Regulation, NFT, metaverse, Bitcoin ETF … Binance takes stock of the year 2021 in crypto

Faced with the 2021 news report in terms of cryptocurrency
of Binance Academy, one thing is for sure: no one had time to be bored for a second, and new words and concepts became conversation pieces.

Metaverses and NFTs have made their way into the everyday life of the general public, rapidly moving from niche products to global phenomena. Meanwhile, currency prices have continued to climb to stratospheric records, and Bitcoin and other stablecoins have become the official currencies of some governments. Back on the highlights of a year 2021 which exploded all the figures for 2020 in the crypto field.

NFTs, identified virtual objects

At the start of the year, it was difficult to grasp the concept of non-fungible tokens (NFTs) without frowning in confusion. Anyone can now purchase a virtual work through lines of code that authenticate ownership of it on a blockchain. Many celebrities and companies saw the bargain and flocked to a market where virtual yachts sell for $ 650,000 and virtual monkeys form rock bands (!).

NFT news is sometimes surreal, but it also involves the world of art and video games, with the model play-to-earn which allows you to earn virtual items in many metaverses. While 2021 will have been an opportunity to familiarize yourself with this hitherto confidential concept, the craze for these virtual objects and opportunities has only just begun. In the meantime, some works sell for millions of dollars on auction sites like OpenSea.

The metaverse, the future of our virtual lives

The concept is so new in people’s minds that it has not yet entered Larousse. At the end of October 2021, Mark Zuckerberg showed us his vision of the future and promised us working meetings made of virtual reality and slightly dystopian avatars. The word Meta was out, and the concept of metaverse took hold in the world as a new way to interact on websites and applications.

Now it’s not just about Facebook, but dozens of other sites where the metaverse makes perfect sense. In the game The SandBox
, you can live a virtual life as long as you buy land (for the actual land price) on the map. Evolving your character also requires the purchase of multiple objects on the platform, hence the very close links between the world of NFT and metaverse sites.

Bitcoin as official currency, El Salvador’s risky bet

The regulation of crypto-currencies is a subject more and more followed, and in particular in countries where the monetary situation is uncertain. We remember the very young President of El Salvador, Nayib Bukele, who announced that from now on, Bitcoin would be the official currency of this country of 6 million souls. Overall, the switch to Bitcoin has been beneficial for the functioning of the country, whose official currency had recently disappeared due to inflation. For the occasion, all the inhabitants of the country were able to benefit from 30 dollars for each opening of electronic wallet. And the president’s ambition does not stop there, since he recently allocated the activity of a volcano to Bitcoin mining.

Around the world, other initiatives show that crypto-currencies are well and truly anchored in the daily life of the inhabitants, with Myanmar adopting Tether, a stablecoin, as its official currency. In the United States, it’s impossible to miss out on cryptos. Many stadiums are renamed with the name of exchange platforms, such as the Miami basketball stadium renamed FTX Arena.

Decentralized finance, Web3 on everyone’s lips

We now know that web 2.0 was a revolution at the start of the 2010s, but that the model of an Internet centralized and concentrated on a handful of large companies has largely had its day. The Web3, still in development, would be based entirely on different blockchains and allow users to carry out untracked transactions, which earned it the qualifier of decentralized finance.

While many DeFi exchanges and protocols are emerging, Web3 still looks like the Wild West, as evidenced by the repeated thefts of crypto-currencies on exchanges, such as BadgerDAO which has recorded more than $ 120 million in losses per month. November.

Bitcoin ETFs, green light for traditional investors

With regulation by the SEC, the highest American financial authority, Bitcoin offers itself a new legitimacy for major global investors. ETFs are traditional financial products that cryptocurrencies were not part of in the United States. By accepting Bitcoin in this category, the regulator is opening up new markets, with a price of BTC and ETH which has shown Olympic health throughout 2021.

Source: Binance Academy