The hottest cryptocurrency, NFT and eSport events of the past 2021

How much hope there was to see physical events in 2021. That idea, that hope, helped to pull itself together after the disaster of 2020. And while the cybersport industry took on a new challenge, deciding to tackle last year's difficulties with one hand - switching to online tournaments and events - in 2021, the sector was ready to return to what it was created to do.

Cybersport did manage a few physical events. But globally, this is nothing compared to 2019, and December brought with it ringing bells, blockades and a newfound global awareness of the 15th letter of the Greek alphabet, omicron.

Every quarter a newcomer appears who promises to challenge the big dogs. This rookie story, so popular among young people, has been revived again and again. The rookie narrative is typical of both the cybersports and cryptocurrency communities, where there are a thousand failures for every shot. Every day new cryptocurrencies, cryptosport rosters, NFT projects and tournament series are announced. Spaces seem to have a unique speed to their fickleness, and in 2021 they have converged.

Venture capital firms are pouring $30 billion into the crypto industry in 2021, according to private and public market data company Pitchbook, cited in a recent Bloomberg report. Perhaps this explains the observed explosion of cryptocurrency partnerships in cybersport.

The current, and arguably legacy, industry model relies on brand partnerships, and marketing and advertising of cryptocurrencies is still very tightly regulated across markets. Cryptocurrency companies seem to have money to burn and a desire to invest wherever they can spread their message (which, frankly, is not unlike the gambling sector). Cybersport has a very active online fanbase, a significant portion of which already has a cryptocurrency wallet. And everyone loves memes.

The biggest player in cybersport in 2021 was Coinbase, which received 68 separate investments, according to its official blog for the third quarter, and boasts a portfolio of more than 200 companies and projects. This year, the cryptocurrency boss has partnered with Team Liquid, BIG Esports, ESL Gaming, Evil Geniuses, BLAST Premier and BLAST Rising.

Bybit took an organisation-focused approach, signing contracts with Astralis and Alliance, NAVI and Virtus.pro. Crypto.com has partnered with Fnatic and Twitch Rivals, and Crypto.com with FTX have also paid hefty fees to place their names in NBA stadiums.

There are still quite a few notable organizations and TOs not associated with cryptocurrencies. This hesitancy could be due to existing partnerships with financial institutions/payment providers or the fact that companies have not yet decided to jump on the platform. 100T has continued to activate its Cash App (which has Bitcoin integration), Dignitas has signed a contract with QNTMPAY, LOUD has contacted Itau Bank.

In this year's NFT frenzy, the esports audience has shown unprecedented interest in engaging with their fans and, in general, monetising them. We saw fan tokens, one-off drops and lots of partnerships with platforms. It was interesting to see art projects for esport.

This year, 15 NFT-focused partnerships have become known. Notable partnerships include: FaZe Clan with Moonpay, G2 Esports signed with Bondly, Veloce found a partner and investor in Animoca Brands, and Talon Esports signed with Yieldly - the latter of which recently launched Yesports.gg, which aims to become a esports NFT platform and meta universe. 

But, also on top of all the hype, there have been companies that have refused to work with blockchain and accept NFT. In October 2021, for example, Valve officially banned blockchain-based applications that release or allow the exchange of cryptocurrencies or NFT on its Steam platform. Epic Games, on the other hand, while allowing game developers to use blockchain technology, also takes a very negative view of NFT.

2021 has been a breakthrough year for the world of crypto and cybersport. And judging by the interest of the community, this is just the beginning. The year 2022 promises to show us a lot of interesting events, as well as projects that are being prepared for us. And such a prime example could be the NFT moba - League of Ancients, which should prove STEAM and Epic Games wrong about NFT.