Crypto Roundtable: 7 Gurus Discuss The Place Of Blockchain In The Future

Original author: Livine Sanchez

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BDC Consulting’s Cryptovo YouTube channel recently hosted a guru round table featuring Holochain executive director Mary Camacho, Chair DigiByte co-founder Hans Koning, Zelwyn Ecosystem CEO Nikolai Shkilev, Bits.Media creative director Alexandra Demidova, Sergei Simanovskiy from #CitizenCosmos, Crypto Corner host O.J. Jordan, and BDC Consulting’s CBDO, Paul Moukhine. While the experts often differed, the conversation yielded many useful insights about the future of the metaverse, GameFi, Web 3.0, and what’s ahead for Bitcoin in 2022.

There will be no quantum leap for metaverse in 2022 

The metaverse continues to be one of the most significant technological developments, even though the round table members had divergent perspectives on what it means and what it may imply in the medium’s future. Plus, blockchain technology is what VR needs to take off, says the basketball star. He anticipates that the metaverse market will reach $800 billion by 2024, an increase of more than tenfold from its current value of $70 billion. 

On the other hand, Mary Camacho believes that the metaverse realm needs more time to work itself out. In addition to blockchain, other technologies make up the metaverse, which will be very interesting to monitor as NFTs travel across virtual spaces. Regulations that change over time will also have an impact. For this reason, 2022 will be largely about ‘small steps’ mixed with ‘aha!’ moments as more businesses understand that it is worthwhile to enter this sector in the first place. 

Hans Koning said that, for many individuals, the greatest way to engage in the trend might simply be holding assets, such as virtual land, rather than being directly involved in the metaverse, which he believes is the case. Among the initiatives he considers to have significant promise are Decentraland and OpenSea, as well as MetaBrands, with which he collaborates as an advisor.

The GameFi audience will be divided

Regarding GameFi, a concept closely tied to the metaverse, Alexandra Demidova stated that she is receiving an overwhelming amount of marketing requests from cryptocurrency gaming ventures, many of which are visually identical. It is implausible to anticipate a new Axie Infinity to be on the market soon, given the presence of multiple good games presently on the market. 

As she looks forward to the future of GameFi, Mary Camacho anticipates a distinct division between two types of players: those who play to make money and those who play for pleasure alone, for whom the financial side of the games might potentially be a discouragement. As Web 3.0 becomes a reality and large-scale distributed games take off, it will be intriguing to observe how this division develops. 

Large video game production companies, according to Paul Moukhine, have yet to comprehend the essence of GameFi, which he defines as “gamified DeFi.” If studios understand that it is all about the bottom line, their introduction into the market has the potential to make a significant impact.

Is music the next step for NFTs?

Interestingly, Sergei Simanovsky brought up an intriguing point: nobody, including industry veterans such as himself, could have predicted that NFTs would be the catalyst for blockchain adoption — and yet, that is exactly what occurred. 

In a statement, O.J. Jordan said that the record $69-million sale of Beeple’s collage at Christie’s was an event that “shook the globe,” and he anticipated that music might be the next frontier for the NFT. In contrast to fungible tokens, non-fungible tokens provide artists with direct ownership and royalty prospects that have long been lacking. Musicians might finally regain control over their revenue thanks to non-financial transactions (NFTs). 

The experts also pointed out that the NFT market is still in the speculative bubble stage, which is comparable to the ICO hype of 2017-18 when many individuals were forced to sell their holdings at a significant loss. Something similar may happen with NFTs. However, this does not undermine their revolutionary potential.

Will Web 3.0 survive regulation?

People believe that a new, dispersed web will eventually replace the centralized internet we are accustomed to. The decentralized technology will only be a ‘playground’ for those who understand how to earn money off of it until decentralized technology becomes as simple to use as traditional centralized services, Mary Camacho said. 

In the age of Web 3.0, privacy and the desire to control one’s data are paramount. This is a result of widespread mistrust in society. A prominent concern in 2022 will be the demand for self-sovereign identity. Yet, the shift to a real Web 3.0 will take longer than expected due to the inherent inertia of individuals and corporations. 

Experts believe that the growth of blockchain legislation will be critical for Web 3.0 – but they do not foresee any significant changes in this area before 2022. Regulatory uncertainty is likely to persist, as evidenced by the ‘semantic’ disputes over the meaning of utility tokens, for example, which are now underway. The fact that the US regulators are still undecided, according to Hans Koning, raises serious danger that the United States will lose out on the great potential and will be overtaken by other, more crypto-friendly countries. 

We must, however, be prepared for a general tightening of limitations across the board. Regulators dislike cryptocurrencies due to their excessive volatility, yet stablecoins are equally disliked by regulators. Around 80 nations are now studying CBDCs (central bank digital currencies), with China already implementing the “digital yuan” (digital version of the Chinese currency). Countries that establish CBDCs may take steps to ban or regulate cryptocurrency. 

After that, the individuals shared their Bitcoin forecasts with the group. O.J. Jordan stated that the high for this cycle may be $120,000 and that it could occur in 2022, according to the report. Nikolai Shkilev, like many others, aspires to see Bitcoin reach $100,000. Last but not least, as Hans Kerner pointed out, there will always be some who want $20k while others anticipate $1 million, with the truth very definitely falling somewhere between. Rather than concentrating just on the price of Bitcoin, it may be more beneficial to pay attention to the intriguing trends that are developing right in front of our very eyes.