The year 2021 was excellent for the cryptoasset market. For 2022, the trend is positive, experts say. For Safiri Felix, Director of Products and Partnerships at Transfero, the trend is for growth. “The outlook for 2022 is that the cryptoasset market will continue to grow and perform better than traditional financial assets. The process of greater institutionalization of the market is irreversible, which tends to feed capital flow into the market increasingly”, he explains. According to the expert, Bitcoin, Ethereum and Solana are the best alternatives to cryptoassets exposure.
For Lucas Xisto, head of Asset Management at Transfero, the sector should face some challenges. “Just as in 2021, the scalability challenge of decentralized distributed networks continues in 2022 amid growing demands from new applications that run on blockchains, especially those involving decentralized finance”.
According to Xisto, the prospect is that more and more networks based on the Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM) will have space since most DeFi projects are built on this ecosystem. “Blockchains that do not use EVM functionality will have the challenge of making their ecosystem more friendly for developers to build apps, which may mean greater adoption of EVM, or a better internal infrastructure for developing these apps”, he concludes.
Increased acceptance and adoption from large institutions
For Bernardo Brites, CEO of Trace Finance, cryptocurrencies will be increasingly accepted and present in the financial products of traditional institutions and fintechs. “We will see more traditional companies entering the crypto market, as we saw with Adidas’ Bored Ape Drop that raised US$ 23 million at its launch and generated mega-brand exposure. Additionally, the monetization and branding potential of NFTs and Metaverso should be further developed”, he explains.
According to the expert, large institutions are already experiencing decentralized finance products, and we will see the first ones coming out next year. “The usability of blockchain technology will be further explored in various industries; such as foreign exchange (as in the case of Trace Finance), foreign trade, supply chain ( food and production chain traceability), among others”.
“We will also have more pressure from governments to regulate and control exchanges and cryptocurrency players, even the decentralized ones, by regulating the maintainers and developers companies of the protocols and punishing and sanctioning the people behind them”, he concludes.
A bigger cryptoasset market in 2022
For Rafael Izidoro, CEO of Rispar, the year 2021 was very positive for Bitcoin. “In addition to the price records, the asset had the mass entry of institutional investors, the adoption as legal tender in El Salvador, the decentralization of the network due to the mining ban in China, and greater education about the sector, which resulted in a more optimistic and open perception of the society regarding cryptocurrencies”,
As for next year, the expert outlines a market with a great outlook. “With the bullish market we are experiencing in 2021, and the strong adoption by the general population, large institutional players, and even States, the perspective is of even greater popularization of Bitcoin as a store of value, and who knows, maybe the long-awaited US$100,000 milestone”.
Regulation of cryptocurrencies will impact the market
Regulation will be crucial next year for Ricardo Dantas, CO-CEO of Foxbit. “Countries are getting ready for cryptocurrency regulations, which will impact the market. Here in Brazil, the creation of digital currencies by the Central Bank and the popularization of cryptocurrencies is something to look forward to in 2022”, he explains.
For Ricardo, Bitcoin should always be thought of as an anti-inflation defense. “In the long term, it tends to rise, but the market has already shown that it has a lot of volatility on the way. I still believe it can show a higher value in 2022; however, historically, there are large corrections for this post-halving period. In addition, I think we should keep an eye on Bitcoin, Ethereum, Solana, AVAX, and DOT next year”, he concludes.
ABFintechs keeping an eye on regulation
For the Brazilian Association of Fintechs, which has a Working Group dedicated to developing a safer and more transparent environment for players and customers in the cryptoasset universe, there is special attention to the Bills of Law being processed in the House (PL 2303/2015) and Senate (PL 4207/2020), which address the regulation of the sector in the country.
“We are closely following the debates in the committees, and we are available to enrich the discussions, always in favor of a regulation that generates security for entrepreneurs, customers, and regulators, and at the same time is pro-innovation. The debates in the Legislative continue, and they will define the future of the market. Therefore, we must continue to monitor the movements and contribute with our point of view”, says Marcus Lavorato, coordinator of the crypto WG at ABFintechs and director of Institutional Relations at Mercado Bitcoin.
Betting on infrastructure blockchains
“I think that regarding cryptocurrencies, nothing can be more relevant than its market valuation, since it is that which makes investors from all over the world infer, plead, induce and transform the scenario of the new digital economy”, explains Lucas Schoch, CEO and founder of Bitfy.
According to him, many variables are part of this appreciation process of a currency. Still, none is as forceful as volatility, and through this constant change, the crypto ecosystem operates.
For 2022, Schoch points out that infrastructure blockchains that can generate new financial services processes and make them simpler and more efficient are very promising. For example, “Solana, which appreciated more than 11,000% in 2021, became one of the best-performing assets in the world. Another beneficiary of the market volatilization was SHIBA INU, which made itself notable for its recent appreciation that exceeded the 380% high,”, comments Bitfy’s CEO. The expert mentions which four cryptocurrencies are the most promising for the coming year among the cryptos: Polygon, Avalanche, Uniswap and SushiSwap.
Schoch comments that it is impressive to see how cryptos are increasingly strengthened by their exacerbated technological development or merely by speculations and supporters who aim to transform the market and get rich from it. “In my opinion, many other cryptoassets can appreciate and increase their market capitalization; it just depends on how booming 2022 will be. Let’s wait for the volatility”, he concludes.
