and authentic use. Although, the chances of this happening depend on DeFi, NFTs, stable coins and particularly the outcome of ETH 2.0.
If the outcome is what we think it could be, it’s Ethereum to the moon! What are your thoughts? Do you think Ethereum can overtake Bitcoin?
