The Baking Sheet - Issue #80

Welcome to this week’s issue of The Baking Sheet and the last one for 2021!

Happy New Year, Tezos community! 

We hope everyone has enjoyed spending time with their families and enjoying the holiday season. This week’s issue will focus on some things to look forward to in the coming year. 

We described in last week’s issue a few reflections for the year within the Tezos ecosystem. For this week’s issue, it only makes sense to share a bit more about what I’m looking forward to in the coming year. 

Undoubtedly, one of the great things about Tezos is its ability to evolve and adapt over time via the governance mechanism. It’s the ultimate value proposition and will likely gain further prominence when other networks inevitably end up delaying an upgrade. 

The mere fact these other networks are transitioning towards Proof of Stake should paint a vivid picture of where things are moving. I highly doubt we’ll see a stunt in the Layer-1 trajectory that we’ve been witnessing throughout the year. 

All that said, with Tezos not only the network is able to evolve and amend seamlessly - it has continued throughout the test of time to grow and be used in practice, not theory. 

The most exciting feature I’m looking forward to seeing implemented via the governance mechanism is Tenderbake. This feature will bring faster and deterministic finality to Tezos. 

On the adoption front, contract calls have risen to the highest level ever on Tezos. More people are using the network, network effects are growing and in the coming year this will likely remain the case.

One major primer for this growth has been NFTs. Having a predictable and sensible governance process, economically sustainable for the masses, and ecologically friendly alternative to other platforms - has led to an explosion of growth on Tezos. 

In 2022, I think there will be at least one trend that gains significant exposure that moves beyond the buying/selling side of NFTs. The JPEGs are here to stay. 

As for other thoughts, I’m looking forward to seeing more new actors like Ubisoft, Red Bull Racing, McLaren, and more joining the Tezos ecosystem in the coming year. There’s also a cross-chain bridge in the works by Madfish as well that is pretty exciting.