In many ways, 2021 has been an extension of the trends that emerged in 2020, with further
Covid-induced lockdowns forcing people into new ways of making money online. 2020 was very much
a boom year for cryptocurrency – spurred on by the influence of lockdowns, combined with the crypto
space moving further into mainstream finance. 2021 has largely seen an extension of that.
Most people will agree by now that cryptocurrency isn’t a passing fad,
rather it’s a new form of financial system that is here to stay.
As such, we can only conclude that 2022 is going to be another huge year for the digital
currency space. There seems to be something just around the corner for cryptocurrency.
Something that will see the space explode and put the crypto revolution into full force.
But which cryptocurrencies are going to explode in 2022? Here’s a list of the contenders.
Bitcoin
Admittedly, the inclusion of Bitcoin (BTC) is quite obvious given the fact that it’s been
the dominant digital currency since it’s inception in 2009. It’s widely accepted
on all cryptocurrency exchanges and is now accepted by many prominent companies. It’s
even become the official currency of El Salvador, which adopted Bitcoin as
legal tender in September this year, making at the first country to do so.lthough there
are cryptocurrencies like Ethereum closing the gap on Bitcoin’s market dominance, it’s hard to
see Bitcoin going away any time soon. The bigger cryptocurrency gets the bigger bitcoin will get.
Ethereum, Cardano and Solana
So far 2021 has presented mixed fortunes for the second largest cryptocurrency
in the world Ethereum. On the plus side though, Ethereum’s user base
has grown immensely closing the gap on the world’s number one cryptocurrency bitcoin.
However, 2020 wine has also brought some challenges to Ethereum.
The biggest of these is the delays surrounding its Ethereum 2.0 upgrade
which is now slated for release later next year. As a result of the delays, Ethereum’s speed
and cost per transaction have been criticised by people searching for alternatives like
Solano (SOL) and Cardano (ADA), which have similar block chains to Ethereum except newer and faster.
The emergence of NFTs has been an enormous boost for the Ethereum network which currently
holds the vast majority of NFTs in existence However the Solano and Cardano blockchains
can also hold NFTs and are sure to give the Ethereum platform a run for its money in 2022.
These three blockchains have their own innate value, which is a platform where creators and
developers and artists can create programs as well as decentralised finance (DeFi) and NFTs.
The functionality of these three blockchains will hold it in good stead for next year.
cryptocurrency, crypto, blockchains, Bitcoin, Ethereum, Solana, Cardano, Decentraland, Sandbox
Image source © Alexeyboldin | Megapixl.com
Virtual Reality Blockchains
It feels like we’re on the cusp of a virtual reality revolution. Facebook‘s
announcement last week on releasing the Metaverse virtual reality world where people from all over
the world can meet universal space simply, seemed to bring that reality one step closer.
On the crypto front, blockchains like Decentraland (MANA) and Sandbox (SAND)
had gone largely under the radar, until Facebook (rebranded as “Meta”) CEO Mark Zuckerberg
made his metaverse announcement last week.
Decentraland, which offers users its own Metaverse has grown 3,137 percent this year
and the phenomenon of virtual reality will very possibly garner further growth for MANA next year.
The other popular VR blockchain in the space space is Sandbox (SAND),
which also had been thriving extensively in 2021. In fact,
it achieved over 6,000 percent growth since January 1. It is currently priced at US$2.70.
Perhaps there will be room for both virtual reality-powered cryptocurrencies (SAND and MANA)
to thrive next year. It certainly feels like at least one of these is in for another killer year.
There are over 4,000 digital currencies available on the market
and 2022 will see many of these tanks and some of these reigns supreme.
Given the trends, the cryptos outlined above are likely set to perform strongly.