In an interview with Yahoo Finance Live on Friday, Flori Marquez (Blockfi’s cofounder and senior vice-president of operations) discussed the future outlook for cryptocurrency as it enters 2022.
Blockfi was founded in 2017 to offer credit services to markets that have limited access to basic financial products. Funding from institutional investors includes Valar Ventures and Galaxy Digital, Fidelity Capital, Akuna Capital Capital, Sofi and Coinbase Ventures.
She began, “It’s been an incredible year for crypto,” she said. Although she acknowledged that bitcoin’s price has fallen slightly, she said it was still a huge year for crypto. Comparing that to S&P and gold, it’s negative 4% and 24% respectively. It has fluctuated in the past 30 days, so it is volatile year-over-year. It’s still a great investment, even if you’re not as active as you were a year ago. According to the executive:
This year was a big year for crypto mainstream consumers.
She said that there have been huge shifts in American consumer interest in this asset class.
She spoke out about the future outlook of the cryptocurrency market in 2022.
According to the executive, “Looking forward to 2022, I believe that we’re going see three things,” he elaborated:
First, we will see more Americans enter the space. FOMO [fear and obsession with missing out] will be a major driver.
“So, we’re entering the holiday season. People will be talking about all the new investments they made this year. She stated that she believes crypto is now more accessible to average consumers than it was five-years ago.
Second, she believes that we will see the’recycling talent’ as a result of the Covid-19 epidemic, which has seen a lot more people switching jobs. She also stated that people are attracted to the fintech and crypto fields.
She believes that we will see regulatory clarity in the crypto industry next year.
In 2022, I believe we will see some regulatory clarity. It’s taken a lot of effort to work with regulators and understand what is needed to ensure that this sector continues to grow. That’s what I hope to see next year.
She continued, “My understanding is that regulators are currently focusing on two things,” she said. “They are focusing on consumer protection and innovation in the U.S.,” she said.
According to the executive, ‘Regulatory clarity will allow many crypto companies to build with greater clarity. This will hopefully make it safer for consumers over time. It will also facilitate mainstream adoption by making it easier for consumers to feel safe knowing that regulators are involved in the space.