What the top crypto execs predict for the industry in 2022: Regulation and a Big Tech ‘brain drain’

What the top crypto execs predict for the industry in 2022: Regulation and a Big Tech ‘brain drain’

Cryptocurrencies have had yet another wild year. , the world's largest digital asset, has seen a roughly 65% gain since January — with some ten to twenty percent swings in between. It brought in a crop of new, individual investors along the way as payment giants like PayPal started letting users trade crypto. More and institutional investors dove in to help legitimize the asset class. The industry now sprawls well beyond bitcoin. NFTs, blockchain-based videogames and " " are top of executives' minds heading into next year. Regulation remains as the biggest uncertainty. Here's a look at what some of the industry's most influential executives had to say. FTX CEO, Sam Bankman-Fried The 29-year-old founder and CEO told CNBC he doesn't expect legislative action to be the immediate answer for "regulatory clarity." Especially since it's "pretty hard right now to get things through Congress." It's just as likely to be cobbled together from a series of statements, enforcement actions, and "other indications" to set the guardrails," Bankman-Fried said. The CEO is still bullish on Solana as an alternative to Ethereum. But it's possible that a new blockchain pops up as the "Holy Grail" that would eventually be able to host