Cryptocurrencies: These are the expectations for 2022.

1.  Bitcoin remains the "king". Even though Bitcoin's dominance declined in 2021 and investors began to look for alternatives like Ethereum, Solana, and Polkadot, BTC is still the main “heavy” cryptocurrency. The demand for BTC and its derivatives will increase. BTC has a low level of collateralization, suggesting low leverage and showing potential for use as Defi collateral. Bitcoin holders will be able to use more of their bitcoins on credits, loans, providing liquidity, etc. A larger part of the Bitcoin supply will be placed on other blockchains.

2  Cross-blockchain bridges:  Cross-blockchain bridge protocols like Rune (THORChain) will enable more peer-to-peer swaps. Currently, most bridges connect to the Ethereum (ETH) network due to compatibility with the Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM) (Tezos Wrap Protocol Bridge, Binance Smart Chain Bridge, Solana's Wormhole Bridge, Avalanche Bridge, etc.). It is expected that cross-blockchain opportunities will play a more important role.

3.  define and Liquidity: Several new promising protocols have appeared recently. For example, for long-term liquidity - OlympusPro, Tokamak, or for short-term liquidity - Fei Protocol x Ondo Finance and Liquidity Mining, which opens a door for the further development of DeFi2. The development of reserve banking and off-chain credit scoring systems will be one of the trends.

4.  NFTs:  Their potential is enormous as they can be used to transfer rights to both virtual and physical property. So we will have to figure out how NFTs can be treated, maintained, and valued by “traditional” institutions like museums, funds, etc.

5.  Regulation:  More and more institutional investors have started to recognize cryptocurrencies as a legitimate investment option, even if comprehensive regulation is still on the way. The cryptocurrency market just got too big to ignore. At the same time, the macroeconomic "takeover" of blockchain / digital money will be intensified. We expect a greater focus on CBDCs and stable coins, which will help diversify and lower transaction costs, reduce cross-border friction, replenish deposits, encourage financial inclusion, etc. A bank-like regulatory structure for stable coin issuers will be proposed.

6.  And finally,  broader adoption of blockchain technologies to digitize and track many more areas, starting with medical data usage, environmental, social, and governance (ESG) attributes, supplier identity verification, money transfers, etc.