Trends of 2022 — NFT, Metaverse and GameFi

The digital currency industry has experienced accelerated growth in 2021, with many new trends emerging. With the rise of bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies, we have seen the development of NFTs, Metaverse, and GameFi, concepts that have spread to the global technology realm. And before we look at the broad scope of what’s going on, we’ll run through a quick guide to these popular concepts that are likely to shape the crypto space in 2022.

Trend 1: NFTs

NFT or non-fungible token refers to scarce digital asset with unique identification codes and metadata. Created on smart contracts, it can be compared with collectible or limited art objects, such as an autographed Michael Jordan basketball or Salvator Mundi painting. The most important thing is that any of these scarce tokens works like a key with proof of ownership via a digital signature recorded on the Blockchain.

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Learn more about NFTs in our related article «Crypto NFT: Reshaping the Art World».

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The NFT idea has become of interest within the framework of popular media, game studios (Ubisoft), luxury brands (Gucci), music and sports (NBA). With the injection of conservative money, the demand for collecting continues to grow. To check out some of the leading NFT platforms see the following profiles on the Finscanner marketplace:

OpenSea — is one of the first NFT marketplaces on the market. It is a reliable decentralized service with a large selection of tokens. In the future, developers promise to add more blockchain networks to the protocol to keep the platform competitive.

NBA Top Shot — is an NFT project from Dapper Labs on the Flow blockchain, which can be called a marketplace of short videos of the best moments from NBA games, presented in the form of unique collectibles, non-fungible tokens (NFT). The project is officially licensed by the NBA. Each token holder receives digital rights at a short video of some moment of the game, and therefore adds something unique to his collection, which he can dispose of at his own discretion.

Rarible — is a marketplace that invites users to trade liquid intellectual property and any digital content licensed through NFT tokens. One of the advantages is a simplified interface for creating NFT tokens in a few clicks. Another feature is the lack of pre-moderation when creating tokens.

Trend 2: Metaverse

The Metaverse concept has exploded following the renaming of Facebook to Meta. In essence, it is a virtual world in an online space where users can experience all aspects of social interaction, commerce, entertainment, and other things. It goes hand in hand with NFTs, where the tokens play a central role as digital assets in a 3D environment.

Just as in NFTs, companies and users are rushing to stake their claim on the Metaverse industry which has the potential to be worth a trillion dollars in the future. On the other hand, the metaverse market itself has not fully formed yet, as, by its nature, it is technically more complex and combines many components. Currently, corporations are limited to being present in popular projects - they create sites for visiting in Metaverses and purchase various virtual lands and real estate.

Here are some of the leading Metaverses: Decentraland, The Sandbox, Meta.

Trend 3: GameFi

GameFi or Game Finance refers to the mixing of the game industry and decentralized finance (DeFi). The concept, which began to gain popularity in 2021, includes various developments such as NFT and allows players to earn money by playing games or interacting with other users on the Internet. This game model is known as Play-To-Earn. In this case, Metaverse can be a great wrapper for GameFi, while NFT serves as a backbone for in-game items as it allows players to retain ownership inside the game and monetize their activities. Here are some of the popular GameFi games:

Axie Infinity — is one of the biggest blockchain games in the world. Players collect, train, and battle creatures — NFTs called Axies — to progress through the game.

Decentraland — is another top blockchain game with an open virtual world where players buy and sell digital real estate, while exploring locations from a space adventure to a medieval dungeon maze to entire villages crafted from the minds of community members.

Giants will swallow the world

Grayscale’s projections show that Metaverse will become a trillion-dollar industry, which reveals the appetite of the giant companies for Metaverse. Among the major companies involved, one can note Facebook (changed name to Meta), Twitter (introduced verified NFT profile photos), and Samsung (plans to sell NFTs on its web platforms and TVs). Traditional gaming giants such as Ubisoft and Epic Games have also suggested that GameFi is the future of their blockchain-based gaming strategy. As the industry develops, the number of corporations involved will only increase, which in turn will inspire further progress in the implementation of new solutions to the virtual market.

What's with GameFi and Metaverse experience?

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“Users are looking for fun. Even profitable games will eventually become dull and less profitable unless players won't be entertained. That's the reality! Most projects still don't understand it. It is not enough to be a pioneer in this environment. Winning the battle for control of the metaverse will require a combination of NFTs, GameFi, and modern, eye-catching graphics.“

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Beyond the entertainment and innovative factors, early adopters should consider:

• Robust tokenomics (so that the game can stay approximately equally profitable for both small-capital players and whales);

• Projects' fundamentals and vision (small teams can easily miss the expertise in the field of technology or game experience, therefore partners and advisors play a crucial role).

If with the NFTs there is a clear understanding of the usage and functionality, then Metaverse and GameFi pose a huge challenge for all developers. No one wants to compromise the user experience with low quality or security. Thus, there are still a lot of technological routines ahead before we see full-fledged mass adoption and compliance with the interests of modern users.

Disclaimer: This article is for informational purposes only. Finscanner finds it particularly worthwhile to conduct a comprehensive due diligence review and highlight the right questions to remove any informational asymmetry. We also consider it our duty to once again warn you that any investments in volatile assets or raw projects may involve the risk of loss.