The Blockchain Industry in 2022: The Present and An Exciting Future

Blockchain technology has birthed new technologies, trends, and innovations over the years. Let's take a look at how some of these innovations are faring in 2022.

NFTs Increasing in Popularity

NFTs continue to grow in popularity in 2022, with global NFT sales crossing over $50 billion, a 200% increase. Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs) are unique pieces of code that signify ownership of assets they are connected to. They work by using the blockchain to verify the current holder of the token.

NFTs came into the mainstream light in 2021, with the rise of cartoon-like profile picture projects like the Bored Ape Yacht Club. It didn't take long for digital assets to become a popular way for public figures, especially athletes and business leaders, to make money. NFTs are sometimes called "digital collectibles" because they are made to look like things that already exist in the real world. It could be an in-game item, an ape JPEG, or even a video highlight of your favorite basketball player, but it could also be anything else that comes to mind.

Because each NFT token is unique and the tokens themselves can't be used to buy anything else, they can't be traded or exchanged like cryptocurrency. It's not out of the question that NFTs will grow and branch out into new markets and customer types by the year 2022. NFTs are expected to be used more and more in online games, the music industry, and more.

As the blockchain industry continues to try new things in the coming years, we should be ready for NFTs that are more sophisticated and advanced. 

Tokenization Platform Expands Its Network With Three Venture Capital Partnerships

The continuing traditional and crypto bear markets are causing once-generous venture capital funds to tighten their purse or dry up completely. The sudden shakeup of this go-to-fundraising method has left ambitious projects in limbo with both funding and current asset management.

Cutting through the noise and grabbing the attention of VCs is becoming harder than ever, leaving room for an alternative to the traditional fundraising institutions.

Brickken partnered with Hillstone Finance, Veritas, and Digital Gold Capital to expand its operational network to three new countries. The partnership opens Brickken’s next strategic fundraising and expansion round, as the group’s commitments include investment in its native BKN token and broadens the platform’s reach in onboarding companies to Web3 and decentralized management.

In partnering with Hillstone Finance, Veritas, and Digital Gold Capital, Brickken unlocks the potential of decentralizing company ownership through tokenized equity and asset management. Arriving on the heels of a new whitepaper release, Brickken is creating a means for businesses to transition into a decentralized operational model while retaining ownership control.

The partnership indicates a global interest in the project and opens a new strategic round for Brickken to further expand its operational network.

Leading the partnerships with Brickken is Hillstone Finance, the South Korean project revolutionizing traditional finance through blockchain technology adoption, creating a perfect match for Brickken’s tokenization platform.

Alongside Hillstone Finance, Brickken’s partnerships include:

• Veritas
• A venture capital fund based in the United Kingdom
• Spanish blockchain investment vehicle Digital Gold Capital.

While Veritas unlocks another new territory for Brickken, Digital Gold Capital further solidifies the company’s roots in Spain. In addition to garnering these new partnerships, Brickken’s new whitepaper highlights its dApp launch planned for September 2022. These partnerships will provide the project with networks upon the full release of the dApp.

The Metaverse Still Has Room to Grow

The Metaverse, whilst still in its early stages, still has a lot more room for growth, with JP Morgan predicting the sector to become a $1 Trillion industry in the future. Facebook's rebranding of its parent company to "Meta" in October 2021 helped to set the stage for the explosion of the Metaverse trend.

The Metaverse is generally seen as a virtual or augmented reality where users can connect with each other and own virtual assets, conduct meetings, earn an income, and live out a digital version of their life. The Metaverse is also seen as a three-dimensional universe made up of many different virtual ecosystems that are linked together to form a larger cluster. It could start a whole new era of technological progress, which makes it important for the growth of the internet.

The Metaverse is not just a virtual world because it has a lot of technology built into it, some of which haven't been made public yet. Platforms like The Sandbox and Decentraland, among others, show how blockchain technology and Metaverses can work together. Cryptocurrencies help build a digital economy where investors can use tokens and assets in many different ways to reach their goals.

We can expect big tech companies to get more involved in the Metaverse this year. The Metaverse is likely to get the attention of both big and small businesses. It's also likely to grow in more places around the world.

Is Web3 the Future of the Internet?

The Web3 ecosystem is another growing sector within the blockchain industry. The Web3 sector was valued at around $2.9 billion in 2021 and is expected to be worth $23 billion in 2028. It's interesting to note that Ethereum co-founder Gavin Wood was the one who first came up with the idea of Web3. Web3 is the idea of a decentralized internet, giving users greater autonomy and control over their online experience.

At the moment, centralized, multinational companies own most of the information on the internet. They own some of the most popular websites, and issues like user privacy, data tracking, and censorship are well-known concerns. The concept of Web3 technology encourages an open-source and decentralized architecture for the web and is seen by some experts as the next iteration of the internet.

Conclusion

We've looked at how some of the sectors within the blockchain space have fared in 2022, from NFTs to the metaverse and Web3.