An interview series spotlighting global tech influencers, disruptors, visionaries, and of course, innovators.
Best wishes for a prosperous and healthy 2022!
The predictions continue! To recap, this year’s EKMH Innovators’ predictions 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 shared their insight and whose innovations and leadership will continue to guide us into a brighter future.
CEO Justin Banon co-founded Boson Protocol, the decentralized commerce protocol that enables the sale of physical products in the metaverse as NFTs. Banon also cofounded and serves as CEO for Redeemeum, a venture-backed (Outlier Ventures) marketplace for exchanging crypto assets for real world products and services without touching fiat. Read Banon’s recap of 2021 and 2022 predictions below:
In 2021, the mainstream adoption of crypto increased exponentially. Some of the forces that drove this in 2021 will snowball in 2022, most notably, the explosion of interest in NFTs. NFTs really seized the imagination of mainstream users in a way that cryptocurrency had not done before. We’ve already seen some of the world’s biggest brands minting NFTs, such as Dolce & Gabbana and ASICS, but we’ve also seen the world’s biggest galleries, including Sotheby’s, conduct multi-million-dollar NFT sales. Looking at the numbers, in the early half of the year sales of the most popular NFTs were coming in at about $64 million per month. We are now seeing $41 million worth of NFT sales per day.
Beyond NFTs, the metaverse, and what it means for the way we live in the future, is likely to dominate the conversation. Facebook’s announcement of their rebrand to Meta was a pivotal moment for Web3 because it not only drew people’s attention to what the metaverse will mean for our lives but also served as a warning of what might happen if Big Tech captures this part of our lives. The metaverse will become the new interface for people to engage with the web and each other. As people move fluidly between the virtual and physical world, so will the things we own. Digital-to-physical commerce is one of the biggest retail trends right now, and the brands who get it right have their eyes on the prize.
If we are going to be transacting in the metaverse and if this experience is going to be a decentralized one where all value is not captured by Big Tech intermediaries, then this means that the adoption of crypto will be further driven forward. To participate in decentralized worlds, we need crypto-native payment systems and protocols that can mean we do not have to rely on intermediaries. In 2022, a dominant topic for debate will surround open versus closed metaverses. The need for common standards and interoperability to allow users ownership of their own data and an equitable share in the value they generate seems obvious to those of us working in this space, but we need to get the message out to a wider audience and help them to understand the implications.
**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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