2022, predictions and thoughts

Blockchains become more scalable One of the common criticisms and reasons argued by the naysayers for not using Blockchain technology was that blockchain-powered platforms would not be able to handle large volumes of transactions. Last year, as reported in the 22nd December 2021 Digital Bytes, Mastercard processed $6.3 trillion of transactions versus Ethereum which processed $6.2 trillion of transactions in 2021. It is likely we will see blockchain-powered platforms become faster and be able to handle even more transactions per second as 2022 progresses, so encouraging even greater institutional engagement with this technology.

CBDCs and stablecoins Expect to see a number of Central Bank Digital Currencies (CBDC) and stablecoins being launched. The world’s second largest economy, China, is set to launch its digital Yuan at the Winter Olympics in Beijing in February. The Chinese CBDC will be for wholesale as well as for retail users but will not be using Blockchain technology as the Chinese government looks to keep total control. Other countries will equally be trialling CBCDs as well as officially launching their own during 2022. Given that most CBDCs will be primarily aimed at the wholesale market, there is still plenty of scope for a range of retail-focused stablecoins to be launched. Will 2022 see challenges for some of the decentralised autonomous organisations’ (DAO) stablecoins and…