- The team at TechRound has collected industry expert predictions on what 2022 could look like in terms of crypto.
- The COVID-19 pandemic has impacted, and continues to impact all major industries – but how has this affected crypto trends?
- Here, we explore the predictions for what is to come for crypto in 2022, with opinions offered from a variety of experts in the industry.
2021 has brought a variety of changes to the crypto industry. But what will this mean for 2022? Here are our experts’ predictions for the upcoming year!
Our Experts Include:
-
- Nicholas Cawley – Strategist at DailyFX
- Mark Basa – Global Brand and Business Manager at HOKK Finance
- Filippo Ucchino – Co-Founder and CEO of InvestinGoal.com
- Andreiko Kerdemelidis – Co-Founder and CTO of Kuva
- Jonny Fry – CEO of TeamBlockchain
- Michael Stimpson – Partner at Saltus
- Tom Burge – Online Team Manager at Koda Cryptocurrency
- Armen Najarian – Chief Identity Officer at Outseer
- Estella Shardlow – Consumer attitudes and technology expert at Stylus
- Paul Rogash – CEO of BetU
- Tomer Warschauer Nuni – CMO at Kryptomon
- Sam Kopelman – UK Manager of Luno
- Kevin Kang – Founding Principal of BKCoin Capital
- Maria Lema – Co-Founder of Weaver Labs
- Jameson Lopp – Co-Founder and CTO of Casa
- Lars Rensing – CEO of Protokol
- Vidya Peters – COO of Marqeta
- Marcello Mari – CEO of SingularityDAO
- Mark Abbott – Programme Delivery Consultant at Altus
- Alex Faliushin – CEO of CoinLoan
- Nadeem Ladha – VP Identity at TMT Analysis
For any questions, comments or features, please contact us directly.
Nicholas Cawley – Strategist at DailyFX
The baseline narrative from 2021, namely regulatory guidance from government agencies, increased adoption, and the ‘will they, won’t they’ announce bitcoin and Ethereum ETFs, will carry on in 2022 but at a greater speed and intensity. 2022 will also see the cryptocurrency market mature further as a genuine asset class, bringing in new investors and asset flows.
It will also likely see the top 20 cryptocurrency leader board by market capitalisation change regularly during the course of the year as various altcoins jostle for places with some of the more established names. Bitcoin is likely to keep its position as the dominant crypto although its market dominance may dwindle, especially as Ethereum switches over from proof-of-work to proof-of-stake.
Mark Basa – Global Brand and Business Manager at HOKK Finance
Lots of brands are going to enter the space, resulting in a boom of NFT studios being made and driving lots of new business in this new type of category. Brands will outsource this because they’re not familiar with this new craze, but they’ll need to be involved to show they have street cred.
NFTs will start to replace token launches, where NFT collections will be sold to generate funding for crypto projects. 2022 will also see the beginning of NFTs in the metaverse, where liquid assets will be minted and shown off in the metaverse – for example, virtual art sold as an NFT that one could hang in their metaverse home.
Filippo Ucchino – Co-Founder and CEO of InvestinGoal.com
2022 should be a big year for crypto ETFs. For many crypto advocates, crypto ETFs are the final door that will allow the flood of capital for investment purposes from financial institutions. This will of course skyrocket liquidity bringing the whole crypto sector up with it.
Crypto EFTs have been in the making for the past 7 years. The first were the Winklevoss twins who filed an ETF proposal with the SEC for the first Bitcoin ETF. It was rejected due to lack of liquidity and concerns about transparency and manipulation. Back then when the SEC explained its reasoning, the market cap was 800 billion dollars. It’s now almost 3 trillion.
Since then, Coinbase, one of the biggest crypto exchanges, has gone public, and Binance, another whale in the sector has declared its plan to go public as well. On top of this, in October 2021 we saw the first Crypto ETF, ProShares Bitcoin Strategy ETF, officially start trading, followed shortly after by a second one, the Valkyrie Bitcoin Fund. The SEC has already reported dozens of other applications in 2021.
So in 2022, trillions of dollars are likely to arrive into the Crypto arena through ETFs – and we can expect the whole Fintech industry to react.
Andreiko Kerdemelidis – Co-Founder and CTO of Kuva
Bitcoin will continue to pull away from ‘alt’ coins, reaching the six-figure milestone this year. Ethereum will continue to build on its traction and we will also see a lot more DeFi liquidity on the network.
The theme for 2022 will be the nascent ‘metaverse,’ which will see tech companies fighting to gain dominance over decentralised Web3.0 and blockchain technologies. The metaverse is more than virtual reality products and the virtual worlds within them. It’s where virtual goods and currencies are traded within online cultural spaces that could be built with centralised technologies.
Decentralised technologies that allow for trustless allocation and purchase of virtual goods appear to have a broader appeal and we will see projects and companies producing virtual goods that allow for real-world benefit. For example, NFTs that, when held, allow for VIP entry to a concert or allow the holder to claim real-world merchandise.
Another trend that we’re likely to see is the emergence of decentralised securities within DeFi. This has been coming for a while, and we are seeing regulators responding to the possibility that traditional equities could be replaced (or at least improved) by digital tokens (for example, the ERC20 standard) on a public decentralised network like Ethereum.
We’ll also see other crypto asset networks emerge with new business models to challenge not just traditional finance products and services, but also the early ‘version 1’ decentralised cryptocurrency incumbents, improving on speed, security, and cost of transactions. Decentralised exchange volume (DEX) will overtake centralised exchange volume, (CEX) as the underlying networks, particularly Ethereum, are improved upon.
For any questions, comments or features, please contact us directly.
Jonny Fry – CEO of TeamBlockchain
One of the common criticisms and reasons argued by the naysayers for not using Blockchain technology was that blockchain-powered platforms would not be able to handle large volumes of transactions. Last year, as reported in the 22nd December 2021 Digital Bytes, Mastercard processed $6.3 trillion of transactions versus Ethereum which processed $6.2 trillion of transactions in 2021. It is likely we will see blockchain-powered platforms become faster and be able to handle even more transactions per second as 2022 progresses, so encouraging even greater institutional engagement with this technology.
Expect to see a number of Central Bank Digital Currencies (CBDC) and stablecoins being launched. The world’s second largest economy, China, is set to launch its digital Yuan at the Winter Olympics in Beijing in February. The Chinese CBDC will be for wholesale as well as for retail users but will not be using Blockchain technology as the Chinese government looks to keep total control. Other countries will equally be trialling CBCDs as well as officially launching their own during 2022. Given that most CBDCs will be primarily aimed at the wholesale market, there is still plenty of scope for a range of retail-focused stablecoins to be launched.
Michael Stimpson – Partner at Saltus
2022 is going to be the year of the digital asset. Blockchain technology is opening up new ways to store and trade digital and physical assets without the limitations posed by navigating the existing real-world infrastructure, and non-fungible tokens (NFTs) are providing a gateway for people to own and trade assets cheaper and faster than ever before.
NFTs exploded in 2021 – this was down to a variety of factors, including breakthrough crossovers from the digital to analogue world and lockdowns forcing people to spend more time at home and online, and as a result, sales hit $22bn, up from $100m in 2020*. We would therefore expect the NFT market to continue to grow strongly in 2022, enabled by digital asset exchanges like Coinbase and Opensea developing, improving and expanding their services to allow more and more trading to take place in digital collectibles.
In terms of NFT classes, 2021 saw the rise and rise of what is perhaps the most widely known NFT ‘asset class’- digital artwork – with digital collages and Alien Crytopunks dominating the market. Last year also saw growth in related areas – such as crypto fashion – and we expect this market to continue to surge in popularity as top fashion brands start to explore the area more widely both in terms of creating their own NFTs and accepting crypto as payment for both their physical and digital creations.
However, the area within the NFT market that we predict will be the one to watch in 2022 is gaming. Expect to see continued and increased growth in ‘play to earn’ platforms such as Axie Infinity, Decentraland and CryptoKitties where assets created by players can be collected and traded. In Axie Infinity, for example, these assets are ‘Axies’ – digital pets that can be mutated, bred and sold. These gaming platforms open up opportunities for gamers to create and own digital creations and extract real value from them and will be one of the key drivers of the future NFT market.
Tom Burge – Online Team Manager at Koda Cryptocurrency
Crypto markets in 2021 have been completely crazy with most coins/token reaching unseen before ‘all-time highs’. This was seen recently when Bitcoin reached its all-time high price $68k in October. In my personal opinion 2022 will be exactly the same this time next year with crypto becoming more well-known by the day, and I would expect to see prices reach heights no one would have fathomed! There is no sign of the market slowing down which is hugely exciting for investors.
As we have seen over the recent months ‘altcoins’ (any cryptocurrencies other than Bitcoin- there are thousands!) are becoming more popular with every passing day. This is mainly due to the potential to make huge gains over a very short period of time. Traditionally altcoins were for the more experienced trader but since companies like Koda Cryptocurrency have come on to the market and are teaching the general public about trading and educating them on the ‘dos and dont’s’ of the crypto world, more and more people are expanding their portfolios away from the more well know cryptocurrency coins such as Bitcoin and Ethereum.
Armen Najarian – Chief Identity Officer at Outseer
Cryptocurrency will become the fourth most popular payment option by the end of 2022. The UK became the leading European country for cryptocurrency transactions in 2021; expect this trend to reach new heights in the next 12 months. While the government and Bank of England are yet to decide on plans to introduce a central bank digital currency, more than three quarters of UK adults have now heard of cryptocurrency. Crypto use will skyrocket in 2022 as recognition of its benefits grows among the British public.
For any questions, comments or features, please contact us directly.
Estella Shardlow – Consumer Attitudes and Technology Expert at Stylus
Whether it’s buying a ticket to a sports match or funding a Hollywood movie, we’re seeing a greater array of things and experiences becoming ‘tokenised’. There’s much excitement around this tech’s potential to redistribute ownership and reward structures to creators and communities.
Next, the NFT tech stack needs to address crucial pain points, if it’s to really hit the mainstream. On the heels of recent NFT art ‘heists’, privacy and the secure storage of assets are likely to top the industry’s agenda this year.
The e-waste generated by cryptocurrencies also continues to be in the spotlight. Efforts to lower the environmental impact of NFTs will increase – looking beyond carbon offsetting, new platforms OneOf and Voice are making digital creation greener through lower-energy PoS or private blockchains.
Paul Rogash – CEO of BetU
The end of 2021 saw a surge in popularity for Metaverse and play-to-earn gaming-related crypto. Investors should be cautious in 2022 of a possible downtrend in the market similar to the cycle seen in 2018.
The crypto projects that will succeed through 2022 will be the ones with real demand and actual usage. The crypto gaming projects will need to turn their concepts and ideas into fully developed games with large player adoption.
Tomer Warschauer Nuni – CMO at Kryptomon
In the year of 2022, so many industries will be adapting to more blockchain technology, opening many doors of opportunity and inclusivity. But for some industries, in particular, 2022 is going to be groundbreaking.
First lest talk about Finance – Institutional fiance will see an acceleration of digital assets. Institutional interest in decentralized finance (DeFi) is gaining momentum in earnest, and the crypto industry is now ripe for an offering that could capture a market worth as much as $11 trillion. In order to unlock this promise of plenty, DeFi has to figure out one thing: getting on-chain credit right. This is being done today by several leading companies, like TrustToken who are providing the proper entryway for institutional-grade players into the world of DeFi.
Secondly, the banking industry – Behind the smokescreen of memecoins and hype NFTs, the pillars of a new and integrated financial system are currently being built. As it relates to institutions entering the game, the question is more “when” than “if.” Earlier this month, CoinDesk reported Goldman Sachs and other top-tier banks were exploring Bitcoin-backed loans, meaning they want to use Bitcoin as loan collateral, without actually touching the Bitcoin itself. Translation? These banks know they will have to adopt crypto, even if they are reaching toward it with one hand holding their nose. But what will this adoption look like, and how can banks go about securing digital assets? I’ll leave this to the blockchain cybersecurity companies like GK8.
Another major change will be regarding Identity – The challenge for blockchain tech is ‘the KYC thing’. Many don’t realise that it’s essential, because actual KYC is the only way for crypto to fly with regulators. But forcing KYC goes against a lot of what makes crypto so attractive. So there is a need to prove human uniqueness, pseudonymously inside the Blockchain? Everest has done that!
Let’s not forget connectivity – We talk about full technological integration in so many aspects, but many have forgotten that still, 37% of the world population isn’t connected to the internet and left behind as the rest of the world progresses. Using blockchain technology, we can enable access to millions of people and open doors of opportunity.
Lastly, is the Metaverse – For that ultimate ‘Matrix’ experience to actually happen as part of the metaverse takeover, we need to be able to properly replicate our real world to the digital world. And that starts with the ground we stand on – literally. Copying the maps of our planet accurately to the digital version.
Sam Kopelman – UK Manager of Luno
In 2022, we will see an increased drive to educate people on the benefits of cryptocurrencies following the continued financial impact of COVID-19. As inflation rates continue to climb following widespread financial stimulus more people will begin to explore cryptocurrencies as a way to generate and protect their wealth.
The majority of Brits (48%) save money in ISAs. However, with interest rates at rock bottom, consumers in 2022 will become increasingly aware of the tiny returns they are receiving and will pay more attention to their finances than ever before. Ultimately, consumers will be driven by frustration at traditional financial institutions to explore cryptocurrencies like bitcoin and ether to beat inflation.
That said, for a successful and long-term transition to these new assets, education will be key. This year, the crypto industry will need to focus its attention on crypto education to give people the confidence and conviction in their investments. Barriers must be broken down by providing customers with simple, transparent and easy to understand information. Education on how to spot scams, the nuances behind environmental concerns and misunderstandings about volatility must be addressed if cryptocurrency is to enter mainstream adoption.
Governments and private sector businesses must work together this year to ensure the correct foundational education has been set for long term success. Only then can we benefit from the new era of financial access bitcoin offers.
For any questions, comments or features, please contact us directly.
Kevin Kang – Founding Principal of BKCoin Capital
2021 was a breakthrough year for cryptocurrency. Bitcoin, Ethereum and many other cryptocurrencies hit all-time heights, encouraging risk-averse institutional money-managers to invest, and fuelling the crypto buzz amongst retail investors. $4 billion entered the market in November 2021 alone. There was a major influx of investment from household names such as Apple’s Tim Cook and Tesla’s Elon Musk, plus former Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey left the multi-billion-dollar company he founded to become a ‘missionary’ for Bitcoin with his new brainchild – Block (formerly Square).
With Dorsey committed to making Bitcoin “the native currency of the internet” and his company working on initiatives to help it reach mainstream audiences, expect to see more institutional capital flow into the space in 2022.
There will likely be greater regulatory dialogue and clarity. SEC Chairman Gary Gensler understands the importance of crypto as an innovative technology that cannot be ignored. The IRS also has an inherent interest to implement some form of regulation to establish clear guidelines for forms and investors to operate within. Introducing sensible measures to reduce regulatory fog could be a big boost to the industry and strengthen investor confidence.
2022 could also be the year for the eagerly awaited pure-play ETF. In October 2021, the first bitcoin futures ETF, the ProShares Bitcoin Strategy ETF, listed on the NYSE, providing a more conventional means of investment and allowing investors to buy directly from traditional investment brokerages. Although the SEC rejected VanEck’s filing for a physical bitcoin ETF in November 2021, with more regulation due, it is only a matter of time until the SEC approve ETFs.
Maria Lema – Co-Founder of Weaver Labs
Looking ahead to crypto in 2022, Weaver Labs sees the adoption of NFTs moving into new industries and sectors this year – the underlying technology of NFTs can go far beyond the current use cases and this could be seen in industries such as telecoms.
With more smart contract platforms launching in 2021, we expect to see a diversification of use cases on the different blockchain networks, which means the Ethereum network will see more competition as more projects will seek to launch in some of these new platforms, more tailored to their projects.
In the DeFi context, we will see decentralised exchanges evolving and advancing at a rapid pace and taking a large share of the market (in both supply and demand). That’s only going to increase throughout the year, with some central exchanges planning to move on to decentral exchange platforms to capture market share.
After many years developing technologies that created virtual reality or the mixed reality, 2021 also introduced the Metaverse. Much like with any new phenomenon, the Metaverse will continue to evolve until it finds it’s clear business case to exist, and more importantly, define business models that allow capture market share beyond Crypto enthusiasts.
Jameson Lopp – Co-Founder and CTO of Casa
In 2021, Bitcoin made massive leaps in adoption and technical sophistication, but the most important breakthrough is still to come – education. New bitcoiners are stacking their first stacks, but on security most are right at the very beginning of their learning curve. They are still keeping their coin on-exchange or following lax security practices like keeping their seed phrase written down somewhere easily accessible.
The priority for security education isn’t about deep-level technical knowledge, it’s developing the right mindset and understanding that being your own bank comes with the responsibility to keep your coins safe. In 2022, the industry will devote far more time and resources to helping bitcoiners move from keeping their coins on exchange to, ultimately, using cold storage hardware wallets protected by multi-sig security.
Regulatory battles over Bitcoin will obviously continue in 2022, but a more interesting story is how governments will approach Lightning Network.
While it’s a major leap forward in functionality for the Bitcoin ecosystem, sophisticated entities like governments will likely develop greater surveillance capabilities, enabling them to look for patterns to correlate users’ financial activity and use your IP address to probe for weaknesses, your location and identity. This strikes at the heart of Bitcoin’s founding philosophies of privacy and pseudonymity.
One of the most important trends we’ll see in 2022 is a concerted effort to educate users on how to maximise privacy and security when using Lightning, given how important a leap this Layer-2 technology is to Bitcoin’s further growth.”
Bitcoin security is different from traditional digital security in one crucial way: as well as the usual suspects of cybercriminals and hacking collectives, bitcoin and its users have to contend with threats from their own governments, including potential confiscation. That’s the biggest unknown in the year ahead, complicated by the fact that the threat will vary from jurisdiction to jurisdiction.
In 2022, the trend we’d most like to see is for every bitcoiner to stop tracking the daily rise and fall in the value of their investment and pay much closer attention to what’s taking place in the political landscape.
The threat from governments tends to surge and recede; in the US, for example, we expect a battle over the crypto regulation snuck into the infrastructure bill, while the IRS and Department of Justice will both be looking carefully.
It will be fascinating to see what part Bitcoin plays in the mid-terms: with so many Americans having some form of crypto investment, we will likely see more voices coming out – cautiously but unequivocally – for some form of accommodation for Bitcoin within the legacy financial ecosystem.
Lars Rensing – CEO of Protokol
Outside of cryptocurrency, we’re going to see blockchain uptake skyrocket in many sectors. During the pandemic, many industries turned to blockchain in order to survive. For instance, the sports industry used blockchain to create new revenue streams in the absence of live events by offering fan tokens – which act as a kind of team cryptocurrency – which supporters can earn through interacting with the club and then exchange for exclusive rewards. These have been incredibly successful (such as in the case of FC Barcelona’s fan tokens), and we’ll likely see more of these solutions, with blockchain adoption growing even as live events continue post-pandemic.
NFTs (based on blockchain technology) in particular will continue to grow in popularity this year. NFTs have already had a strong start to the year – the first three days of 2022 saw more spent on NFTs than the first 7 months of 2021 put together. Businesses will need to develop a long-term NFT strategy this year to captialise on this popularity, focusing more on long-term customer loyalty and engagement, rather than quick profit.
The Metaverse is also set to become more prominent in 2022. Metaverses hold potential for a plethora of industries. In the sports industry, teams can use the Metaverse to engage their fanbase and add a revenue stream by creating and selling wearable NFTs – NFTs that fans can wear on their avatars in the Metaverse. For instance, Manchester United could create an NFT of a Ronaldo jersey which fans could purchase and then wear in Fortnite. The fashion industry has also been having success with wearable NFTs. For instance, Balenciaga became the first luxury brand to partner with video game Fortnite on a range of outfits (skins) for characters in September.
For any questions, comments or features, please contact us directly.
Vidya Peters – COO of Marqeta
After so much debate around the future of crypto and NFTs, I believe we’ll see crypto used more as a currency than an asset next year. As fintech infrastructure evolves to support crypto use cases, payments may become more inclusive of crypto and drive widespread adoption.
But this doesn’t mean crypto will replace fiat currency as we know it; rather, interoperability with our existing payment systems will be key. As we’ve seen throughout history, when there’s demand for a certain type of payments, a new ecosystem will emerge to support the growth, like what happened with credit cards and more recently, mobile wallets.
Marcello Mari – CEO of SingularityDAO
As 2022 has kicked off with a crypto slump, we can expect to see more development of tools that can mitigate, and sometimes avoid entirely, the losses experienced during a bear market. I believe 2022 will be a big year for passive income instrument creation in the crypto space, as investors look for portfolio management tools that allow them to simply deposit money and forget about it – even in a bear market.
Passive income instruments run by AI agents — alongside Hedge Fund traders — is set to become a popular way for token holders to make the most of sophisticated trading strategies in 2022.
I also predict that we will see DAOs – business structures where control is nonhierarchical and spread out across the participants – continue to evolve and mature, and be used increasingly to govern the broader decentralised landscape in 2022.
DAOs have been growing from strength to strength over the past year, with 2021 seeing an explosion of technical innovation around DAO design, as well as major improvements to governance mechanisms and voting solutions. DAOs were used to influence everything from music to culture to finance – and even in an attempt to buy a rare copy of the US Constitution.
In turn, user participation in DAOs surged throughout 2021. By December, the total number of DAO members and token holders stood at around 1.3 million, marking a 130x increase since the start of the year.
DAOs are starting to be recognised as one of the primary building blocks for crypto — up there with layer one blockchains, DeFi protocols and NFTs.
Some argue that crypto culture hasn’t gone far enough in terms of decentralisation, and even mirrors traditional financial models in many ways. Thanks to their open and collaborative nature, DAOs can help bring diversification to the crypto space and help it become what it was intended to be in 2022.
Mark Abbott – Programme Delivery Consultant at Altus
I see many trends carrying through from 2021 to 2022 and expect Non-fungible Tokens (NFTs), Crypto Gaming / Play to Earn (P2E) and Decentralised Finance (DeFi) to continue to grow in popularity for retail investors. These, along with increasing availability of mobile phone wallets, will speed up the network effect and fuel adoption.
For Financial Services I’m anticipating further regulation in line with findings and recommendations from the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) to be adopted by an increasing number of nations.
Having seen issues for centralised crypto exchanges in 2021 (e.g. Binance in the UK) and an increasing requirement for Know Your Customer (KYC) checks, a solution (particularly for decentralised exchanges) could be offered by Zero Knowledge (ZK) SNARK technology which enables an individual to prove their identity without providing personal details.
It is also increasingly looking like crypto is decoupling from stocks and shares and establishing itself as an investment asset class in its own right. Bitcoin and Ethereum in particular are making up an increasing percentage of investment portfolios whilst still being seen as a “risk on” / high risk play.
That being said, the wider macro-economic environment with Fed tapering and further COVID impact will heavily influence the direction of travel for all markets, including crypto, with reduced funds available for retail investment and likely a lower risk appetite for corporate buyers.
Further large corporates can be expected to hold crypto on their balance sheets, following the example of Tesla and MicroStrategy and more countries can be anticipated to adopt Bitcoin as legal tender following El-Salvador’s model with smaller nations experiencing higher rates of inflation being the first up.
A continued focus on sustainability and blockchain energy usage will be addressed, at least in part, by the move to renewables and to Proof of Stake from Proof of Work consensus mechanisms (e.g. Ethereum 2.0 upgrade).
Alex Faliushin – CEO of CoinLoan
As cryptocurrency is becoming more mainstream, it is to be expected that it will start influencing our day-to-day life. We have now seen some instances in 2021 of mainstream services accepting crypto payments, such as the Regal Cinemas, and we should be expecting to see the number of businesses embracing this new type of payment more and more.
We also expect to see regulators pay more attention to cryptocurrency and exchanges in 2022. Last year, we have seen countries trying to ringfence crypto markets, but this year should be one for change. Licenses and regulations are important, and although sometimes seen as a threat, the crypto market should embrace its position moving more towards mainstream.
In 2022, we expect cryptocurrency to become more popular with corporate investors. We are seeing an increasing number of corporates coming to CoinLoan as they become aware of the additional advantages and flexibility that crypto currencies can add to their treasury functions.
Nadeem Ladha – VP Identity at TMT Analysis
Despite the volatility of cryptocurrency the sector reached over 100 million global crypto users in 2021 – but higher user numbers means greater security risks. In 2022, the crypto industry will prioritise security measures to ensure the protection of customers, guaranteeing smoother onboarding and faster scaling.
And central to this will be the accurate verification of customers. Layers of additional – and in most instances complicated – security are helpful but without prioritising the basics of verification the sector will find itself increasingly exposed. A registration process, verifying that a mobile number matches the name and address of the user, is a simple way to authenticate users and will help cryptos improve conversion rates with faster and more reliable streamlined onboarding.
As we are to see growth of the industry in 2022, we will need to see even greater attention paid to security measures and the mitigation of fraud – something that can be low-cost if the right measures are taken. The sector needs to be aware that sophisticated fraud targeting the sector is on the rise.
Let’s take one of the most significant issues, SimSwap fraud. This gives a fraudster the ability to trick a mobile network provider into acquiring a customer’s mobile phone identity – they can receive all text and calls, receive one-time authentication codes and bypass security checks with ease. Fraudsters then take ownership of wallets and clean-out crypto accounts.
It’s an issue that has been rising exponentially over the past few years according to reports. For example WHICH? states that SimSwap in general finance has risen by 400% in the past four years, costing consumers and businesses millions globally. And in December 2021, a New York fraudster called Nicholas Truglia was found guilty of stealing more than $20 million worth of cryptocurrency as part of a group that stole over $100 million worth in total.
Crypto fraud will continue in 2022 but a focus on customer verification using mobile numbers is a simple and highly effective way for this sector to protect itself and create a secure foundation on which to build.
For any questions, comments or features, please contact us directly.
