The word narrative is overused in crypto, and it might elicit a roll of the eyes if uttered in dialogue with a committed Bitcoin maxi. It refers to a story, in this case about a coin, protocol or product, that will drive attention and attract buyers.

You could argue that rather than narratives, crypto needs concrete real-world utility, but still, when sentiment picks up and bullishness stirs for certain, the reality, whether we like it or not, is that narratives have a gravitational effect on incoming traders.

As for when crypto bullishness might return, opinion is split. Some observers reckon the early stirrings are already upon us, and that BTC’s recent price rise is indicative that the bottom has been reached and the cycle is rotating us into a fresh phase. Others, meanwhile, maintain that recent pumps are the result of an oversold market in which too many traders were positioned short, and don’t represent a meaningful shift in structure.

Either way, it’s worth being ready for incoming storylines that can become prominent when bulls are back in control, and, regardless of whether or not we actually believe in them, we can already get an idea of what those narratives might be.

Crypto Narrative and Bitcoin Anti-Narrative Explained

Artificial Intelligence

At the tail-end of 2021, the metaverse was a hot topic, and accordingly, any coin that was connected via metaverse notions briefly rode the waves of that hype.

With the rise of ChatGPT, and with investment channeling into AI and Machine Learning development, we can expect next time around that any crypto protocols related to AI will perform well. This has, in fact, already played out in miniature, with coins such as Fetch and AGIX experiencing gains while ChatGPT has dominated tech news, and that dynamic can perhaps play out more dramatically under bullish conditions.

Gaming and the Metaverse

Speaking of the metaverse, we should not imagine that it’s a bygone topic from an earlier cycle. Development continues on metaverse projects across several companies, including Yuga Labs, The Sandbox, Decentraland and Meta (formerly Facebook), and though media attention has shifted for the moment, there’s every chance that another bout of hype, hopefully with inviting products attached, will bubble up again in the future.

Gaming and metaverse coins, such as GALA and NAKA had strong runs in 2021, and that was without even having mainstream adoption to showcase. Should some genuinely enjoyable-to-use products start picking up momentum (and there is plenty of development on this front), then gaming can become a strong narrative.

On this note, another one to watch might be the TreasureDAO gaming ecosystem and its MAGIC token, operating on the Arbitrum network, which has stated that it wants to build a decentralized version of Nintendo.

Watch this recent FMLS22 panel on reimagining the crypto market structure.

Decentralized Storage and Oracles

If blockchains are to enable decentralized computing (and, as a caveat, not everyone agrees that this is the main purpose of crypto development), then there are practical considerations around how to store and recall data in a securely decentralized manner, and how to gather information from the web to be used in on-chain applications.

Storage protocols deal with the issue of keeping and accessing files without the need for centralized entities and include the likes of Filecoin, Sia, Arweave and Storj. Robust permissionless storage is particularly relevant to NFTs, as, at the moment, while NFTs are crypto tokens, many simply link to image files kept on regular, centralized servers.

Then there are Oracles, which are protocols to connect decentralized applications with the wider world by retrieving outside data for smart contracts. Leading the way is Chainlink, with projects such as Band Protocol and UMA also in the running.

Decentralization should be at the core of the crypto discussion, it’s a fundamental driving concept, and if there’s a refocus on basic principles after the multiple wayward shambles of 2022, then achieving full decentralization, utilizing storage and oracles, could be prioritized.

The Bitcoin Anti-Narrative

There is also the anti-narrative of having no narrative at all, which is embodied most clearly, or perhaps uniquely, by Bitcoin. In this case, there is a refreshing simplicity: Bitcoin is sound money, digitally decentralized, for making payments , saving, and preserving wealth. It’s an attractive, no-nonsense proposition and doesn’t require any decorative elaboration.

Other Stories

Other niches and narratives are at play, some of which can gain traction. Among these, there are Layer 2s (Polygon and Arbitrum are notable), Ethereum competitors (Solana, Avalanche, Cardano and more), privacy coins (Monero is most prominent), and Cosmos present itself, ambitiously, as the internet of blockchains, which, as with TreasureDAO aiming to become the blockchain Nintendo, sounds compelling.

It’s also plausible that NFTs will, at some point, go on another run to match, or even exceed, that of 2021. Many seasoned crypto traders remained on the NFT sidelines last time, caught unawares by the sudden explosion of interest, and unsure what to make of what appeared, from a certain perspective, to be limited-supply meme coins with JPEGs attached.

NFTs have established themselves more robustly since then, some projects are building prolifically, and there is a better understanding of what they are and how they can perform. In fact, if buyers are searching for crypto utility and crossover appeal, it may even be NFTs that can lead the way.