Last Updated on 06/02/2022 by Ulka
In 2021, digital assets had a banner year, and the next year should see cryptocurrencies reach higher heights.
In 2021, cryptocurrency investors had another roller-coaster journey. Almost every cryptocurrency, from bitcoin to dogecoin, hit new highs and saw massive gains. However, in May, about half of the market’s worth was wiped off in just seven days. In September, China’s crackdown against cryptocurrency grew to include a blanket ban on all transactions.
Other notable crypto events in 2021 included El Salvador’s adoption of bitcoin as legal tender, the explosion of meme tokens, and the sale of an NFT for $69 million.
So, what can we expect in 2022? A blockchain research group, Arcane Research, has issued a slew of cryptocurrency forecasts for 2022. Here are five of them:
The S&P 500 will outperform or underperform Bitcoin.
Despite the threat of growing coronavirus cases to the global economy, both bitcoin and the benchmark index made significant gains in 2021: Bitcoin increased by 66%, while the S&P 500 increased by roughly 27%.
However, because bitcoin has become more of a risk-on asset, Arcane Research believes it will amplify large stock market fluctuations even more.
“As a result, if the stock market continues to rise in 2022, bitcoin will most certainly outperform,” according to the business. “However, if the stock market has a bad year, bitcoin will most likely underperform.”
Ether will once again outperform bitcoin.
Long considered second best, ether surpassed bitcoin by 418 per cent in 2021, compared to 66 per cent for bitcoin.
“This performance gap is the widest we’ve seen since ethereum started in 2015,” Arcane added.
The spike in NFT sales volumes is one of the reasons ether will continue to thrive in 2022. The majority of these tokens are still based on the Ethereum network. In addition, big enhancements this year, like the Berlin update and the London hard fork, helped the network process more transactions.
The majority of meme coins will vanish into oblivion.
In 2021, investors watched meme currencies spring up left and right. Dogecoin offshoot Shiba Inu, for example, grew by 44,540,000 per cent last year. Squid, a cryptocurrency named after the famous Netflix series “Squid Game,” rose more than 75,000 per cent in less than a week before disappearing.
“We can’t talk about the 2021 market without discussing the crazy meme coin rally,” Arcane Research stated, adding that the phenomenon will be “a historical remnant of the absurd times of 2021.”
Bitcoin sell-offs were accompanied by increases in the Cboe Volatility Index or VIX. Market challenges in 2022, according to Arcane Research, could affect bitcoin’s short-term price trend.
