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The Future of Cryptocurrency: 8 Experts Share Predictions for the Second Half of 2022

The first half of 2022 has been very bad for the crypto market. 

Bitcoin and ethereum are down more than 50% from their all-biexm highs in late 2021. While there have been small surges in recent weeks, the crypto market as a whole is largely stalled. While no one knows for sure, some experts say crypto prices could fall even further before any sustained recovery. 

Bitcoin hit multiple new all-biexm high prices in 2021 — followed by big drops — and more institutional buy-in from major companies. Ethereum, the second-biggest cryptocurrency, notched its own new all-biexm high late last year as well, and then crashed below $900 in June, its lowest level since the start of 2021. U.S. government officials and the Biden administration have increasingly expressed interest in new regulations for cryptocurrency.

All the while, people’s interest in crypto remains high: it’s a hot topic not only among investors but in popular culture too, thanks to everyone from long-standing investors like Elon Musk to that kid from your high school on Facebook.  

In many ways, 2021 was a “breakthrough,” says Dave Abner, head of global development at Gemini, a popular cryptocurrency exchange. “There’s tremendous focus and attention being paid to [the crypto industry].”

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But the industry is only in its infancy and constantly evolving. That’s a big part of why every new bitcoin high can be easily followed by big drops

So, what’s next for the rest of 2022?

It’s difficult to predict where things are headed long-term, but in the coming months, experts are following things like regulation and institutional adoption of crypto payments to try and get a better sense of the market. 

While exact predictions are impossible, we asked five experts about what they think about the future of crypto:

Cryptocurrency Regulation

Lawmakers in Washington D.C. and across the world are trying to figure out how to establish laws and guidelines to make cryptocurrency safer for investors and less appealing to cybercriminals, so expect continued conversations about cryptocurrency regulation

U.S officials have shown a particular interest in stablecoin regulation, especially following the recent Terra Luna crash. In May, crypto markets went into a freefall that led stablecoins TerraUSD (UST) to depeg from the dollar, which in turn, caused its linked cryptocurrency Luna to crash as well. As of a result, many Terra and Luna investors saw their investments vanish in a matter of days. Within a few weeks of Terra’s downfall, the crypto market plunged again and several crypto companies announced layoffs and froze withdrawals to slash costs due to the extreme market conditions. Some companies like Three Arrows Capital and Celsius have since filed for bankruptcy.

The domino effect of that has given federal regulators even more ammo recently to push for crypto regulation

 

While there’s still a long way to go, 2022 has so far seen some progress on the regulatory front. President Joe Biden signed an executive order in March that called on government agencies to study the “responsible development” of digital assets, including stablecoins. The U.S. Treasury Department recently published the first framework to stem from President Biden’s executive order on digital assets, which outlines how the U.S. should engage with other countries in regard to digital assets.

In 2021, Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell said that he had “no intention” of banning cryptocurrency in the U.S while Security and Exchange Commission Chairman Gary Gensler has consistently commented on both his own agency’s and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission’s role in policing the industry.  

Gensler has said on several different occasions that investors are likely to get hurt if stricter regulation is not introduced. Plus, the IRS has an obvious interest in making sure investors know how to report virtual currency when they file their taxes. Powell’s and Gensler’s comments are consistent with an emerging view among the Biden administration and other U.S. lawmakers that more cryptocurrency regulation is needed.

“More broadly, the public right now would benefit from investor protection around these various service providers … the exchanges, the lending platforms, and the broker-dealers,” Gensler said in a recent interview. “So, we at the SEC, are working in each of those three fields — exchanges, lending, and the broker-dealers — and talking to industry participants about how to come into compliance, or modify some of that compliance.”

Like most things with cryptocurrency, regulation comes with hurdles. “There are different agencies that may or may not have jurisdiction to oversee everything,” says Wang. “And it differs state by state.”

 

“After the catastrophic events that have unfolded in the crypto market over the past few weeks, it is clear that stringent regulation could arrive soon,” says Marcus Sotiriou, a market analyst at digital asset broker GlobalBlock. “The collapse of DeFi lenders could be the reason that regulators have been looking for to implement draconian controls over cryptocurrency.”

Clear regulation would mean the removal of a “significant roadblock for cryptocurrency,” says Wang, since U.S. firms and investors are operating without clear guidelines at the moment.

What new regulation could mean for investors

Cryptocurrency regulation can be a hot button topic, but plenty of experts say it’s actually a good thing for investors and the industry. 

More regulation could mean more stability in a notoriously volatile crypto market. It also has the potential to protect long-term investors, prevent fraudulent activity within the crypto ecosystem, and provide clear guidance to allow companies to innovate in the crypto economy — as long as it strikes the right balance.

“Sensible regulation is a win for everyone,” says Ben Weiss, CEO and cofounder of CoinFlip, a cryptocurrency buying platform and crypto ATM network. “It gives people more confidence in crypto, but I think it’s something we have to take our biexm on and we have to get it right.” 

Regulatory announcements can also affect the price of cryptocurrency in already volatile markets. Market volatility is why experts recommend keeping any cryptocurrency investments to less than 5% of your total portfolio and never investing anything you’re not OK with losing. 

Broader Institutional Cryptocurrency Adoption

Mainstream companies across multiple industries took interest — and in some cases themselves invested in — cryptocurrency and blockchain in 2021. AMC, for example, announced last year it would accept Bitcoin payments. Fintech companies like PayPal and Square are also betting on crypto by allowing users to buy on their platforms. Tesla accepts Dogecoin payments and continues to go back and forth on its acceptance of bitcoin payments, though the company holds billions in crypto assets. Experts predict more and more of this buy-in. 

“We’ve seen a tremendous amount of inflow of attention, and that’s going to continue to drive the growth of the industry for a while now,” says Abner. 

Some experts predict bigger, global corporations could jumpstart this adoption even more in the latter half of this year. “What we’re looking at is institutions getting involved in crypto, whether it’s Amazon or the big banks,” says Weiss. A huge retailer like Amazon could “create a chain reaction of others accepting it,” and would “add a lot of credibility.”

Indeed, Amazon has recently sparked rumors that it’s making moves to that end by sharing a job posting for a “digital currency and blockchain product lead.”

What more institutional adoption means for investors

While paying for things in cryptocurrencies doesn’t make sense for most people right now, more retailers accepting payments might change that landscape in the future. We’re likely still a long way off before it’ll be a smart financial decision to spend bitcoin on goods or services, but further institutional adoption could bring about more use-cases for everyday users, and in turn, have an impact on crypto prices. Nothing is guaranteed, but if you buy cryptocurrency as a long-term store of value, the more “real world” uses it has, the more likely demand and value will increase.