January 2022 will continue to be difficult for cryptocurrency investors as the current markets are experiencing sharp fluctuations in the price of Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies. Some attribute the drop to recent federal intentions to introduce new price hikes and political turmoil in Kazakhstan, which has led to a significant drop in the bitcoin hash rate. On January 14, Bitcoin price dropped below $42,000 as traders continued to hope for bullish signs.
On the other hand, NFT trading and blockchain gaming seem to have survived the economic downturn. According to reports from DappRadar, NFT transactions continued to rise amid the cryptocurrency’s decline. The report states that “the number of UAWs connected to Ethereum NFT DApps has grown by 43% since the third quarter of 2021.” Figures in the report also show that funds generated from NFT trading increased from $10.7 billion in the third quarter of 2021 to $11.9 billion during the first ten days of 2022. Recent developments in the NFT space such as the launch of LooksRare Marketplace may have contributed to this growth Also.
The report also states that “blockchain gaming continues to be widely used,” noting that it “accounts for 52% of industry use.” Expansion of meta-development combined with the growing success of the “play-to-earn” model has reinforced the argument that blockchain games will continue to grow into 2022.
The increased interest in NFT and blockchain gaming during this market downturn can be partially attributed to the Chinese public, which coincides with recent Chinese announcements that the country will begin developing its own non-crypto NFT industry. According to a report by DappRadar, “China is currently the country with the largest user base… up 166% since November.”
Although the United States currently ranks second in terms of total traffic, the NFT ecosystem still had 175,000 new users, which is an increase of nearly 38%. This is partly due to increased interest among younger audiences with Millennials and Generation Z representing a higher percentage of traffic.
DappRadar reports that “30% of traffic comes from users in this age group… [with millennials] up from 36% last year.”
