Since the end of 2021, there has been a noticeable decline in the crypto economy. Bitcoin reached its all-time highest price in November 2021 which, according to CoinDesk data, was a little over $67,500. However, during the past few months, it did not climb over the $25,000 line. Although this is not the first bear market that crypto believers are experiencing, this is the hardest hit ever that made a lot of investors rethink their diversification strategy.
Is There Any Hope that the Crypto Winter Will Wnd and if Yes, When?
We believe that summer (or at least spring) is around the corner. Although crypto investors have experienced more than a 70% decline in the market, a large community still follows the HODL rule. However, with the current situation, only holding crypto assets is not enough. Lucky for us, according to Gartner, the Plateau of Productivity for cryptocurrencies is right around the corner.
“It is a common misconception, that crypto prices and technology go hand in hand and we are living in a perfect example of it. The Crypto economy is experiencing one of the biggest downfalls of its existence, yet new innovative and very promising projects are emerging every day,” - says the President of the Crypto Economy Organisation Vytautas Kašėta.
As we see it, the solution to crypto winter is the BUIDL community. Buidlers are the creators of the crypto economy, the force that will help cryptocurrencies reach the last stage of Gartner’s Hype Cycle. While this is all very great news, let us look at what the numbers are saying.
Growth Predictions for Blockchain
Gartner has shared their forecast for business value generated by blockchain and the numbers are looking pretty good. Rapid growth is foreseen in the long run with the value reaching $176 billion by 2025 and $3.1 trillion by 2030. Gartner is not the only source expecting exponential growth. In a scientific article, published by IEEE, it is stated, that the business value is expected to reach $360 billion by 2026 and $3.16 trillion by 2030.
The hottest crypto project trends for 2023
There are many ways to approach this topic. On one hand, investing in well-known cryptocurrencies with big market capitalization like BTC or ETH can be a good choice since they are leading the market. On the other hand, with so many new projects, possibilities to invest are wide and you can now choose crypto that matches your values.
It seems that most of the newer trending crypto projects, in one way or another, are focusing on #health and #sustainability. This, by all means, is no surprise. After the recent COVID-19 situation, health, sport, and wellness, in general, became a more popular topic. The sustainability question is raised in many fields and markets as well. It is time that these things came to the crypto economy too.
An Eco-friendlier Crypto Economy
Carbon credits - a term that has become quite popular in the finance sector over the last few years. Now its prominence has become clear among new crypto projects too. Quite a few tokens are building their value around #carbon_credits , and how to gain and exchange them.
Some crypto projects are trying to become green in other ways. Perhaps one of the more popular ones is changing the traditional proof-of-work (#PoW) mining process. Despite being one of the most significant, innovative, and secure, this compute intense cryptographic functions-based consensus model requires a lot of energy, therefore, is sometimes looked at as being not sustainable.
The two most popular ways to fight this are: using renewable energy for proof-of-work mining or changing the consensus process entirely, to staking instead of mining (where feasible). The staking-based consensus model called Proof-of-stake (#PoS) is the number one competitor to the proof-of-work mining method. Both of these options are used by the top cryptocurrencies by market capitalization. “Bitcoin” uses renewable energy for the PoW consensus model and “Ethereum” uses the PoS consensus model, which it adopted recently, after implementing the needed protocol changes and network security measures.
Wellness and Crypto
Let’s get back to the wellness part. Moving healthcare from the hospital to the living room is a great way to prompt people to take care of themselves. One way to achieve this is through digital health.
A few crypto projects have already implemented the wellness approach to their projects. Move to earn L3 application - a trendy concept attracting a lot of attention. It basically forces people to move (usually walk or run) to earn credits (cryptocurrencies).
While this concept in the crypto economy is fairly new, there are some successful #Web3-related projects that promoted moving. Perhaps the most well-known is Pokemon GO, which implemented augmented reality and promoted walking. It was not related to blockchain in any way, but it is still an innovation that could have planted the idea of using the move-to-earn model in the crypto world too.
All in all, it seems that 2023 will bring a lot to the existing crypto economy. This is a great starting point for new investments in many ways: specialists are predicting higher gains in the near future and there are many quality projects emerging too. Just don’t forget to do your research before making a move.
Disclaimer: The content is for informational purposes only, you should not construe any such information or other material as investment, financial, or other advice.