Autor Cointelegraph By Max Yakubowski

Simon is the crypto analyst at eToro, a social trading platform that offers investing in both stocks and cryptocurrencies. “The pandemic and associated lockdown measures have turbo-charged the transition to this technology as we close out 2021. However, as the ultimate frontier between the real and virtual worlds, the metaverse represents the most likely evolution of the internet in the coming years.  From Facebook to Meta, from Square to Block, fresh batches of tech titans are taking bets on the future of digital assets. First coined by Neal Stephenson’s 1992 novels The Virtual Samurai and Snow Crash, the metaverse refers to a virtual world where users can move around as avatars, interact socially and economically, with other people. Mark Zuckerberg’s latest initiative could be the catalyst of widespread, mainstream adoption of decentralized metaverse platforms such as Decentraland and The Sandbox, who have already seen extraordinary gains in the last few weeks with their respective tokens, (MANA, the token used on Decentrand is up over 400% in the last five weeks). Additionally, Fidelity Investments recently became the latest asset manager to announce plans to launch a Bitcoin exchange-traded fund (ETF) on the Toronto Stock Exchange. However, following positive net inflows into Bitcoin from institutional investors, the Fidelity Advantage Bitcoin ETF (FBTC) will look to invest in the underlying asset of Bitcoin, or spot. This new fund, which some have dubbed the ‘holy grail’ of Bitcoin ETFs, if approved, could encourage a new wave of liquidity to enter the space. There are already hundreds of trillions of dollars of liquid investable assets globally managed by institutional investors, versus Bitcoin’s current $1.1 trillion market capitalization, so even a small percentage of these liquid assets inflowing into crypto could cause the overall market cap to double.”

Hatu is the co-founder and chief strategy officer of DAO Maker, which creates growth technologies and funding frameworks for startups while simultaneously reducing risks for investors. “For a space as dynamic as blockchain, it is tough to pinpoint the reasons behind the industry evolving during the year. However, I feel the adoption of smart contracts has bolstered the growth of the industry and its relevance in the traditional setup. From optimizing supply chains to building a corporate structure around them, smart contracts are assisting everywhere. DAOs have emerged as a new wave of democratization of firms and associations. By transferring ownership to everyone involved and reducing centralized authority, DAOs and community governance are here to stay. In 2021, we could see multiple protocols turn into DAOs and kick-start their journey toward true decentralization. Also, the influx of human resources is definitely an integral part of the way the blockchain space has evolved. And this does not only reflect the amount of talent joining the industry but also the population that is accepting and adopting the technology in their daily activities. With more people getting involved with the technology, the industry matures. The blockchain industry has made a quantum leap in 2021, and I see no reason why the juggernaut shall slow down in 2022.”