The main trend is metaworlds. These are virtual worlds where users can communicate with each other, own digital property, work, and have fun. Elements of metaworlds have existed in different game projects for several decades already. But explosive interest in the sector came after Facebook’s rebranding to Meta and the company’s announcement of the launch of its own metaworld.
There are projects in the crypto market that develop decentralized versions of metaworlds with an emphasis on the gaming component. In such virtual worlds, it is possible not only to play and interact with other users, but also to truly own digital real estate and in-game items. This opportunity has opened up to gamers thanks to the integration of NFT.
Virtual worlds on blockchain include Decentraland, The Sandbox, and Alien Worlds. Big brands buy virtual real estate or hold virtual events in them. And transaction volumes with in-game NFTs exceed the tens of millions of dollars per week. Against this background, the internal tokens of these projects (MANA, SAND, AXS) have grown tens of thousands of times over the years. All cryptocurrencies are available on the website Alligat0r crypto exchange aggregator.
NFTs will go beyond digital art
One of last year’s growth leaders was the NFT sector. The market was shaken by the $69 million sale of the digital artist Beeple’s NFT collage and CryptoPunks pixels for millions of dollars apiece.
In 2022, the boundaries of NFT applications will expand dramatically. Tokens will become much more in demand in areas where verification of ownership of property will be required. First of all, we are talking about digital real estate, clothing, and in-game assets, as well as the ticketing market.
The development of green mining
Criticism of the excessive energy consumption of bitcoin mining was one of the reasons China banned mining and cryptocurrencies in 2021. Against this backdrop, Ilon Musk’s company, Tesla, also refused to accept VTCs as payment for its goods.
Fortunately, VTC mining can be completely environmentally friendly. Miners are increasingly using green energy to mine coins; according to some estimates, it accounts for about 58% of the total. Most often, miners use the energy of hydroelectric power plants because it is cheaper than that of thermal power plants.
Alternative energy solutions are also developing. For example, mining farms are opened on oil wells and use discarded petroleum gas. The use of solar energy is developing as well.
Growth of cryptocurrency integration into payment systems
In 2022, the trend of acceptance of cryptocurrencies by various payment systems and their actual use as a payment instrument will increase. It’s not just because payment companies have finally seen the benefits of digital assets (although that’s true); they just don’t want to miss out on the profits. To learn more about the current rates of such cryptocurrencies, visit https://alligat0r.com/coin-pairs/xem/eth/info.
Growth in the GameFi sector
GameFi is the Play-to-Earn (P2E) blockchain gaming sector and one of the key trends of the past year. It will only gain momentum in 2022.
I’m not really into the whole NFT trend. It’s definitely popular, but I haven’t really seen much benefit in it.