Around 1,000 early crypto adopters published their 2023 predictions, indicating that crypto is in for a difficult yet significant year.
A recent survey polled a crypto-native population to see what the sector would see this year. Identifying high-quality cryptocurrencies and blockchain applications needs both courage and insight, which is why early crypto adopters may be a strong predictor of what’s to come in 2023.
Over 1,000 people took part in the survey, sharing their concerns and hopes for the coming year.
More than half of respondents named DeFi as the project category they most wish to see on CoinList. The second most popular category was layer-1 and layer-2 blockchains, followed by gaming. Cross-chain infrastructure came in fourth place, with almost 37% of respondents picking it, while NFTs were desired by slightly more than 26% of respondents.
DAOs, which enjoyed a surge in popularity last year, received fewer than 20% support from CoinList users. At the same time, only 15% of respondents wanted governance tokens, which have been praised as one of the most inventive uses of cryptocurrency.
CryptoSlate’s analysis of these facts confirms the current market mood. Despite a big drop last year, the DeFi sector remains one of the crypto market’s primary driving engines and may be set for a resurgence in 2023.
In a second but related question, over half of those polled predicted that DeFi and gaming will be the two megatrends driving broad crypto adoption.
Dive deeper into these domains to see how seasoned crypto users spot expanding networks.
When asked which blockchain they want to connect with the most outside of Ethereum, the top choices were among the top cryptocurrencies on the market. Cosmos (ATOM), Binance Smart Chain (BSC), and L2 rollups and sidechains Arbitrum, Polygon, and Optimism received roughly 40% of the votes from CoinList respondents.
Solana and Avalanche, last year’s growth champions, were the blockchains of choice for only 17% and 13% of users, respectively. Polkadot ranked somewhat higher, with 29% of respondents choosing it.
Over a third of respondents preferred newcomers to the space Sui and Aptos, indicating that new ventures may have a chance to compete with incumbent chains for a share of the market in 2023.
To capture a major share of the market, however, more real-world apps must be launched. This was cited as the primary barrier to widespread adoption by more than half of survey respondents. More over half of respondents were concerned about security, and regulatory clarity rated third, with 43% citing it as a major issue for the sector.
Regulatory uncertainty was a reoccurring theme in the poll, with more than 41% of respondents stating that it was their top concern when investing in cryptocurrency. Market manipulation scored slightly higher, with slightly more than 45% of respondents citing it as a major worry.
Given the number of blunders in the business last year, it’s no wonder that the security of cash was the top issue for over 40% of respondents. A third of respondents were concerned about liquidity, or the lack thereof, as well as price volatility.
Nonetheless, more than 62% of respondents stated that they intended to increase their allocation to cryptocurrencies. A quarter of those polled said their allocations would remain the same, while only 11% said they would sell their holdings.
Plans to raise their cryptocurrency allocation do not imply that respondents expect the market will return to its 2022 highs. More than 26% of CoinList respondents anticipate Bitcoin will be worth between $20,000 and $30,000 in 2023. A little more than a quarter expect it will be between $30,000 and $50,000, while less than a fifth say it will be less than $20,000.
