Technologies

5 cryptocurrency predictions for 2022

Experts reveal where cryptocurrency is headed in 2022.

This story is part of The Year Ahead, CNET’s look at how the world will continue to evolve starting in 2022 and beyond.

Cryptocurrency made many of the strangest headlines of 2021. Boosters touted digital currencies as a world-changing technology with the potential to create new economies and empower unbanked populations everywhere. Critics pointed to crypto’s massive environmental footprint, as well as its popularity in online crime. The chasm between these views will be hard to bridge.

Much of the cryptocurrency industry functions as a hype-monster, powered by oddball memes of cute dogs and outer space emoji. The same industry boasts a staggering amount of funding from venture capitalists and private enthusiasts, along with real technical innovations that could radically alter the way we interact with money. And, as it often goes with innovation, what we get may not be what we expect. CNET asked experts to help us navigate crypto’s journey to new lands in 2022. Here’s what they told us.

1. Crypto moves further into the mainstream

Big companies are trying to figure out how cryptocurrency fits into their business. Everyone from hedge fund managers to Starbucks executives is making moves that could impact how we use digital money this year.

When we hear about cryptocurrency in the headlines, it’s often about Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk’s tweets, overnight millionaires, expensive digital art and hacks. Yet the larger, fundamental changes are often less flashy and attention-grabbing than whatever crypto-hype machine dominates Twitter at any given moment.

«I hope we’re going to see a lot more focus on utility,» said Denelle Dixon, CEO of Stellar Development Foundation. «Instead of focusing just on a few use cases that create a lot of hype, we’ll see more focus on the use cases that drive real value. And more discussion around financial inclusion.»

2. NFTs create new ownership opportunities, and remix old ones

NFT, or nonfungible token, is a buzzy term that many of us heard for the first time in 2021. A new way to determine ownership of digital property using a blockchain ledger, NFTs are increasingly popular in the art and collectibles scenes. One of the most notable NFT collections of 2021 was called the Bored Ape Yacht Club. Go figure.

But the potential of NFTs goes far beyond eccentric digital artworks. NFTs are also used for digital land purchases in virtual worlds and for next-generation music ownership, licensing and publishing. Some observers see a future in which NFTs offer access to special sales or limited-edition products. How about using a NFT as a concert ticket? Or when you log into your favorite video game online? Expect to see all of that in 2022.

«The possibilities of NFTs are endless, since they can be used to log ownership of any unique asset,» Alex Atallah, co-founder of OpenSea, said in an email. «We’re already seeing early use-cases of NFTs being used as event tickets, software licenses, fan club memberships, or otherwise tied to interactive experiences.»

Some of America’s biggest brands, including Nike, are already working on expanding the application of NFTs. But NFTs used in consumer products may only be the tip of the iceberg. How about using an NFT to prove you are you?

«We’ve seen some movement from the artist-driven NFTs to NFTs that are focused on access or authorization,» said Stellar’s Dixon. «There was a party in New York recently where folks got access to the party by purchasing an NFT. So I wonder if we’ll see some focus on leveraging NFTs for digital identity.»

The $85 billion video game industry may be one of the most fertile areas of potential for NFTs. Some of the larger studios are already experimenting with them. And with all the talk surrounding the metaverse, an immersive 3D digital environment that’s been proposed by Meta (Facebook) CEO Mark Zuckerberg and other movers and shakers in the tech industry, NFTs could serve as building blocks for a next-generation digital world.

«Gamers are already accustomed to caring about digital goods, so the potential for NFTs is enormous: a few million NFT users compared to almost 3 billion gamers,» said Atallah. «We’re seeing some exciting developments when it comes to the intersection of NFTs, gaming and the metaverse.»

3. Bigger hacks and bigger ransoms

Cryptocurrencies were used to facilitate millions of dollars of ransomware payments in 2021. That’s because digital currencies include features that make them attractive to criminals. They’re difficult to track, they’re borderless, and once the payment goes through, it’s nearly impossible to unwind.

«We should expect to see more criminals turning to cryptocurrency and services that promise to obfuscate illicit funds due to the misconception of total anonymity,» Gurvais Grigg, a senior tech officer at Chainalysis, said in an email. «Bitcoin is appealing to criminals for the same reasons it appeals to those using them for legitimate purposes: It’s cross-border, instantaneous and liquid.»

Grigg and others expect decentralized finance, a nascent but blossoming industry on the cryptocurrency frontier, to be a popular target for cybercriminals in 2022. Decentralized finance, or DeFi, involves finance that works independently of a central authority or institution. Instead of relying on a bank or credit card network, people can connect directly with DeFiproducts on a distributed network.

Though the industry is still in its early days, DeFi is a fast-evolving, highly technical space with tremendous potential. As such, it’s attracted a great deal of attention and investment, making it ripe for criminal activity.

«Criminals are likely to explore DeFi as both a target for hacking and as a means to attempt laundering funds through,» said Grigg. «Because of how new DeFi is, and the explosion in adoption in developed markets, these platforms are easy targets for experienced criminals who have conducted similar hacks before.»

4. You’ll hear more about stablecoins

Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies have grabbed headlines because of their volatility. You can become a millionaire or lose it all at the hyper speed of the internet. But try buying a latte with bitcoin, and that volatility can make things confusing fast.

Enter stablecoins. This subcategory of cryptocurrency, which is tied to an underlying asset, mitigates much of that volatility. Stablecoins could play a vital role in turning cryptocurrency into something we can easily use to conduct the ordinary transactions of everyday life.

«People should start paying attention to trends in stablecoins both as a medium of payments and as a dollar digital currency. The use cases for cross-border payments, aid relief, instant settlement payments are starting to flourish in 2021 and we will see more of that in 2022,» Rachel Mayer, a vice president of product at Circle, said in an email.

Transferring assets more efficiently is one of the central values of a stablecoin. This value is powerful for companies that need to move digital assets and cash quickly and efficiently.

«On the payments side, more industries will start adopting stablecoins as a more efficient way to make payments,» Omid Malekan, author of The Story of the Blockchain and a professor at Columbia Business School, said in an email. «Stablecoin volumes will continue to grow, but the share of that volume that is only involved in crypto trading will go down.»

5. New crypto rules appear on the horizon

Washington lawmakers sense that cryptocurrency is a big and important thing. But they are struggling, perceptibly, to understand it. It may only be a matter of time before crypto gets its «series of tubes» moment from a hapless representative out of their element.

In December, executives from six cryptocurrency companies were called to testify before the House Financial Services Committee, where they discussed potential paths for future legislation. Lawmakers in the US have expressed interest in a range of topics — whether stablecoin issuers should be considered banks, when to tax cryptocurrency and how to craft functional rules in a highly technical and complex industry. This is tricky stuff. Creating the right standards will take time.

«I think there’s going to be a lot more conversations around crypto and blockchain,» said Dixon, one of the executives who testified before the House committee. Dixon previously testified on the issue of net neutrality before a House committee during her tenure at Mozilla in 2019 and harbors no illusions when it comes to regulating new technology. Some discourse will be positive and some will be negative, «but I just think that [by] having these conversations, we’re going to see policymakers and regulators be more focused, and hopefully, more traditional businesses will be more focused on that.»

There could be more milestones to reach before Americans see a comprehensive framework for crypto-focused legislation. But if industry leaders and elected officials can work together, regular cryptocurrency users and investors may benefit while environmental and security concerns are addressed.

«It’s important to understand that the cryptocurrency industry wants to be regulated, but wants to ensure that proposed regulatory frameworks are feasible,» said Grigg. «Governments globally are working with industry players to create legislation that protects consumers and fosters innovation.»

As the cryptocurrency industry grows up, it will continue to shift in ways we can’t yet imagine. But one thing is clear: Crypto will be a part of our future.

Technologies

TMR vs. Hall Effect Controllers: Battle of the Magnetic Sensing Tech

The magic of magnets tucked into your joysticks can put an end to drift. But which technology is superior?

Competitive gamers look for every advantage they can get, and that drive has spawned some of the zaniest gaming peripherals under the sun. There are plenty of hardware components that actually offer meaningful edges when implemented properly. Hall effect and TMR (tunnel magnetoresistance or tunneling magnetoresistance) sensors are two such technologies. Hall effect sensors have found their way into a wide variety of devices, including keyboards and gaming controllers, including some of our favorites like the GameSir Super Nova.

More recently, TMR sensors have started to appear in these devices as well. Is it a better technology for gaming? With multiple options vying for your lunch money, it’s worth understanding the differences to decide which is more worthy of living inside your next game controller or keyboard.

How Hall effect joysticks work

We’ve previously broken down the difference between Hall effect tech and traditional potentiometers in controller joysticks, but here’s a quick rundown on how Hall effect sensors work. A Hall effect joystick moves a magnet over a sensor circuit, and the magnetic field affects the circuit’s voltage. The sensor in the circuit measures these voltage shifts and maps them to controller inputs. Element14 has a lovely visual explanation of this effect here.

The advantage this tech has over potentiometer-based joysticks used in controllers for decades is that the magnet and sensor don’t need to make physical contact. There’s no rubbing action to slowly wear away and degrade the sensor. So, in theory, Hall effect joysticks should remain accurate for the long haul.

How TMR joysticks work

While TMR works differently, it’s a similar concept to Hall effect devices. When you move a TMR joystick, it moves a magnet in the vicinity of the sensor. So far, it’s the same, right? Except with TMR, this shifting magnetic field changes the resistance in the sensor instead of the voltage.

There’s a useful demonstration of a sensor in action here. Just like Hall effect joysticks, TMR joysticks don’t rely on physical contact to register inputs and therefore won’t suffer the wear and drift that affects potentiometer-based joysticks.

Which is better, Hall effect or TMR?

There’s no hard and fast answer to which technology is better. After all, the actual implementation of the technology and the hardware it’s built into can be just as important, if not more so. Both technologies can provide accurate sensing, and neither requires physical contact with the sensing chip, so both can be used for precise controls that won’t encounter stick drift. That said, there are some potential advantages to TMR.

According to Coto Technology, who, in fairness, make TMR sensors, they can be more sensitive, allowing for either greater precision or the use of smaller magnets. Since the Hall effect is subtler, it relies on amplification and ultimately requires extra power. While power requirements vary from sensor to sensor, GameSir claims its TMR joysticks use about one-tenth the power of mainstream Hall effect joysticks. Cherry is another brand highlighting the lower power consumption of TMR sensors, albeit in the brand’s keyboard switches.

The greater precision is an opportunity for TMR joysticks to come out ahead, but that will depend more on the controller itself than the technology. Strange response curves, a big dead zone (which shouldn’t be needed), or low polling rates could prevent a perfectly good TMR sensor from beating a comparable Hall effect sensor in a better optimized controller.

The power savings will likely be the advantage most of us really feel. While it won’t matter for wired controllers, power savings can go a long way for wireless ones. Take the Razer Wolverine V3 Pro, for instance, a Hall effect controller offering 20 hours of battery life from a 4.5-watt-hour battery with support for a 1,000Hz polling rate on a wireless connection. Razer also offers the Wolverine V3 Pro 8K PC, a near-identical controller with the same battery offering TMR sensors. They claim the TMR version can go for 36 hours on a charge, though that’s presumably before cranking it up to an 8,000Hz polling rate — something Razer possibly left off the Hall effect model because of power usage.

The disadvantage of the TMR sensor would be its cost, but it appears that it’s negligible when factored into the entire price of a controller. Both versions of the aforementioned Razer controller are $199. Both 8BitDo and GameSir have managed to stick them into reasonably priced controllers like the 8BitDo Ultimate 2, GameSir G7 Pro and GameSir Cyclone 2.

So which wins?

It seems TMR joysticks have all the advantages of Hall effect joysticks and then some, bringing better power efficiency that can help in wireless applications. The one big downside might be price, but from what we’ve seen right now, that doesn’t seem to be much of an issue. You can even find both technologies in controllers that cost less than some potentiometer models, like the Xbox Elite Series 2 controller.

Caveats to consider

For all the hype, neither Hall effect nor TMR joysticks are perfect. One of their key selling points is that they won’t experience stick drift, but there are still elements of the joystick that can wear down. The ring around the joystick can lose its smoothness. The stick material can wear down (ever tried to use a controller with the rubber worn off its joystick? It’s not pleasant). The linkages that hold the joystick upright and the springs that keep it stiff can loosen, degrade and fill with dust. All of these can impact the continued use of the joystick, even if the Hall effect or TMR sensor itself is in perfect operating order.

So you might not get stick drift from a bad sensor, but you could get stick drift from a stick that simply doesn’t return to its original resting position. That’s when having a controller that’s serviceable or has swappable parts, like the PDP Victrix Pro BFG, could matter just as much as having one with Hall effect or TMR joysticks.

Technologies

Today’s NYT Connections: Sports Edition Hints and Answers for Feb. 18, #513

Here are hints and the answers for the NYT Connections: Sports Edition puzzle for Feb. 18, No. 513.

Looking for the most recent regular Connections answers? Click here for today’s Connections hints, as well as our daily answers and hints for The New York Times Mini Crossword, Wordle and Strands puzzles.

Today’s Connections: Sports Edition has a fun yellow category that might just start you singing. If you’re struggling with today’s puzzle but still want to solve it, read on for hints and the answers.

Connections: Sports Edition is published by The Athletic, the subscription-based sports journalism site owned by The Times. It doesn’t appear in the NYT Games app, but it does in The Athletic’s own app. Or you can play it for free online.

Read more: NYT Connections: Sports Edition Puzzle Comes Out of Beta

Hints for today’s Connections: Sports Edition groups

Here are four hints for the groupings in today’s Connections: Sports Edition puzzle, ranked from the easiest yellow group to the tough (and sometimes bizarre) purple group.

Yellow group hint: I don’t care if I never get back.

Green group hint: Get that gold medal.

Blue group hint: Hoops superstar.

Purple group hint: Not front, but…

Answers for today’s Connections: Sports Edition groups

Yellow group: Heard in «Take Me Out to the Ball Game.»

Green group: Olympic snowboarding events.

Blue group: Vince Carter, informally.

Purple group: ____ back.

Read more: Wordle Cheat Sheet: Here Are the Most Popular Letters Used in English Words

What are today’s Connections: Sports Edition answers?

The yellow words in today’s Connections

The theme is heard in «Take Me Out to the Ball Game.» The four answers are Cracker Jack, home team, old ball game and peanuts.

The green words in today’s Connections

The theme is Olympic snowboarding events. The four answers are big air, giant slalom, halfpipe and slopestyle.

The blue words in today’s Connections

The theme is Vince Carter, informally. The four answers are Air Canada, Half-Man, Half-Amazing, VC and Vinsanity.

The purple words in today’s Connections

The theme is ____ back. The four answers are diamond, drop, quarter and razor.

Technologies

Today’s NYT Mini Crossword Answers for Wednesday, Feb. 18

Here are the answers for The New York Times Mini Crossword for Feb. 18.

Looking for the most recent Mini Crossword answer? Click here for today’s Mini Crossword hints, as well as our daily answers and hints for The New York Times Wordle, Strands, Connections and Connections: Sports Edition puzzles.

Today’s Mini Crossword is a fun one, and it’s not terribly tough. It helps if you know a certain Olympian. Read on for all the answers. And if you could use some hints and guidance for daily solving, check out our Mini Crossword tips.

If you’re looking for today’s Wordle, Connections, Connections: Sports Edition and Strands answers, you can visit CNET’s NYT puzzle hints page.

Read more: Tips and Tricks for Solving The New York Times Mini Crossword

Let’s get to those Mini Crossword clues and answers.