The year 2021 was a big year for cryptocurrencies around the world. The total market capitalization of crypto assets touched an all-time high of $3 trillion in November. While about 14% of Americans now own crypto assets, India has around 15 million crypto investors, making us the second largest country in the world in terms of global crypto adoption, according to market research firm Chainalysis.
The Indian crypto industry believes that a progressive, regulated framework will create a thriving ecosystem and encourage more and more Indians to start investing in a safe and secure environment. Here are five potentially game-changing crypto projects that you should keep on your radar in 2022.
Ethereum (ETH): There are very few networks like Ethereum, which is the second largest crypto network in the world by market capitalization. Ethereum’s network is the backbone of almost all initial coin offerings or ICOs, decentralized apps (dApps), (decentralized finance) DeFi protocols and most non-fungible tokens or NFTs. Popular tokens built on the Ethereum network are Chainlink (LINK), Tether (USDT), Binance Coin (BNB) and USD Coin (USDC).
However, the most major upgrade in the history of the network is due in 2022. Ethereum 2.0, as they call it, aims to remove the bottlenecks and scalability issues while bringing the long-awaited Proof-of-Stake (PoS) consensus mechanism. Blockchain. This would be necessary to overcome the currently prevalent energy-guzzling proof-of-work (PoW) mechanisms. The changes will potentially lead to lower gas charges, faster transactions and a dramatic increase in network efficiency.
Polygon (MATIC): In a world brimming with over 6,000 cryptocurrencies, PolygonMatic is the glue that holds everything together. Provides the network infrastructure that allows for interchain scalability, helping different blockchains interface with each other. By creating a sidechain that facilitates execution and collaboration between users, MATIC makes transactions several times faster than top coins such as Bitcoin or Ether. It is also cost effective and cheaper than other traditional options.
On November 20, Polygon announced that it was moving to Polygon PoS on Uniswap, one of the largest decentralized exchanges in the world. Major protocols such as av and sushiwap have already migrated to Polygon to avoid the fees of Ethereum. These unprecedented developments also make MATIC a promising crypto project to watch in 2022.
Solana (SOL): One of the fastest crypto networks in existence, Solana leads the development and implementation of modern technologies such as dApps and smart contracts. It is one of the only tokens that can operate on both proof-of-history and proof-of-stake consensus models. SOL Network processes over 50,000 transactions every second, which is the fastest ever.
While Solana was not the first network to implement smart contracts, it now has over 350 different projects running on its network. It returned more than 17,000% of its value over the past 12 months, currently ranking as one of the top 10 coins by market cap, with a value of approximately $53 billion.
Decentraland (mind): Decentraland is a virtual world where users can create avatars to interact with other users. These avatars can buy and trade LAND and other resources through Decentraland’s native token, MANA. While it is essentially a game, Decentraland combines cryptocurrencies, NFTs and a free market economy to create a virtual world accessible to all, wherever they are. One of the most prominent players in the Metaverse revolution, Decentraland is an autonomous network backed by community members and vast MANA stakeholders.
While a significant stake in MANA may give users the right to vote on governance issues on Decentraland, a smaller holding may still be enough to buy or sell LAND, move value P2P or hold for capital gains.
Polkadot (dot): Polkadot is a ‘Blockchain of Blockchain’ whose sole purpose is to make the development of new networks easier for developers. It allows users to create new blockchains that work together with existing ones without relying on complex bridging protocols. The network enables these chains to be fully customizable without compromising on the underlying safety and security. However, Polkadot’s most comprehensive functionality is powering the Web 3.0 revolution.
Ashish Singhal is the founder and CEO of CoinSwitch Kuber.
The content of this article is for informational purposes only and is not intended as a substitute for investment or financial advice.
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