An interview series spotlighting global tech influencers, disruptors, visionaries, and of course, innovators.
Season’s Greetings, Readers! Best wishes for a prosperous and healthy 2022!
As the pandemic continues and our hopes for normalcy move toward the pragmatic, let’s look ahead to 2022.. tomorrow! ‘Tis the season for predictions... Each year I excitedly explore the fintech, tech, blockchain and crypto ecosystems to highlight what key leaders, founders and innovators expect to happen in their sectors during the upcoming year (2017 marketplace lending, 2018 crypto, 2018 blockchain, 2018 fintech, 2019, 2020 and 2021 predictions). This year’s EKMH Innovators’ predictions continue to cover a gamut of sectors, topics and trends, including blockchain, DeFi, TradFi, cryptocurrency, NFTs, medtech, social media, GameFi, metaverse and data. Many thanks to the inspiring trailblazers who share their insight and whose innovations and leadership will continue to guide us into a brighter future.
Founded in 2017, traded over $1 trillion since inception and helmed by Founder & CEO Michael Wu, Amber Group is a leading global digital asset platform which provides a full range of digital asset services spanning investing, financing, trading, and spending. Its 24/7 trading desk serves over a thousand institutional clients globally while WhaleFin, its integrated digital asset platform, serves its individual investors via mobile and desktop applications. Dartmouth alum and former Morgan Stanley FX & Rates trader Michael Wu, what are your crypto predictions for 2022?
Amber Group CEO Michael Wu: 2022 will define the evolution of the crypto and blockchain industry for many years to come. Demands from end users - both retail and institutional investors - will play a significant role in shaping the direction of the industry this new year. Offerings within the digital asset space will continue to diversify – this will range from crypto-native assets to traditional assets such as equities, bonds, and real estate, as well as the allotment of value by way of NFT to emerging asset classes that now include data and content.
As user adoption accelerates, more markets will move to explore and implement regulatory frameworks around digital assets. As a result, regulatory environments will become increasingly complex in the new year but we expect increased regulations to help increase investor confidence in digital assets and blockchain technology. So, as the regulatory landscape heats up and capital continues to pour into this space in 2022, we expect digital assets to gain legitimacy and make progress in seamlessly operating within the folds of the traditional finance ecosystem, deepening the convergence of TradFi and DeFi and ultimately redefining the global financial ecosystem.
We also expect for developments around the metaverse to move beyond conceptual discussions to material business moves in 2022. There has been a lot of interest in the possibilities of the metaverse in the second half of 2021, and as we head into 2022, we expect to see this catalyzing the transformation of economies – from the traditional centralized model, to one that is digital and decentralized.
With this paradigm shift in the financial ecosystem, sustainability will also come to the forefront of the crypto industry in the new year. Sustainability will serve as a key guiding principle for players across the entire ecosystem, and we anticipate changes in the practices of existing currencies and for new green innovations and initiatives to emerge. This was the impetus for WhaleFin, our newly launched digital asset platform which empowers users with the right tools to build digital wealth, all while in lockstep with the ongoing decentralization of the world economy and the shared responsibility to the environment.
**Curious about past predictions? Click here to read more about expert insights on 2017 marketplace lending, 2018 crypto, 2018 blockchain, 2018 fintech, 2019, 2020 and 2021 predictions.
*Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed in this series are those of the interviewees and do not necessarily reflect the views or positions of any entities they represent.
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