One year is not enough to see many fundamental changes, but five years is enough to make all the difference. The year is 2027. It was a time of great innovation and technological progress, but also a time of chaos. What will the crypto market look like in 2027? Long-term predictions are notoriously hard to make, but they are good thought experiments. One year is too short for radical change, but five years is long enough to make all the difference. Here are the most unexpected and outrageous events that could happen over the next five years.

1. The Metaverse will not rise

The metaverse is a hot topic, but most people have no idea what it actually contains. The metaverse is a continuous, monolithic virtual world (without pausing or resetting) that works in real time, accommodates any number of users, has its own economy, is created by the participants themselves, and has unprecedented interoperability. A variety of applications can (in theory) be integrated into the virtual world, including games, video conferencing applications, services that issue driver's licenses -- anything.

This definition makes it clear that the metaverse is not a novel phenomenon. Games and social networks that incorporate most of these features have been around for a long time. Admittedly, interoperability is an issue that needs to be seriously addressed. Being able to easily transfer digital assets (or digital identities) between games without being tied to a particular platform would be a very useful feature. But the metaverse will never have everything it needs. There is no reason to include services in a meta section at all. With operators reluctant to give up control of them, some services will remain isolated.

There are also technical aspects to consider. The cyberpunk culture of the 1980s and 1990s assumed that the metaverse meant total immersion. This kind of immersion is now thought to be possible only with virtual reality goggles. VR hardware is getting better every year, but it's not what we expected. Even among hardcore gamers, VR remains a niche phenomenon. The vast majority of ordinary people would never put on such glasses in order to call their grandmother or sell some cryptocurrency on an exchange. True immersion requires technological breakthroughs like smart contact lenses or Neuralink. It is highly unlikely that these technologies will be in widespread use five years from now.

2. Wallets will become 'super apps'

Today, active decentralized finance (DeFi) users are forced to deal with dozens of protocols. Wallets, interfaces, exchanges, Bridges, loan agreements -- there are hundreds and more every day. Even for power users, having to use so much technology is inconvenient. As for the prospect of mass adoption, the situation is even more unacceptable.

For the average user, it is ideal to have access to a maximum number of services through a limited number of generic applications. The best option is to integrate them directly into the wallet. Storage, switching, moving to other networks, pledging -- why visit dozens of different sites to access these services if all the necessary operations can be performed using a single interface? Users do not care which exchange or bridge they use. They only care about safety, speed and low cost. A large number of DeFi protocols will eventually become backends that cater to popular wallets and interfaces.

3. Bitcoin will become the equivalent unit of account to the dollar or euro

Money has three main roles - as a means of payment, as a store of value and as a unit of account. Many cryptocurrencies, mainly stablecoins, are used as means of payment. Bitcoin (BTC) and - to a lesser extent - ether (ETH) are used as stores of value between cryptocurrencies. But the dollar remains the world's primary unit of account. Everything is denominated in dollars, including Bitcoin.

When cryptocurrencies take over the role of the unit of account, it will herald a real victory for sound money. Bitcoin is currently the leading candidate for this role. Such a victory would mean a major spiritual shift.

4. At least half of the top 50 cryptocurrencies will drop in the rankings

The list of top cryptocurrencies is likely to change radically. Outright zombies like Ethereum Classic (ETC) will be eliminated from the list, while projects that now seem to occupy an unshakeable position will not only be dethroned, but may disappear altogether.

Some stablecoins will surely sink. New ones will take their place. Caldano (ADA) will slip down the list and officially become a promethean. Progress on the project has been painfully slow. Rather than seeing it as a problem, developers seem to see it as a benefit.

5. The crypto market will fragment along geographic lines

Cryptocurrencies are global by default, but they are not immune to individual countries. The state always has an advantage and an extra trick. Many regions (US, EU, China, India, Russia, etc.) have introduced or are threatening to introduce strict regulations on cryptocurrencies.

International competition is superimposed on internal national motivations. When Russia was heavily sanctioned, some crypto programs began restricting Russian users' access to their services and even blocking their funds. This could happen again in China in the future. It's not hard to imagine a future where parts of the cryptocurrency market benefit some countries while shutting down others. We already live in that future, at least to some extent.

In crypto, if you want to take advantage of the next bull market, you need to have a quality community, where people can stay together and stay perceptive. If you just a person, look around at a loss, found that no one, want to stick to it in this industry is actually very difficult.