How Binance has declared 2022, “The Year Institutions Evolved Into Web3”
There is no denying that, for years, the Web3 concept has been making its way into people’s ears. Suddenly, words like “Bitcoin”, “crypto” and “blockchain” went from being ignored and merely labeled as new technology trends, to meaning that if you don’t understand them, you are missing a huge opportunity. It’s not different for institutions, now they all want in on the action.
The year started relatively slowly. Binance’s report says NFT integration on Twitter, and Cash App’s use of Lightning Network is the first milestone.
However, in February, the infographic showed that large companies were quickly adopting blockchain technology. The first partnership agreement was signed by ImmutableX and GameStop to invest in Web3 games, with a US$100 million fund. In the same month, Intel announced the launch of its cryptocurrency mining solutions initiative. In addition, ConocoPhillips has begun mining Bitcoin as part of its mining operations.
In March, a partnership between State Street — the second oldest bank in the United States — and Copper — a crypto market company focused on offering solutions to institutions- was a notable milestone. This union led to the establishment of a joint service for storing digital assets for State Street clients. In addition, Billboard and Universal Music Group announced plans to create a digital collectible platform for artists who achieve high rankings in the magazine.
April and May were busy months regarding payments and NFTs.
Fidelity announced, in early April, it would allow Bitcoin to be included on the balance sheet of its 401(k) retirement plans. Since then, several initiatives involving payments with digital currencies have been signed. USDC is now available for payments in Stripe’s system, but only for merchants and platforms that use the service.
The launch of crypto-reloadable debit cards was also announced by Mastercard, in April, with Nexo and DiPocket.
With OpenNode, Stripe once again pioneered in the crypto market back in May, by enabling fiat currency conversions into cryptocurrencies within its app. In the same month, MoneyGram announced the use of the Stellar blockchain to enable stablecoin conversions.
As for the NFT market, Meta announced a partnership with Polygon to integrate non-fungible tokens into its platforms. In a few days, Instagram announced it would use the Flow, Ethereum Solana, and Polygon blockchains to display digital collectibles.
In June, Citadel — an investment management company with more than US$50 billion under management- announced a partnership with Virtu Financial to create a cryptocurrency marketplace. Through a partnership with Block (formerly Square), Apple enabled a digital currency payment function with only a tap on a cell phone.
In the meantime, Shell, American Express, and Accenture have announced the Avelia blockchain. The objective is to use Avelia to develop solutions for the acquisition of sustainable aviation fuels.
In July, Christie’s announced a venture capital fund for Web3-related projects. During this time, Barclays also decided to venture into decentralized finance by allocating US$2 billion through Copper’s staking service.
In August, BlackRock, the world’s largest asset manager, began offering cryptocurrencies to institutional investors. Meta intensified its presence in the digital asset market by launching an integration with NFTs, but from different wallets.
Binance itself, in partnership with Mastercard, launched a card that allows cryptocurrency payments across a broad range of establishments in Latin America.
An ambitious digital economy plan was presented by three traditional companies in September.
Charles Schwab, Citadel, and Fidelity announced plans to create an exchange, EDX Markets. In the same month, Nasdaq announced that it would offer custody of crypto assets. Even SWIFT, the international cooperative society with the most significant remittance system in the world, surrendered to blockchain in September. The blockchain project for real-time data transfer was revealed in partnership with fintech Symbiont.
October left space for initiatives aimed at giants in the payment industry.
MasterCard and Paxos announced a partnership to enable banks to offer crypto-assets services. And Visa revealed in the same month that it is working with JPMorgan to streamline international payments with Liink and B2B Connect solutions.
As of November, the last month covered, JPMorgan also marked an important milestone: the completion of its first transaction in the decentralized finance environment.
Meta announced the use of the Arweave network to store metadata of digital collectibles created in its social networks. Sony applied for patents for solutions involving games and NFTs. And Nike announced that it will use Polygon to create a digital wearables marketplace.
There is one month left, and we are eager to see what new projects can come into play…