Wild speculations fill the cryptocurrency market. Some would argue that most of the value from the cryptocurrency market is derived from the speculation of cryptocurrency’s future. This argument cast a very generic perspective on the matter but does contain some truth. In the traditional financial markets, both speculation and fundamentals such as earnings and actual demand for different usage influence the value of a stock or commodity. In stark contrast, most cryptocurrency projects are ideas pursued with funds raised from activities such as ICOs after releasing the project’s native cryptocurrency tokens into the market at a valuation. These projects have no revenue due to their recent existence as technology start-ups and the time needed to complete development. Still, the speculation of demand for future utility and increase in price influence their value.
However, to say that speculation is the only source of valuation would be inaccurate as well. For the reason, despite popular belief, some cryptocurrencies have established adoption albeit from a niche group of audience or use case. Bitcoin has a history of being used on the dark web and as a store of value. Ethereum’s network was used extensively during the 2017 Bull Run as a platform to build other blockchain projects. Ripple has expanded its network by secured numerous partnerships with financial institutions. These examples are among the many cryptocurrency projects that have seen the utility and found their place in the market.
The future of cryptocurrency is heavily dependent on real-world applications. Most, if not all, noteworthy cryptocurrency projects are developing a solution to solve a real-world problem. If these solutions come into fruition, the potential will fill the future.
In this article, we will look at some interesting future cryptocurrency predictions. We will touch both broad market topics and certain major cryptocurrencies.
2019 Top 10 Cryptocurrency Predictions
1. Bitcoin Over $1 Million Dollars
When talking about cryptocurrency, Bitcoin will often be brought up. This is not surprising since Bitcoin is considered as the father of cryptocurrency. Launched in 2009 into the market, Bitcoin has grown exponentially. It has reached nearly $20,000 per bitcoin at its all-time high. With astronomical growths likes this, many Bitcoin maximalists believe that Bitcoin can reach 1 million dollars and beyond.
But is it a realistic figure?
Well, to Bitcoin maximalists, this is certainly a possible prediction for the cryptocurrency if demand for bitcoin increases. Currently, Bitcoin has a certain percentage of its tokens lost or more accurately irretrievable due to events such as a loss of private keys. Also, Bitcoin only has a maximum token supply of 21 million. This limited supply creates scarcity which would drive up the price of bitcoin if demand surges.
Another possible reason for a surge in Bitcoin’s price can come from its proof of work system. Bitcoin network is reaching its supply capacity. And so, mining would become harder and more costly leading to greater demand for existing bitcoin in circulation.
Lastly, institutional participation has also been speculated to be a blessing to bitcoins price, especially if a bitcoin ETF were to come into fruition.
The idea of one-million-dollar bitcoin would seem like a dream to bitcoin investors and speculators. But let’s keep in mind that a one-million-dollar bitcoin would put the cryptocurrencies market cap over 1 trillion dollars. That’s more than the entire market capacity of cryptocurrency in 2018.
2. Altcoins Will Boom
Altcoins are any cryptocurrency that is not Bitcoin. There are numerous Altcoins in the cryptocurrency market whose combined market dominance pales in comparison to Bitcoin. For example, in August of 2019, Bitcoin’s dominance is approximately 69%. However, all the other cryptocurrency’s combined market capacity only reaches 31%.
Speculators believe that when Bitcoin decrease in dominance, more capital in the market will be allocated to Altcoins. This will cause them to rise exponentially in value. Another cryptocurrency prediction is the overall growth in market capacity leading to a boom in the Altcoin’s market, even if the percentages of the market share held by these altcoins remain the same in comparison to Bitcoin. When the overall market capacity increases, there are more funds in the market to reallocate. Consequently, the value of all cryptocurrency has the potential to increase.
Given the newness of the market, most of the cryptocurrency projects are currently still in development. Some are establishing themselves. As such, many of these cryptocurrency projects and their tokens ran the risk of failure. There have already been reports of exit scams and missed deadlines. If the cryptocurrency prediction of an altcoin boom is to happen, these projects have to quickly develop their solution and find their purpose. Their survival and prosperity in the market will depend on it. On the positive note, some of these projects have already started to see if the use cases and the ideas that they are trying to develop have high potential returns. Some of these bold ideas include micro-insurance, gaming tokens, and privacy coins just to name a few.
With the potential for big returns, it is easy to see why this is such a popular cryptocurrency prediction.
3. Banking And Financial Institutions Will Be Disrupted
There has been speculation that the future of cryptocurrency will be the defragmentation or disruption of numerous financial activities. Cryptocurrency such as bitcoin allows for peer to peer transactions and storage of one’s fund without an intermediary. The revolutionary function of some cryptocurrency will allow people to cut out the middleman. This reduces the cost and time taken to transfer funds.
The current banking and financial infrastructure have inefficiencies that have yet to be solved. These inefficiencies include unbanked individuals. They represent less of a profitable target audience for certain institutions, high fees for cross border transfer of funds, and lag time for the actual fund transfer. Cryptocurrencies could eliminate these problems with blockchain solutions such as distributed ledger technology, transparency, pseudonymity, and smart contracts.
The potential for future cryptocurrency and blockchain solutions to disrupt banking and financial institutions is there. Some of these blockchain solutions seek to disrupt, while others such as Ripple aim to improve. It is still a long road of development. However, one cannot help but ask himself how the future of cryptocurrency will impact our lives.
4. Internet Of Things (IoT)
With the rapid growth of technology, more and more common items have become tied with digital interfaces. Now we have cell phones that allow you to track location, the building of self-driving cars and facial recognition locks, just to name a few examples. This increased digitization of items has been speculated to give rise to an internet of things where devices are connected and able to share data amongst each other. The outcome of such an event would be an increasingly efficient system where more and more of our lives become automated.
For this future to become a reality, the technology binding these devices together require scalability as more and more data is stored and analyzed. Currently, the IoT foundation has developed its tangle technology, which requires no mining and transaction fee. A unique perceive the future of cryptocurrency’s role in an age of the internet of things would be indispensable to greater efficiency at a lower cost.
5. Governments Might Use Cryptocurrency
Governments are still developing regulations around cryptocurrency and their classification. However, there has been speculation that the governments might adopt the future of cryptocurrency. Recently, we have news of ongoing discussion regarding a Bitcoin ETF as well as governments experimenting on the usage of cryptocurrency. Venezuela has made news regarding its petrol token and Libra have been a contested topic for some time now. It seems that while cryptocurrency is still in a grey area, it has seen an increase in interest from institutions and the authorities.
There have also been theories on the usage of cryptocurrency for economically weaker countries who suffer from hyperinflation and political unrest. Their citizens can, in theory, opt for digital assets such as bitcoin to serve as a heaven for storing their value. Greece’s debt crisis is a real-world scenario where the application and adoption of cryptocurrency can be viable.
The future of cryptocurrency will seem bright, especially to speculators with a vested interest in an increase in demand for cryptocurrency. For now, the cryptocurrency markets are still in the introductory stage, and many laws around them are still undefined. Only time will reveal the outcome of this cryptocurrency prediction and where the future of cryptocurrency will lie.
6. Ethereum To 100k
An Ether price of $100,000 will have many Ethereum holders squeaking in glee. But is this cryptocurrency prediction realistic? Let’s take a look at some factors.
First off, Ethereum’s Smart contract requires Ether to power. If Ethereum’s network receives more adoption, the demand for ether will increase. This will then, in theory, subsequently drive up its price. However, currently, Ethereum uses a proof of work system without a maximum supply capacity. If supply can increase with demand, then the price increase would likely be less dramatic as the effect of scarcity will diminish.
Secondly, Ethereum plans to move away from a proof of work to a proof of stake system where individuals stake tokens on the network to vote as validators. This staking mechanism can also be a factor for the increase in the demand for Ether.
An Ether price of $100,000 is a subject of wild speculation as no one can truly predict the forces of supply and demand in the market. However, there might be some truths in these speculations, as in theory, a higher rate of demand to supply will lead to an increase in price.
7. Institutions Will Enter The Market
This is an interesting cryptocurrency prediction as it points out that heavy institutional participation will be the cause of a rise in market capacity for the cryptocurrency market. Since the beginnings of cryptocurrency stem from a detachment of institutions, a larger market capacity from institutional participation will seem ironic. Nevertheless, institutional interest will, in theory, help build the cryptocurrency market as they will bring in large clients and investors with them. This is one such reason why a bitcoin ETF is drawing a lot of hype and speculation.
The criticism of this cryptocurrency prediction would be the regulatory and legalities involved with institutional participation. Putting aside ideologies of decentralization and breaking away from institutions, realistically, institutional participation will require formal laws and established regulations. Without these legislative foundations, it will be very risky for them to get involved with cryptocurrencies as a financial tool or asset. As such, the development of macro-environmental factors in areas of government legislation around cryptocurrency has to be more established before the likelihood of such an event could come to pass.
8. XRP Will Become The New Bitcoin
XRP, by Ripple Labs, is designed to be used with the existing financial infrastructure, making it more efficient instead of disrupting it. Unlike other cryptocurrencies, it does not have mining, proof of work, or proof of stake. In place, it has a validator system with a pre-mined supply of tokens. If successful, the cryptocurrency’s future will have potential as institutional demand will far outweigh public participation. Speculators predict that this cryptocurrency will have a higher chance of adoption. This is because it is run by a company thereby reducing the risk of community sentiment changing the direction of the company as with the case of hard forks.
Given the large but limited circulating supply, an exponential increase in demand can, in theory, drive its market capitalization past bitcoin. In the history of the market, Ripple has overtaken Ethereum before, securing the second top spot in market capitalization.
9. Industry Growth To Over 40 Trillion
The future of cryptocurrency with a market capacity of 40 trillion dollars will require substantial growth from its current state. The factors that will lead to such a dramatic increase will be adopted through actual utility and mass speculation. The sustainability of a rapid rise is questionable, but given the past performance of the market since its introduction, it is definitely in the realms of possibility.
10. The Gaming Industry Will Be The First Adopters
The gaming sector has already been using virtual currencies for in-games purchases. Given the lower learning curve and acceptance of technology from gaming audiences, people are speculating that the gaming sector can become the catalyst for ushering in the future of cryptocurrency. There have already been blockchain games developed such as crypto kitties developed on the Ethereum network and cryptocurrency projects dedicated to gaming such as Enjin.
Regardless of where the future of cryptocurrency lies, both development and further volatility will certainly fill the future of cryptocurrency. We just have to wait and see.
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