2021 has undoubtedly been a game-changer for the whole crypto industry, as the interest in digital currencies has reached unprecedented heights. From Elon Musk tweeting #bitcoin to NFTs sudden skyrocketing to fame, it has been a wild ride.
There have been two new historic all-time highs for BTC, one in May, the other one in November, with the latter reaching almost $69,000! And while Bitcoin is now down around 6% of its ATH price, the experts are not worried and predict its continuous success in 2022. After all, it grew more than 1,300% this year.
With its price soaring above the clouds, many are worried about a possible repeating scenario from 2018, when BTC lost almost all of its value.
"More than once we have observed a correction in the market. If institutional investors begin to take profits, then it can cause a ripple effect," Anton Chashchin, managing Partner of Bitfrost, a digital assets service provider says for CNN. However, he also adds that large institutions will more than likely continue to hold Bitcoin as an inflation hedge, so another plummeting of the cryptocurrency seems very unlikely.
Long-term holding of crypto by large companies will also likely combat some of the pesky volatility that these currencies face. John Wu, president of Ava Labs, an Ethereum-compatible blockchain firm, has stated that "having larger institutions with deeper pockets and steadier hands buying cryptos will help [and that] they can withstand the volatility."
2021 has not only been about Bitcoin, though. NFT, the rising star of the past year has swept us off our feet and brought unprecedented revenues to the Ethereum network. Ether went so far this year as to compete with Bitcoin for the title of the biggest gainer.
"You have to look at the utility of cryptos. Ether could eventually be bigger than bitcoin. It's the rails for NFT transactions," said Alex Lemberg, the Nimbus Platform CEO.
"We expect more dispersion in the crypto world. Prices will move more based on adoption," adds Wu. The experts, therefore, predict that Bitcoin, while staying strong, might not be a lone star of the crypto world anymore. Etherum and NFTs are posing a great and healthy competition for the cryptocurrency.
The overall value of all crypto is currently estimated at $2.2 trillion, $920 billion of which is allocated in Bitcoin alone. The expectations are high for 2022 and it seems like the crypto industry has definitely found its footing and the prices of digital assets will continue to grow.
