Despite the undeniable fact that the crypto industry faced numerous obstacles this year, it is still not an entirely bad year for the sphere. Recall that the crypto sphere is currently enduring bear market, caused by global economic downturn, collapse of projects and sudden rise in cases of exploitations. Worthy of note that these sardonic development overwhelmingly impacted the situations of the industry.
Architects of the crises befalling the crypto industry
The sudden rise in the exploitation of crypto projects, for instance, contributed to the prevailing market conditions in the sphere. According to a statistic by Chainalysis, a blockchain analytical firm, hackers have, so far, stolen more than $3 billion in 2022. The figure, as reported, is higher than the figure recorded in the previous year. Experiencing the alarming surge of theft in the industry pushed investors into a conservative pattern of investment. More so, these security lapses, particularly with DeFi projects further discouraged a lot of investors from investing their assets into the sphere.
Regrettably, the crash of Terra project, co-founded by Daniel Shin and Do Kown also impacted the industry negatively. Worth noting that the crash led to demise of its algorithm stablecoin UST. Before the crash, the stablecoin sphere entered into the year in good shape, having enjoyed a consistent explosion in size since 2020. This explosion manifested owing to the heavy migration of funds from the volatile crypto market to stablecoins, a more stable arena. Notably, the crash of Terra’s USD in May ended the growth streak of stablecoins.
According to findings, the UST became vulnerable to an algorithmic stablecoin, resulting in the loss of over $40 billion USD. Also, in November, a crypto exchange, FTX plunged into liquidity crisis, thereby worsening the situations for the sphere. These crises scared off a potential investor who is willing to invest In the crypto industry. Also, it birthed a stern deliberation on the need for a better, clearer and stricter framework to regulate cryptocurrency.
2022 not entirely bad for the industry as claimed
Worth noting that all the aforementioned birthed the insinuations by people that 2022 was a bad year for crypto in its entirety. However, such notion is not true as the sphere still recorded several positive events during the year. These positive events did not dominate the airspace because the media gave inadequate attention, coverage and emphasis to them. Without further ado, this article intends to briefly hint readers about these positive events to change their narrative about 2022 as a fully bad year for crypto sphere.
Merge
Remarkably, one of the positive events that graced the sphere in the year is the Merge. Accordingly, this Merge emanated last September, paving the way for Ethereum network to upgrade from PoW to PoS. Through the upgrade, Users are now able to easily facilitate transactions quickly. Beyond the merge, thee Ethereum foundation aims to sustain the upgrade on its network.
Adoption of crypto as legal tender, medium of payments in countries, firms
Further, another positive event that graced the sphere despite its downturn is the acceptance of BTC as a legal tender in some countries. After the adoption of BTC as a tender in El Salvador in 2021, Central African Republic took the same decision in 2022. More so, despite the worsening market conditions, the level of adoption of crypto payment grew massively in 2022. Just recently, Brazil adopted a bill recommending the recognition of cryptocurrencies as medium of payment. With this development, Brazil joins the rising number of countries that are embracing the prospects of crypto in their financial sector.
Aside from countries, numerous gigantic organizations have also embraced crypto payment for their customers. As of press time, some of these firms include JP Morgan, Standard Chartered and a host of others.
Firms expanding their coast across the globe
Remarkably, the expansion of crypto firms across the globe also remains a positive event that graced the sphere in 2022. This year, despite its prevailing market downturns, afforded numerous exchanges the privilege to expand the coast of their reach. For instance, Binance, a leading crypto exchange has continued to soar in its quest for global presence. Recently, the exchange secured operational licenses from numerous countries, including Spain, France, Abu Dhabi, and more. Meanwhile, Binance, in its quest to foster crypto usage across the globe, launched a Binance card in Argentina. Worth noting that the launching manifested based on its collaboration with Masterpay, a leader in global payment. Notably, the Binance card enables users to buy goods and pay bills with cryptocurrencies. Without words mincing, all these and more grossly depict the year as not fully bad for the industry.