A roundtable meeting with various crypto experts and stars made predictions about the metaverse, Web 3.0, GameFi, and altcoins. Experts around the table: Hans Koning (President DigiByte co-founder), OJ Jordan (host of Crypto Corner), Sergei Simanovskiy (Citizen Cosmos), Alexandra Demidova (Creative Director of Bit Media), Nikolai Shkilev (CEO of Zelwyn Ecosystem), Mary Camacho (Holochain Executive Director) and Paul Moukhine (BDC Consulting CBDO). Conversation revolved around guesswork, and experts didn’t always agree. Details Cryptocoin. at com.
Metaverse: Baby steps in 2022?
Metaverse is trending right now, but given that it’s currently in its infant stage, opinions among experts differ significantly. O. J. Jordan noted that given the interactive nature of the metaverse combined with blockchain technology, VR will eventually receive much-needed support to evolve. With this in mind, the value of the metaverse market could rise tenfold from the current $70 billion and reach $800 billion in 2 years.
Mary Camacho disagreed and pointed out that the metaverse still needs time to develop an identity. There are many moving parts within the metaverse, including blockchain and regulations as well as technologies that will have some impact. As a result, according to him, it is premature to assume that the industry will achieve rapid growth despite all these complexities. In 2022, while the value of the industry continues to be showcased with new people and brands, some “baby steps” are being taken towards progress. Closing the metastore discussion, Hans Koning interrupted, saying that most people would rather have virtual assets than be active in the metastore. According to him, in addition to Metabrands, projects such as OpenSea and Decentraland have great potential.
The GameFi domain is closely linked to the metaverse. According to Alexandra Demidova, while crypto game projects increase in 2021, there is no clear distinction between them. There are a lot of powerful games already on the market and realistically there is no indication that we will see a new game similar in size/impact to Axie Infinity in 2022. Mary Camacho thinks the GameFi audience will split into two clear factions in the future. The first group consists of players who see their actions as opportunities for gain. The second group is successful in the intrigues and adrenaline of the games and are likely to be deterred by financial aspects. The evolution of Web 3.0 from an edge theory to mainstream technology will provide an arena to watch the intriguing divergence of these two groups as we pave the way for large, distributed games. Paul Moukhine intervened and pointed to the failure of major game development studios to see GameFi as gamified DeFi. When looking at the industry from this perspective, there are missed opportunities and the studios that enter the space will make a significant impact.
Music NFTs: The Next Big Thing?
As the panel of experts continued to voice their opinion on the issues, Sergei Simanovsky noted an unexpected blockchain adoption driver: NFTs. This was not something experts, including himself, had predicted. Digital artist Beeple made a historic sale by selling their work as NFT for $69 million. O. J. Jordan brought up this important event when he predicted that the next NFT frontier would be music. The appeal of direct ownership and access to copyright solves the issue of control of earnings that artists have struggled with for decades. While NFTs have been transformational in their impact on decentralized technology adoption, the consensus among the majority of experts was that there was a risk to follow the hype path of the 2017-18 ICO. When the hype ended when the speculative bubble burst, many people took a loss while selling.
The general feeling is that we will soon see the centralized internet disappear as a new, privacy-based, decentralized web takes root at some point. Mary Camacho highlighted one major hurdle: ease of use. Currently, the people who are interested in the decentralized web called “Web 3.0” are the people who know how to take advantage of it and gain something from it. Its growth will require the user experience to be as seamless and easy to understand as the current centralized web. In 2022, the desire to keep control of one’s identity online will be a vital issue. Still, people’s desire to be comfortable with familiar things will derail the move to web 3.0.
Experts predict that nothing drastic will happen with blockchain regulation in 2022. The uncertain position on the blockchain will continue in matters such as the definition of utility tokens. According to Hans Koning, the US is preparing to miss opportunities due to the indecision of its regulators. States with regulations embracing crypto and those leaving the market to self-regulate are surpassing the United States. The extreme volatility associated with cryptocurrencies makes it an enemy of regulators, possibly leading to tighter restrictions. The implementation of Central Bank Digital Currencies (CBDCs) continues in more than 80 countries. Other countries, such as China, have already launched them with circulating digital yuan. The next step after CBDCs are released is to restrict or completely ban crypto.
The roundtable discussion ended with experts presenting their 2022 Bitcoin predictions. O. J. Jordan sees a peak of $120,000 this year, while Nikolai Shkilev predicts $100,000. Hans Koning quickly pointed out that there are speculators for both extremes of price fluctuations between $20,000 and $1 million, but the real value will lie somewhere there.
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