It’s no secret that the crypto market has been under bearish pressure throughout 2022. But amidst all the volatility and turmoil, a number of positive news stories have also emerged, especially regarding global adoption of digital assets and crypto-related technologies in general. .
Looking back at 2022, here are some of the key adoption-related events that drove the industry last year.
Polygon wins 200 million addresses despite difficult conditions in 2022
As financial uncertainty looms over the cryptocurrency market after the end of 2021, Polygon (a Layer 2 scaling solution that runs in parallel with the Ethereum blockchain, enabling fast transactions and low fees) 2022 continues to see a lot of growth.Up to this point, the number of unique addresses in the network has recently Beyond It surpassed 200 million and reached an all-time high of 25420,908 on December 31st.
Additionally, the Polygon ecosystem saw a whopping 8,783,568 unique addresses spike between December 1st and December 31st. This suggests that there will be an average of 283,340 new Polygon-related network addresses every day in the last month of 2022 alone. Additionally, it’s worth mentioning that the number of transactions taking place within the network continues to grow. hover per 3 million units.
Finally, the Proof of Stake Project recently announced the release of its final testnet. This is an improved version of the zero-knowledge Ethereum virtual machine.
Major Brands Continue to Enter Web3 Arena
The non-fungible token (NFT) market and metaverse industry continue to attract the attention of several fashion and luxury brands. For example, in October Rolex (a popular watch broker with a global presence) filed multiple NFT-related trademarks for her, along with his one on the cryptocurrency exchange. Popular sporting goods giants such as Reebok, Nike and Adidas have made similar moves.
Nike Launched a metaverse venture called .Swooshis a Web3-enabled platform that allows customers to buy and sell virtual products. The platform will reportedly look to build a community first, while hosting the launch of the company’s first virtual collection, which will include footwear, apparel and accessories, sometime in January 2023. is. With every transaction recorded on the Polygon blockchain.
Adidas released a new line of virtual gear last year, along with a photo proof dress-up tool that lets you dress up avatars from compatible partner collections like the Bored Ape Yacht Club with your own gear. Reebok has filed numerous trademark applications in the US for a wide range of virtual apparel, including footwear, headwear and sports equipment.
Finally, luxury car maker BMW also Decided to join the Metaverse War By applying to trademark the logo used in connection with future virtual vehicles, digital retail, and other related services.
Total amount of Ether staked continues to grow
Throughout 2022, the total amount of Ether (ethereum) The number trapped within the Ethereum ecosystem continues to rise steadily. Between February and June, the amount of ETH staked increased from just over 9 million to nearly 13 million. As you can see from the chart below, the trend leveled off during his June-September period before picking up momentum again around mid-September, just before Ethereum made its long-awaited Proof of Stake transition.
Within the context of the Ethereum network, staking refers to the act of depositing 32 ETH into the network. This allows an individual to gain validator rights and earn additional her ETH. As validators, users have to perform several tasks to secure the network of all participants, such as storing data, processing transactions, adding new blocks to the blockchain, etc.
Meta integrates NFT support
In early May, the social media giant Instagram Revealed a test program for sharing NFTs For selected users in the United States. At the time, a company representative said it would create more monetization opportunities for influencers on the platform and introduce NFTs to a larger customer base. decided to expand to more than 100 countries in , North America and Asia.
Meta also announced that Integrate support for third-party projects, which includes Coinbase Wallet and Dapper Wallet, to extend NFT offerings to its other core social media platform, Facebook. In November, the Instagram development team Test your ability to issue and sell NFTs With a select group of digital creators. The feature will be live on his Polygon network, and creators and collectors won’t have to pay for gas upfront.
Starbucks Blockchain-Based Loyalty Program Launches
Starbucks announced Launch of blockchain-based loyalty program NFT community Starbucks Odyssey joined a group of US testers in September. The initiative builds on the company’s existing loyalty program but uses a decentralized structure built on the Polygon blockchain.
Starbucks Odyssey is a rewards program that allows users to earn rewards that go beyond simply earning free drinks. Odyssey allows a customer to interact with various game-style products, earning him NFTs (called Journey Stamps) in the process. These assets can later be traded and redeemed.
VCs continue to pour money into the Web3 ecosystem
Animoca Brands, the company behind several successful crypto projects, including The Sandbox, in Q4 2022 — created a multi-billion dollar fund Invest in various metaverse projects.
According to Animoca co-founder Yat Siu, the fund will spur the utility of the metaverse and blockchain gaming market. “More people are joining cryptocurrencies every day, especially in games,” he said, adding, “We hope this will also drive a scenario where digital assets are recognized like physical assets in the legal system.” I am,” he added.
In addition to Animoca, other popular companies investing heavily in the burgeoning Metaverse economy include South Korean venture capital giant Daesung Private Equity.The company recently announced It revealed that it has allocated a total of 110 Korean won ($83.9 million) to the Metaverse-centric fund.
JP Morgan partners with Ripple
US bank JP Morgan Chase I participated In 2022, we worked with Ripple’s core partner Al Fardan Exchange to provide users across the United Arab Emirates with access to faster transaction settlement and transfer services.
Al Fardan’s clients can conduct crypto trading via several popular fiat currencies including USD, GBP and EUR.
It’s worth highlighting that this partnership comes amid ongoing litigation by Ripple with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. The regulator has decided that the cryptocurrency associated with the project, XRP (XRP), are securities and are therefore subject to the laws and regulations relating to such assets.
Reddit users have created over 5 million NFT avatars
Social sharing website Reddit found users continued to adopt NFTs at a breakneck pace last year, despite a significant drop in sales. Polygon-backed initiatives already witnessed Over 5 million collectibles have been minted to date.
Additionally, please note that these avatars are not concentrated in high value NFT collectors (Hara Whales), but spread across over 4 million unique wallets. Finally, most of the aforementioned minted NFTs are free to high-value users on Reddit.
Tiffany Enters Crypto Space
Luxury jewelery and specialty store Tiffany & Co. Limited NFT collection called NFTiff, available at a base price of 30 ETH (approximately $36,000) each. A total of 250 of these NFTs were manufactured.
Early March, Tiffany’s purchased Okapi NFT’s reported value from Tom Sachs is $380,000. The image has since become his Twitter profile picture for the company.
Aggressive legislation continues to gain attention
In late 2022, the Brazilian parliament approved the bill Seeking to regulate the use of digital currencies It could boost crypto adoption in the South American country for daily payments within its borders. The bill would provide legal status for cryptocurrency payments for goods and services, but not fiat currency status.
In somewhat similar vein, Abdellatif Juari, governor of Morocco’s central bank — Bank Al-Maghrib (BAM) — said: the main regulatory body in his country We plan to complete a comprehensive crypto governance framework soon. Affiliated bodies include Morocco’s Capital Market Authority and Insurance and Social Welfare Supervision Authority.
Joahri clarified that BAM is working on the document in collaboration with the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund.
Other countries that have submitted favorable regulations in 2022 or are planning to do so in the near future include India, Germany, Australia and the United Kingdom.
Crypto Adoption Surges Across MENA, Asia And Latin America
According to a study conducted by blockchain analytics firm Chainalysis, the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region has The fastest growing market for cryptocurrency adoption last year.
Between July 2021 and June 2022, the region received $566 billion in cryptocurrency transactions, up nearly 49% year-on-year. Overall, there was a 40% increase in Europe, a 36% increase in North America and a 35% increase in Central and South Asia.
Similarly, Latin America will account for 9.1% of the total cryptocurrency received in 2022, reaching a cumulative $562 billion, showing a 40% growth from Q3 2021 to Q3 2022. I was. Top crypto adapter list.
Finally, Vietnam currently has the highest crypto adoption rate in the world, followed by the Philippines and Ukraine.Other emerging countries that dominated the Chainalysis adoption index in 2022 include India, Brazil, Thailand and Pakistan. It is included.
