Opinion Crypto Opportunities for the Coming Year

Crypto Opportunities for the Coming Year

January 1, 2022

All who are in some shape or form invested in the cryptocurrency space understand very well that it is in many ways about the opportunities. These include both those opportunities that exist and those that can be recognized, especially because these two categories do not align perfectly. Instead, individuals and companies alike, and as of recently, entire countries, have to try to find these potentially positive developments and try to define a means to turn them into opportunities. In the coming year, the possibility of doing the same will be even higher than it was in the previous period, as many trends for 2022 clearly show. 

But, at the same time, the playing field of crypto is only becoming more crowded and the chatter and buzzwords continue to produce a lot of static and interference that will make these changes less visible and less clear to the observer. Because of that, there is an almost certainty that the misses and bad decisions from 2022 and crypto domains will be even more catastrophic to their owners than they would have been only a couple of years ago. Still, even with those dangers and risks, those in the crypto sphere will seek out those new openings. Here are just some of them and why they are important for both developers and those active in the financial side of cryptocurrencies.

Yield Farming

The process of yield farming is by no means a new phenomenon. It has been around, especially for those digital currency networks built on the ethereum token, for some years. Besides, it also had its heyday when there has been a huge spike of interest and a lot of staking happening with ETH tokens. But, the same process back then had a somewhat negative association, especially because of numerous shady deals that were on offer. 

Through this, users could see incredible returns on their investment of locked tokens, but also faced a range of potential security issues, as well as the risk of taking part in an outright scam. Today, the yield farming domain has cleared up somewhat and offers some major providers of the same crypto service. In 2022, there will be even more of these and better deals, even though some of the risks remain. But, unlike the first wave of yield farming, it is going to be harder to simply ignore this area for anyone who has substantial crypto holdings and wants to diversify it, as well as kickstart some passive earnings processes.

Green Crypto Mining

In the ethereum circles, the talk of the town was in 2021 and will remain in 2022 much to do with ETH 2.0. The same upgrade should eventually provide a cryptocurrency network that utilizes its own tokens to do the validation and verification of the network protocol. That would move it away from the proof-of-work that bitcoin and many other networks use and base it on proof-of-stake. That should eliminate, in theory at least, a lot of work of the regular crypto mining rigs, which utilize so much energy. In 2021, that narrative became a big talking point, and here lies another big chance for the next year. 

Ethereum will not switch to proof-of-stake anytime soon and many other networks do not plan to do it ever. That is why there is going to be so much potential in providing green energy solutions for crypto mining. These solutions might come from renewable energy sources or might utilize some form of energy savings, either through optimization or the use of new insulating materials. In any case, anyone who begins developing green energy solutions is likely on the right side of history. The same will apply to the business of crypto mining and cryptocurrency network maintenance.  

NFTs Forever

The non-fungible token industry came into its own in 2021. It has been around for years, with projects like Cryptokitties being the perfect example. However, while the NFT phenomenon remained on the periphery of the public consciousness, it burst into the mainstream during 2021. Interestingly enough, unlike many other successful ventures that became reality in the last year, this one had little or nothing to do with the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. Instead, the market simply matured to a point where it was possible to get the attention of the mainstream audience and the possibility that some of them are ready to invest in things like Bored Apes and other NFT forerunners. 

Also, plenty of new projects came to the fold as well, quickly ballooning the market. In 2022, there will be a lot of NFT opportunities, but these will come with a high degree of risk. Other projects that will offer incredible chances for early adopters will turn out to be completely fraudulent. Yet, even with this, it is easy to imagine a future when a person becomes very wealthy because of a critical purchase of an NFT in 2022. Recognizing and noting the difference between actual viable projects and those domed (or designed) for failure will remain the crucial process in the same domain for any investor.

Institutional Blockchain Development

While blockchain developers are already working for entities like esports betting platforms and Web 3 applications, the prevalence of institutional developers in the same area will expand significantly this year. Companies like MicroStrategy, which have huge crypto deposits already in their coffers are actively working on seeking out a solution for new blockchain applications. Other companies will do the same and these will not be only banks. 

Instead, many other institutional structures will begin to understand that blockchain tech can turn their logistics, payment processing, supply tracking, and many other procedures completely upside down in the best possible sense. There will be huge savings in those procedures and there will be huge projects that try to capitalize on the same opportunities for any company. This will also mean a scramble for all developers fluent in blockchain coding as well as the search for the best networks that can support these systems. Some will seek out to build native networks but many others will go for bitcoin tokens, ethereum framework, or other existing blockchain entities. Big opportunities can be found there as well in 2022.