The Decentralized Space Presses Forward Despite A Crypto Winter

The crypto space has been nothing short of volatile in the last year. From Bitcoin hitting an all-time high of around $68,000 USD in Nov 2021, to the space losing about $2 trillion in market cap in just under six months, many are left wondering whether they should remain invested in crypto. 

A handful of significant events have left a rippling effect on the market. At the start of the year, there was the conflict in Ukraine, followed by regulation, inflation pressure and the collapse of Terra’s UST. More recently, the sector has also felt the effect of interest rate hikes, which some predict the Federal Reserve will continue to increase.

But despite all this, many large companies are embracing the decentralized space and holding out for a brighter future. 

Decentralized Adoption Persists

In the last ten months, Google’s parent company, Alphabet, invested in funding rounds totalling $1.5 billion across four blockchain companies – Fireblocks, Dapper Labs, Voltage, and Digital Currency Group. Overall, a total of forty companies invested about $6 billion in blockchain-related investments in that same period. This included big names like BlackRock, Morgan Stanley, Goldman Sachs, BNY Mellon, Citi, and Wells Fargo.

Projects on the Cardano Network – Revuto – Photo of a girl with a phone that shows a list of subscription services

Digital assets have also become an important element of many hedge fund portfolios. According to a report by PwC, the top three sectors that crypto hedge funds have invested into are Store of Value (e.g. Bitcoin, Litecoin), DeFi (e.g. Uni, Aave, Sushi), and Infrastructure (e.g. ETH) based cryptocurrencies.

While BTC and ETH have remained the top two cryptocurrencies traded, more funds have been diversifying into altcoins like Solana (SOL), Polkadot (DOT), Avalanche (AVAX), and Uniswap (UNI). 

A similar pattern can be seen on an individual investor front. Bitcoin (BTC) remains the most popular cryptocurrency amongst Canadian crypto owners, with Dogecoin (DOGE), Ethereum (ETH) and Cardano (ADA) coming in close. 

It’s also worth noting that the Metaverse has seen some positive momentum that may help lead to greater adoption in Metaverse tokens like Decentraland (MANA), and The Sandbox (SAND). Nike reported that nearly 7 million people have visited their metaverse store and continues to be one of the big brands to invest heavily in the Metaverse, virtual goods, and branded NFTs.

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