7 Predictions for Bitcoin in 2022 from Lolli's CEO and Co-founder Alex Adelman
2021 was a historical year for bitcoin adoption.
As bitcoin’s price skyrocketed while inflation gripped global economies, bitcoin took its place at the center of contemporary culture, financial technology, and visions of economic progress.
A surge of interest from companies, nations, and public figures ushered in a new era for bitcoin. Wall Street’s biggest firms integrated bitcoin operations and El Salvador legalized bitcoin as a national currency, energizing conversations about bitcoin’s potential to transform the global financial ecosystem.
With inflation at its highest level in 40 years at the end of 2021, the weakness of fiat currency and the virtues of bitcoin as an anti-inflationary, highly secure store of value became abundantly clear to a growing number of people. Education around bitcoin proliferated as social media facilitated conversations over Twitter, Clubhouse, & more, bringing crypto firmly into the mainstream.
After a landmark year for bitcoin, one thing is clear – this is only the beginning. 2022 will hold no shortage of exciting new milestones for bitcoin. Here are some of my predictions for what we’ll see in the year ahead.
1. Three more countries will adopt bitcoin
This year, El Salvador became the first country to make bitcoin a national currency. The move spurred a wave of interest in bitcoin adoption from other countries – largely, emerging economies where bitcoin could serve to resolve problems of inflation and reliance on the US dollar.
Additionally, countries are recognizing that embracing bitcoin comes with a slew of benefits like becoming a magnet for tech talent and a growing crypto industry.
2. Amazon and Walmart will announce and launch crypto initiatives
Chances are, your favorite retail company has its sights set on crypto.
As corporate crypto initiatives become increasingly standard (from companies launching NFTs to looking into their own digital currencies), holdout companies will jump aboard to embrace crypto, rather than be left behind.
Crypto-forward operations from leading companies like Meta will also shift consumer expectations, leading us to see crypto operations from large multinational corporations like Amazon and Walmart who are keen to stay ahead of their customers’ wants.
3. Bitcoin's price will pass $100k
As bitcoin becomes embedded into everything from major institutions’ portfolios to payment processing operations and national currencies, demand for bitcoin is growing every day. With roughly 90% of all bitcoin’s supply mined, the ever-decreasing supply of bitcoin paired with increasing demand will push its price higher, leading us to see bitcoin at $100k by the end of 2022.
4. Bitcoin will outperform the S&P 500
Despite a year-end dip, bitcoin decisively outperformed the S&P 500, up 70% year-over-year. In contrast, the S&P 500 surged by 28%. With bitcoin’s price pushed to new all-time-highs by shrinking supply and surging demand and the S&P’s yearly growth this year to be shy of 10%, we can be confident that bitcoin will again surpass the S&P 500 in 2022.
5. Bitcoin’s lightning capacity will surpass 10,000 BTC
In 2021 alone, the lightning network’s capacity advanced tremendously - driven by key developments and applications pioneered by companies like CashApp, Block (formerly Square), and Strike. With a record amount of bitcoin processed on the lightning network this year, the network saw roughly 200% growth YoY. As bitcoin’s transactional use cases become more ubiquitous and accessible than ever as big-name companies like CashApp invest in bitcoin payment features and countries like El Salvador invests in lightning to facilitate transactions, we’ll continue to see exponential growth in the capacity of the lightning network – pushing us closer than ever to mainstream adoption.
6. Crypto adoption will surpass 350M people
We started Lolli in 2018 with the mission of making it easy, fun, and free to earn and learn about bitcoin. The key roadblock to bitcoin and crypto adoption remains the lack of education and easy onramps surrounding bitcoin and crypto at large. Today, with conversations about bitcoin taking place at roundtables, dinner tables, and practically everywhere else, it’s easier than ever to learn about bitcoin.
Significant traction will come from the dramatic increase in onramps from fin-tech, banks, games, rewards programs, exchanges, social apps, etc.
Additionally, as bitcoin continues to prove that it is an unparalleled store of value due largely to its anti-inflationary qualities, more people from nations affected by inflation, will gravitate towards bitcoin as a solution to the weaknesses of fiat currencies.
7. Five major US banks will announce and launch crypto initiatives
Wall Street is a deeply interconnected, competitive ecosystem, and financial firms go where the money is. So as major institutions like BNY Mellon and JP Morgan embrace crypto services responding to increasing client demand, other major firms will inevitably either get on board or fall behind. As firms compete for clients and strive to match the services of their neighbors on the Street, we’ll see at least 5 major US banks roll out crypto services.
What are your 2022 bitcoin predictions? Let us know on Twitter by tagging us @trylolli!
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