The Year in Review Report presents all important figures, trends, and events of 2022 in crypto & web3. The fast-paced nature of crypto and web3 can make it difficult to stay on top of all the developments and events, and it can easily become overwhelming. To help you navigate this the report provides a full rundown of what's been happening in Crypto & Web3 over the past year along charts and expert insights, a timeline of the most important events, 10 trends that shaped the industry, as well as the top content pieces of the year.

A retrospective report made in collaboration with Blockstories Our key takeaway is: 2022 has been a wild year for crypto and web3! The space is bleeding, but innovators are still building behind the scenes more actively and closer together than ever before. The fast-paced nature of crypto and web3 can make it difficult to stay on top of all the developments and events, and it can easily become overwhelming. To help you navigate this, we’ve structured the report as follows: Charts and Expert Insights: The Web3 year in numbers | Timeline: A timeline of the most important events | Trends: 10 trends that shaped web3 | Content Highlights: The top 10 podcasts & essays of the year | Outlook: The 5 most exciting fields for 2023

The Metaverse is a highly anticipated $5 trillion market, with brands like Facebook and Microsoft entering the space and web3 builders innovating on individual pieces of the puzzle. While user numbers have not met expectations and enthusiasm has waned, the potential of the Metaverse remains an exciting prospect for the future. The substantial decrease in NFT volumes and prices in the bear market have emphasized the need for real-world use cases of the technology. Competition among top NFT marketplaces has intensified with lower fees and new zero-fee marketplace Blur surpassing OpenSea in 24-hour trade volume. Despite this, OpenSea maintains its dominant position in terms of unique users. The total value locked in DeFi protocols has decreased significantly this year due to a variety of factors, including the Terra Luna Crash and worsening macro. Currently, there is $42 billion worth of funds remaining, a small fraction of the >$300 billion peak TVL seen in November 2021. DeFi has established itself as the most innovative space in crypto, building much of the industry’s cornerstone infrastructure in recent years, leaving the market eagerly awaiting further innovation. DeFi hackers had a successful year in stealing over $2 billion from multiple protocols (e.g., $325m from Wormhole, and $625m from Ronin), particularly through vulnerabilities in bridges which are essential for the ecosystem’s development but are still in the early stages of development. Layer 2 (L2) networks such as Arbitrum and Optimism have gained a significant share of the market and now handle about 50% of transactions by transferring them away from the Ethereum blockchain. While the impact of L2 networks on the Ethereum ecosystem in the short- to medium-term is unclear, their success is bringing stability to Ethereum. Despite the downturn in the cryptocurrency market, M&A activity remains strong and is shifting to distressed verticals. Exchanges are the most active acquirers, and well-capitalized crypto companies are taking a more aggressive approach to M&A. Non-crypto companies are also entering the market through acquisitions, particularly in the NFT and blockchain gaming sectors.