During the summer of 2020, a period called “DeFi Summer” took place, which would mark the rise of decentralized finance (DeFi). While DeFi is now fully part of our ecosystem, other areas are emerging.

In a report dated October 15, Nansen teams explored the concept of “Object-Oriented Finance”. This introduces new trends in our ecosystem and explores the potential future uses that will be made of decentralized finance.

NFTfi: When DeFi and NFTs meet

NFTs had their golden age during the previous bull run. However, this ecosystem has since suffered a significant loss of momentum. Nevertheless, Nansen sees a possible comeback of the latter thanks to NFTFi.

So, while NFTs were previously mostly seen as collectibles, new financial applications are emerging. For example, we have seen a proliferation of platforms that allow NFTs to be used as collateral to obtain crypto loans.

Unfortunately, despite the promises, this ecosystem does not seem to be the most promising according to Nansen. Indeed, this ecosystem seems to be experiencing the same fate as that of the NFTs to which it is linked. With the exception of the NFTs that have made it possible to obtain airdrops, which have managed to obtain some attention from users.

So, despite returns approaching 30% and TVL exceeding $100 million for these projects, it is unlikely that this will be the next crypto trend to follow.

Gaming and the Metaverse

In the rest of his report, Nansen explores the ecosystem of Web3 video games and the Metaverse.

Two topics that come up frequently in our ecosystem, although no project has yet reached more mainstream users.

This sector, which includes projects like Axie Infinity and The Sandbox, has allowed users to generate income through gaming.

In practice, with an average annual return of 50%, these games can be a boon for investors. Unfortunately, like the NFT market, the field of Web3 gaming no longer has its former fervor.

An area that does not seem to convince Nansen. Thus, according to the report, Web3 gaming shares the same disadvantages as NFTs. Namely, volatility and returns in the form of a volatile token and often questionable tokenomics.

Real-World Assets (RWA)

If you follow the crypto ecosystem closely, there is no way you have missed the Real-World Assets (RWA) trend.

Indeed, the tokenization of real assets (RWA) is arguably one of the most promising sectors for attracting traditional investors into decentralized finance.

The goal is to take physical assets, like real estate, commodities or bonds, and tokenize them on a public blockchain.

This ecosystem seems more interesting to Nansen. Indeed, it allows to obtain returns and even to decorrelate them from our ecosystem. A boon especially when we know that many observers criticize crypto metrics that are artificially inflated by crypto loan loops.

With an average annualized return of 5-20% and a TVL of $6.5 billion, RWAs appear to be a boon for investors. Also, their link to the world of traditional finance can make them an interesting entry point for institutional investors.