Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin has named the mass adoption of crypto wallets, inflation-resistant stablecoins, and Ethereum-based website logins as the three “huge” opportunities that have yet to be realized in cryptocurrency.
During an interview with Bankless co-owner David Hoffman, Buterin shared his outlook for the crypto industry in 2023, responding to Hoffman’s concern that the Dapps “adoption wave” is over and that there are now “less opportunities” for developers to create new Dapps.
Buterin instead shrugged off the “limbo period” that Hoffman referred to, first suggesting that more cryptocurrency wallet infrastructure needs to be developed to make it easier for the average person to use and to make sure it is capable of accommodating billions of users.
“If you can make a wallet that a billion people will use — that’s a huge opportunity,” said the Ethereum co-founder.
Secondly, Buterin said that the creation of a hyperinflation-resistant and globally accessible stablecoin that can withstand all types of conditions – both on-chain and in the broader macro economy – will be a revolution for the industry.
“If you can make a stablecoin that can actually survive anything up to, and including, a U.S. dollar hyperinflation. That’s a huge opportunity as well if you can create something that will feel like a lifeline for everyone going through that situation”, he explained.
However, Buterin did not offer any technical suggestions on how this could be achieved.
He concluded by saying that any technical developments that encourage Ethereum to remove login authority from Facebook, Google, Twitter, and other centralised monopolies will eventually allow Ethereum to gain more dominance in the internet application market:
“If you can get signed in with Ethereum to work and if you can unseat Facebook and Google and Twitter as the login overlords of the internet, that itself is a huge opportunity, right?”
Buterin added that increased competition and market maturity means that opportunities to fill the gaps in the market are becoming more scarce.
The Ethereum co-founder seems to have spent the last few weeks sharing his findings and advice for the cryptocurrency space, and appears optimistic about the years ahead for the industry.