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- Polygon co-founder Sandeep Nailwal sees gaming as the most significant opportunity for crypto, with Web3 games garnering increasing interest and funding.
- Despite the speculative nature of crypto, he believes that this has attracted top talent and that blockchain use cases beyond trading and payments will emerge, citing gaming as a promising area.
Gaming as a Crypto Opportunity
Sandeep Nailwal, co-founder of Polygon, an Ethereum scaling platform, expressed his belief that Web3 gaming will be a critical factor for widespread crypto adoption. In a recent Ask Me Anything (AMA) session on Reddit, he was asked about real-life use cases for blockchain beyond trading and payments. Nailwal responded by declaring,
“I think gaming is the largest scale opportunity for crypto.”
He explained that many top games are set to launch on Web3 in the coming 18 months and that it would be intriguing to see if they can effectively integrate crypto. Nailwal revealed that last year, Web3 games raised more than $2 billion in funding. Polygon, along with its ecosystem partners like Immutable X, claimed a significant portion of those funds.
Crypto Speculation: A Double-edged Sword
Nailwal also discussed the speculative nature of crypto. While he acknowledged that speculation is both a boon and bane for crypto, he pointed out that it has attracted top talent to the industry. According to him, major industries often invite speculation during their early stages, drawing parallels to the Gold rush era and the Dot-com boom.
Moreover, Nailwal shared his perspective on decentralization, stating that progressive decentralization is essential as protocols and applications gain more significant prominence. He acknowledged that only Bitcoin and Ethereum have achieved full decentralization at this point.
Tokenization Trend Accelerates
The trend of tokenization, which involves issuing financial securities like stocks and bonds on the blockchain, is also gaining momentum. Companies such as Matrixport, Backed Finance, Ondo, and Franklin Templeton have created ERC-20 tokens, symbolizing government bonds or exchange-traded funds.
Notably, Franklin Templeton used Polygon to host a tokenized version of its Nasdaq-listed OnChain U.S. Government Money Fund. The tokenization of securities, primarily occurring on Ethereum, has now surpassed a market capitalization of $220 million.
However, for the tokenization of stocks and bonds on the blockchain to continue its rapid growth, regulatory clarity, interoperability, and composable tokens with DeFi are crucial, according to Kit Popplestone, head of marketing at Backed Finance. Despite regulatory hurdles, the rising global interest in central bank digital currencies and on-chain assets indicates that the demand for tokenized securities will continue to grow.