Crypto trends have quieted down in mainstream news in the first quarter of 2022 as the world’s attention is fixated on non-fungible tokens, oil price hike, and more. If you have also tuned into those news for the past weeks, then you have missed a few exciting trends for virtual assets today. Here’s a quick recap of those trends, in short, digestible clips for easy reading:
Crypto gambling is booming
Online casinos and bookmakers for crypto betting around the world continue to improve their services over the years. New slot games are introduced and live dealer games become a lot more accessible thanks to new technology. Bitcoin’s price drop in February also helped make 2022 a great time to enter the crypto network.
More and more gambling websites are taking new steps to improve what they have to offer. Bitcoincasino sites are now offering bookmaker services and vice versa so players only need to use one bankroll for different forms of gambling. Others are forming partnerships with major league teams of various sports and esports as well as celebrity artists as global ambassadors.
Ethereum upcoming upgrade called Arrow Glacier
The Ethereum network became a trending subject when it got one of its major updates in August 2021 known as the London Hard Fork. It also has a lesser-known update that followed up in December 2021 known as the Arrow Glacier upgrade. However, it was delayed to June 2022 to give users ample time to migrate to Ethereum 2.0.
Arrow Glacier was meant to be difficulty bomb on the original Ethereum network. It was meant to make mining uneconomical, thus rendering the proof-of-work (PoW) platform unusable for its users. Therefore, everyone has to migrate their assets into the new proof-of-stake platform so the Ethereum economy continues to flourish on the new network moving forward.
Dogecoin exceeds Russian ruble
The top news that has caught the attention of the whole world in February and March 2022 is the conflict between Ukraine and Russia. Most of the European and American nations decided to cut their ties with Russian businesses and citizens, effectively dropping their economy at a rapid rate.
This caused a rapid decrease in the market value of the Russian ruble to €0.0072 whereas Dogecoin is €0.11. What made this comparison all the more jarring is when Ukraine started accepting donations in Dogecoin on 7 March 2022.
Crypto used to support Ukrainian war efforts amidst the conflict
The Decentralised Autonomous Organisation (DAO) has performed multiple means to raise funds to aid Ukrainians evacuate and fund their operations. A few examples include raising millions in euros-worth of cryptocurrencies.
These are used to provide food and military equipment to keep Ukrainian soldiers as well as citizens’ needs provided. Other fundraising stunts involve selling non-fungible tokens (NFTs) to help give direct funding to Ukrainian artists and content creators.
Up until this conflict, crypto has only seen uses for entertainment at a Bitcoincasino, groceries in certain cities, as well as funding for upstart businesses. This is the first time crypto was used to assist a country in times of war and it’s a great sign proving that blockchain finance is worth developing.
