2021 has been a rollercoaster year for the crypto industry for sure. On the back of institutional adoption, the industry has managed to attain new heights and grow to an even larger audience.
As always, every year brings a new set of trends that captivate the crypto market. While institutional adoption and decentralized finance (DeFi) were the biggest things last year, GameFi and the metaverse have been the unquestionable giants of 2021.
GameFi’s Rise – Tapping Into Everyone’s Desires
GameFi’s rise was inevitable. There have been several projects in the GameFi space for years, but they never particularly grew to become industry-wide hits. However, things have been different this year.
The rise in GameFi can easily be tied to the love that people have for the gamification concept. Everyone loves winning rewards for their actions, and GameFi incorporates that perfectly. Some projects have even been able to reward players with things like non-fungible tokens (NFTs) and others, giving their users proper value for their money and time.
Another interesting trend has been the use of GameFi to improve fundamental parts of the market. Currently, GameFi has been able to infiltrate the crypto trading space, allowing players to actually get paid for trading.
We also have play-to-earn games that have dedicated themselves to increasing awareness about the crypto industry in general. LegendsOfCrypto (LOCGame) is a collectible strategy card game that is built on top of Polygon’s blockchain that incorporates NFTs and other DeFi elements, while sharing interesting facts about the crypto industry pop culture, with playable characters like a Market Maker, Whale, Binance’s very own CZ and other key proponents.
LOCGame prominent investors include Signum Capital, NGC and Ascensive Assets. Its native utility token $LOCG acts as the metaverse payment method and rewards players who level up and achieve specific milestones. The $LOCG token is available on several exchanges and platforms, including KuCoin, Gate.io, and UniSwap and it recently became part of Kucoin Metaverse Pool together with SAND, MANA, Illuvium and other top metaverse projects.
Variations like these show the true potential of GameFi. The concept allows developers to achieve specific objectives while rewarding the users who help them to reach these goals. A game developer could decide to improve crypto trading knowledge and develop a game that rewards expert traders upon reaching specific milestones. The same could happen to someone who wants to grow the staking market as well.
All in all, GameFi could be the exposure solution that the crypto world needs. Everyone loves games, and the opportunity to get rewards that could be valuable someday will definitely appeal to them as well. It might take a while, but GameFi has huge prospects.
The Metaverse: A Bold New World of Opportunities
As for the metaverse, it blew up even more recently. However, the speed with which everyone has taken to it has blown even the most ardent enthusiasts away. The metaverse has always been around as a concept, but no one really paid attention to building it like they did this year. And once the floodgates were open, everyone was rushing in.
Things started with Facebook when the company first announced a $50 million research fund for the metaverse. Weeks later, the company changed the name of its holding organization to Meta. Since then, it’s all been about the metaverse. Nike and Adidas have stepped into the space, and the same goes for companies like Microsoft and so on.
The adoption that the metaverse has gotten in just a few months has rivaled – if not beaten – that of cryptocurrencies themselves. And it can only get better from here.
With a cursory glance, it’s easy to see why everyone has taken to the metaverse so easily. This is a new frontier where opportunities will abound – ranging from engagement and content to marketing and exposure. Some have already estimated that the metaverse could be a $1 trillion opportunity, and companies that can build best for it will be the ones to benefit most from this revenue flood.
Combining GameFi and the Metaverse
Interestingly enough, several crypto projects now combine concepts like GameFi and the metaverse. This year has seen massive growth in projects like Decentraland and Axie Infinity, with their ability to create custom worlds where users can play and have fun, while also rewarding their players with NFTs and other collectibles.
These platforms thrive primarily because they have been able to create solid value systems. Axie Infinity and Decentraland offer NFTs while also providing a marketplace for people to sell and trade their rewards. So, whether you want to sell the rewards directly or you’d prefer to keep them, there’s something for you.
The platforms also sell tokens, which their developers can use to raise funds and build even better systems for the future. It’s a perfect cyclical move that drives value and offers enough benefits for everyone to go around. In 2022, it is expected that all of these concepts will see even more adoption. GameFi projects are already growing, and some traditional crypto firms could even adopt the play-to-earn model as they look to grow their market share and user base.
As for the metaverse, it will take more work. Several platforms already have their metaverses, and customers now know what to expect. If anyone is to build something that will last, they will have to put in the time and work to ensure that people want to actually spend time in their metaverse.
Regardless of the work, it seems obvious now that GameFi and the metaverse are here to stay. The question now is how well everyone will be willing to use both concepts.
