blockchain: For blockchain companies, innovation rather than intervention is the need of the time
With Bitcoin dipping to a low of 18 months and showing no signs of stopping anytime soon, cryptocurrencies like Celsius are halting transactions to curb volatility among cryptocurrencies and exchanges like Coinbase firing employees to stay stable, the outlook for the entire industry looks seems to have changed drastically from just a few months ago, when products and technologies such as NFTs and metaverse were in everyone’s minds.
In addition, there is a global headwind that has created the perfect storm that we see the crypto industry going through at the moment. In fact, with 40 years of high inflation in the US pushing the Fed to raise interest rates, daily commodities becoming more expensive thanks to high oil prices, the uncertainty surrounding the war in Ukraine and the threat of Covid-19 and possibly monkey cups lurking just around the corner, things have definitely taken a turn for the worse where investors have begun to dump more risky assets such as stocks and cryptocurrencies.
Although things may look bleak, I definitely think this is a great time to go back to the drawing board and work on products and services that have the potential to disrupt the crypto industry when and when things stabilize over the next few months.
NFTs
Look, for example, at the NFT site. While things have been good for digital artists, there is the potential to create many exciting new ways to engage audiences when it comes to this new technology for owning assets.
We do not quite understand how we can include pop culture in NFT’s realm, I think. Popular games, movies and music are low-hanging fruits that can be used to create interesting NFTs with cross-collaboration between artists, studios and game companies. These can be further incentivized to ensure that the value goes up as the holding period increases, thus creating value for everyone in the chain.
NFTs themselves can also be created for the purpose of curating a collection whose intrinsic value as a group is higher than the sum of the parts. Imagine holding NFTs for an entire cricket team that you can use to play across virtual leagues to win prizes and trophies.
There are many similar ideas that can be worked on to ensure that when the crypto industry returns, collectors know exactly what needs to be on their radar.
Metaverse
Metaverse still evokes different images in different people. No one is quite sure how it could turn out to be, giving meta-companies an extra incentive to make this one of the best new technologies the world has ever seen.
Metaverse is in itself such a broad field that the number of applications, avatars and ways to involve the public can be varied enough to include a large subset of the population. Whether it is a fashion competition streamed with 3D effects, a virtual tree planting for the environmentally conscious or going through a first-class wine monopoly on digital land, the possibilities are endless.
But all these ideas only work if we take the initiative to make them work now. Since most organizations would have frozen marketing and sales budgets in this uncertain quarter, the same amount of money and time can be dedicated to researching and optimizing future technology to create memorable NFT collections and impressive metaverse applications.
It may sound easier than it used to be, but this is probably the best way to look at the current setback. All other indicators point to a possible revival and a flourishing crypto room in the months and years to come.
How we get the most out of this temporary blip will determine how much longer we can take the crypto industry when the sun begins to shine after the current winter period.
