2019 will be an interesting year for cryptocurrency for sure. No one knows where we are headed and opinions are divided:
- Will it be a continuation of the bear-market of 2018?
- Will we experience the long-awaited bull-run and steady growth;
- Are financial institutions finally going take it seriously and get more involved?
- Some believe that 2019 will be a year of stabilization, where the wheat is separated from the chaff; causing many projects to crash and burn, whilst others will continue to build their products and take center stage;
- Will major organizations such as Microsoft, Amazon, Google etc enter the market in partnership with existing crypto companies or blow them away with their own technology?
With so much uncertainty in this ever-changing environment, strap yourself in for the ride….
There are way too many projects in the crypto space and with well over 2,100 cryptocurrencies published on Coin Market Cap (at time of writing), we need a natural cull to occur. Only the strong will survive and rightly so.
Whatever happens, it will certainly be in stark contrast to 2018 and any previous year.
ICOs (Initial Coin Offerings) as we know them are dead. Whilst there may be an increase of new projects if the bull-market re-emerges; the fact that the SEC and other authorities are keen to ensure that they adhere to their rules will force companies to adopt many new regulations and provide a new level of transparency if they wish to attract investment from these countries. Many ICOs dumped in price as soon as they hit exchanges last year resulting in investors getting burnt. This caused market sentiment to change rapidly resulting in the avoidance of ICOs altogether. Instead, investors switched their attention to established coins, completely exited the market or waited for ICOs to trade on exchanges, dump and then buy in at the much-reduced price.
STOs (Security Token Offerings) will come to the fore and provide a new level of comfort to investors. While any investment (crypto or otherwise) offers no guarantees, STOs will actually give investors an asset instead of a utility token. Having a say in the company you invest in is a major benefit of STOs, where utility token holders have no voice or any rights. The STO market is starting to take shape nicely already.
Cryptocurrency Integrity. Last year proved to me, that we need some form of regulation. The level criminal and dishonest activity I witnessed shocked me.
The fact is, if we want mass adoption and institutional investment to get involved, these activities need to somehow be weeded out aggressively.
- SCAM projects such as Titanium and BitConnect (many others that have not surfaced yet);
- Exchange hacks — either legitimate or planned/disguised exit scams;
- Bounty Hunters blackmailing projects by threatening to spread FUD if their demands aren’t met;
- Scammers disguising themselves as Telegram Admins or famous people on Twitter and other social media platforms and extracting crypto from innocent newbies;
- Wallet hacks;
- Blatant price and market manipulation
Let’s not forget the conduct of some of the big players in the space. I thought that Jordan Belfort was a bad influence for Wall Street, but when you look behind the curtain in the crypto space and see players such as Craig Wright, Roger Ver, Divyesh Darji and John McAfee (to name a few), is it any wonder that average Joe and institutions tend to give crypto a wide berth.
Just look at the whole Bitcoin Cash situation. Two spoiled brats crashed the market between them in pissing contest that achieved nothing but turmoil for the rest of us.
Then there’s John McAfee’s various escapades…spending Thanksgiving with the team from Skycoin, shooting fish in the ocean and public drinking contests. Other gems include promising to eat his own penis on live television if Bitcoin doesn’t reach $1m by 2020. I actually quite like the guy and have no doubt that he isn’t as dumb as some people think, but seriously we could do without people like him heading up the crypto space ‘marketing team’.
Don’t get me wrong, crypto is in its infancy and now is a great time to get involved, but for the novice investor, it is fraught with more danger now than ever before with very little trustworthy guidance or advice.
Until these kinds of issues are addressed, or at least improved, we need to accept that mass adoption and things like ETFs are just a pipe-dreams.
Personally, I am happy for a year of stabilization which gives all involved a chance to take stock of where we have come from. It’s been hell for leather over the last 10 years since Bitcoin for emerged. There are great minds in the cryptocurrency space and many have honest intentions. Blockchain can and will change our lives for the better, we just need to ensure the industry gets its’ duck in a row and pulls in the same direction.
Some form of regulation, either internal self-regulation or external will go a long way on proving to the masses that decentralization has real value and benefit for all.
Common protocols and standards need to be adopted to ensure the risks of being scammed or conned are greatly reduced. KYC (know your customer) is slow, unreliable and easily manipulated and we must have more than just that.
This year should be a year of reflection. Let’s learn from the lessons of previous years (good and bad) and together build something we can all benefit from as the human race.
Disclaimer: This article is based purely on my opinion. I do not endorse any of the companies or branding that I write about. I use them for demonstration purposes only, to make a point or as an example. This is not financial or any other form of advice. Always do your own research.
