2022: The Web3 Year That Was

With the double whammy of the collapse of Terra USD and the FTX fallout, 2022 has been a year to forget for crypto enthusiasts. However, there are some silver linings as crypto and Web3 are getting closer to mainstream adoption.

With this, let’s dive into the Web3 trends of 2022!

Twitter kickstarted 2022 by launching Twitter Blue, which comes with a host of premium features one of which is NFT Profile Pictures that allows iOS users to connect their crypto wallet and choose an NFT to upload as their profile picture. Instagram had in November 2022 launched its Digital Collectibles feature in 100 countries. The feature allows users to connect to their digital wallets and showcase the NFTs that they have either created or bought. The shimmery effect of the NFTs when posted in the owner's feed indicates their authenticity.

Hopping onto the Web3 bandwagon, Starbucks too had in December 2022 launched its blockchain-based loyalty program and NFT community i.e. Starbucks Odyssey for beta testing in the U.S. Deployed as an extension of Starbucks’ existing loyalty program, Starbucks Odyssey allows customers to complete interactive activities called “Journeys” to collect Stamps which are coffee-themed Polygon-based NFTs that can be used unlock special real-world experiences

The entry of Web2 players such as Twitter, Instagram and Starbucks into the NFT domain had triggered a notable spike in the  number of unique active wallets (UAW) interacting with social decentralized applications (Social DApps).

The public beta testing of StepN towards the end of 2021 sparked off a FitFi bonanza in 2022 which catalyzed the Move-to-Earn (M2E) trend under the GameFi domain. With StepN as the pioneer, the FitFi fever took centre stage in the crypto world with the launching of a host of M2E apps including Sweat Economy, Genopets and Step App which features Olympic gold medalist Usain Bolt as its partner. As at the time of writing, data from CoinGecko indicates that M2E tokens have a cumulative market capitalization of more than USD266 million.

In the wake of the FTX fallout, there has been a notable shift in the trend of user preference towards self-custody of crypto assets. In many ways, this is one of the rare upsides from the fallout as crypto owners need to learn about exercising self-custody over their crypto assets. Data from Glassnode indicates that the post-FTX fallout shift towards the use of self-custody has resulted in 15 million Bitcoins becoming illiquid as they are moved to cold wallets with no spending history.

Without a doubt, the FTX fallout has resulted in the crypto domain ending 2022 with the self-custodial trend. In our next post, we will be looking at the Web3 trends in store for 2023.