• Metaverse, the killer narrative of 2021, turned out to be the biggest loser in the crypto sector this year, with a drawdown of 89%.
• Privacy coins were the best performing sector, with a drawdown of 47%.
• Meta, one of the biggest proponents of Metaverse, has also performed badly since the company switched its name from Facebook and pivoted towards this next level of the internet.
The digital asset market of 2022 has been a rollercoaster of a year, with various narratives and trends coming and going. One of the biggest narratives of 2021 had been Metaverse, and it seemed to be heading towards becoming the biggest game-changer of the crypto sector, but it turned out to be one of the biggest losers in the crypto sector this year.
As per the year-end report by Arcane Research, both the alternative layer 1s craze and the Metaverse hype of last year came crashing hard in 2022. The report notes that the privacy coins outperforming the others is likely because of Monero’s sustained utility in darknet transactions. Year-to-date, XMR itself is down 35%. The biggest loser this year was Metaverse, with the sector seeing a massive drawdown of 89% since the start of the year. It would appear that all the hype surrounding the mythical digital parallel world couldn’t survive in this harsh bear market, despite all the momentum it seemingly built up last year.
Meta, one of the biggest supporters of Metaverse, has also seen its fair share of losses since the company switched its name from Facebook and pivoted towards this next level of the internet. The company also participated in mass layoffs earlier this year, causing further distress to the narrative.
The biggest winner of the year has been the privacy coins sector, which saw a drawdown of 47%. This is likely due to the sustained utility of Monero in darknet transactions, where the coin has been a driving force.
Overall, the digital asset market of 2022 has been an interesting year, with various narratives and trends coming and going. While some narratives have seen a decline, others have seen an increase in value. However, one of the biggest stories of the year has been the decline of Metaverse, which started out as one of the biggest narratives of the year, only to see a massive drawdown of 89 percent. This has been a major blow to the narrative, and it will be interesting to see how it performs in the coming year.