Ethereum Foundation, the non-profit that supports Ethereum (CRYPTO: ETH) and related technologies, says 2021 was the year that “Web3” came into public consciousness, which allowed creators to break free from centralized platforms.
What Happened: In its “2021: The Year in Ethereum” report by Josh Stark and Evan Van Ness, the foundation said in 2022, the world “began to understand the vision of a more decentralized internet built on Ethereum.”
It termed Ethereum as the “foundation for a digital civilization”.
The authors pointed out that the internet’s “creator economy” has been dominated by centralized platforms like Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Inc’s (NASDAQ: GOOGL) (NASDAQ: GOOGL) YouTube or Spotify Technology S.A. (NYSE: SPOT) until now.
“Ethereum gave creators new tools to monetize their work. One tool stands out in particular: the NFT,” wrote the authors.
While the report said the non fungible token (NFT) ecosystem was still in its early stages, it pointed out that such a market barely existed a year ago.
“The rapid expansion of the NFT market drew mainstream interest. Steph Curry, Eminem, and Shaquille O’Neal bought Bored Apes. Adidas (DE:ADSGN) did too, and they also bought digital land and released their own NFT collection.”
See Also: How To Buy Ethereum (ETH)
Why It Matters: The coming of the age of NFTs has widened the cryptocurrency industry as a whole and added more people to the fray who earn from it.
Source: "2021: The Year in Ethereum" By Ethereum Foundation
In 2021, artists, musicians, writers, and others used Ethereum to earn a combined $3.5 billion, making it one of the largest global platforms for creators, according to the report.
Creator Earnings By Platform: Source "2021: The Year in Ethereum"
The Foundation said that in terms of transfer of assets alone, Ethereum exceeded the transaction volume of Visa Inc’s (NYSE: NYSE:V) network.
While Ethereum's total transaction volume stood at $11.6 trillion in 2021, Visa’s was at $10.4 trillion.
Ethereum was also the second-largest beneficiary in terms of network fees after Visa. While Visa raked in $24.1 billion in revenue in 2021, Ethereum’s L1 pulled in $9.19 trillion. Bitcoin (CRYPTO: BTC), however, earned only $0.89 trillion from transaction fees.
In May 2021, the average transaction fee on Ethereum’s network soared to $70 levels, according to data from BitInfoCharts. However, it has since slid and dropped below $10. At press time, it was $8.05.
Even then, ETH remains more expensive than rival blockchains such as Cardano (ADA), Polkadot (DOT), and Solana (SOL).
Read Next: Here's How Much $100 Invested In Cardano (ADA) Right Now Will Be Worth If It Regains All-Time High
© 2022 Benzinga.com. Benzinga does not provide investment advice. All rights reserved.