Blockchain Predictions for 2020

2019 is coming to end, and Blockchain Game blossomed in this year with the introduction of new infrastructure projects, the rise of stablecoins and mainstream adoption.

2020 is going to be game-changer for the Blockchain industry, we have talked with few industry leaders about their 2020 predications, and That’s what they shared.

Andy Cheung, Head of Operations at OKEx

While 2019 was a transformative year for cryptocurrency and blockchain technology, I believe 2020 could be even more monumental. Bitcoin was the best performing asset class by a wide margin, and this itself draws the interest of investors. It continues to unlock a global, open market for financial services during a period when many nations are closing their borders. Because of this, we would not be surprised to see the price of Bitcoin rise again.

Next year, we expect to see further expansion of global payments that do not come from legacy banking institutions. Bitcoin and other digital currencies have changed the financial landscape and shifted the way we look at all assets. The open-source ethos of cryptocurrency has put institutions on notice, and we expect all financial services to be disrupted forever.

We expect more banks to adopt the “If you can’t beat them, join them” policy in 2020. In this regard, we will also see more big names in the tech industry like Amazon coming into the blockchain and cryptocurrency sector. Every institution from Berkshire Hathaway to Barclays will be impacted by the evolution happening in these markets, and we see this trend accelerating regardless of regulation, security or price volatility.

Of course, we still see many jurisdictions pushing back on cryptocurrency through regulations, but we do believe by year-end 2020, we will see a Bitcoin ETF listed in the United States. This event could be the catalyst to push Bitcoin above $14,000. One of the main drivers for this expectation is that similar ETFs have already been approved in Europe, and we also believe that the demand for this investment is widespread amongst traditional investors and institutional investors – we expect regulators will be willing to forge a compromise. It is worth noting that the largest accounting firms – Deloitte, PwC, EY, and KPMG – have already adopted digital currency accounting platforms. In addition, we see the derivatives market as a stabilizer, which should also help regulators to look favorably on a Bitcoin ETF.

OKEx’s derivatives market is the most robust in the industry and a categorical leader; and, it is easy to see that derivative volumes across the industry have increased exponentially from last year. These markets are in high demand because they are an important tool for cryptocurrency investors. We expect to see more and more institutional investors enter the crypto markets in 2020 as education around digital assets improves. This is one reason that innovation has remained so important in this industry – we need to be prepared for accelerated growth in the crypto markets. At OKEx, we’re a one-stop-shop for cryptocurrency traders. Just recently, we launched USDT Futures trading and the OKEx Pool staking service to positive received positive reviews from the investing community. We also just announced the launch of Options Trading, which will go live in late December.

Also in 2020, we expect mergers and acquisitions to accelerate in the cryptocurrency sector across both exchanges and technology. In a similar vein, we do believe exchanges will work more harmoniously toward regulation and pricing, which our SRO directly addresses. In order to achieve full compliance and trust in the industry, exchanges have to work diligently to regulate themselves.

On the funding side, ICO fundraising will continue to be replaced by IEOs and Security Token Offerings. STOs have had some trouble gaining momentum over the years, but we believe there will be a time where nearly all assets will tokenize with a lower cost and more efficient system in place. The opportunity to tokenize assets like securities, energy, real estate, and art is a natural outgrowth of the current disruption we are experiencing. STOs can portion out larger assets and give investors peace of mind on the regulatory side.

Another development we expect to take shape in 2020 is the growth of the cryptocurrency market outside of Bitcoin. We believe that Bitcoin will continue as a benchmark of the broader cryptocurrency space. At the same time, we see the narrative of major altcoins has been shifting from being a just a utility token towards more high-value transactions, even as a store of value. We see this shift will increasingly noticeable next year as altcoins mature and demonstrate additional use cases to stakeholders and the investment community.

Richard Dennis, Founder and CEO at temtum

Quantum computing will become impossible to ignore in 2020. Google just made a major breakthrough in quantum supremacy, publishing the results of a test where its 54-qubit processor performed a computation in 200 seconds that it says would have previously taken 10,000 years. The imminence of quantum computing holds major implications for the cryptocurrency industry. Today, cryptocurrencies’ pseudo-random generation of keys leaves them susceptible to exploitation by hackers. Quantum computing increases the likelihood of predicting software-generated values, presenting major security concerns. In 2020, the first public quantum computers are coming onto the market. With Amazon’s latest cloud service, Braket, providing quantum computers to the public, expect to see traditional blockchain networks challenged by quantum-secure networks. Quantum-secure networks, such as those that leverage quantum entanglement to generate provable random numbers and next-generation hashing algorithms, will be poised to succeed in an era of quantum computing.

While I certainly hope that the cryptocurrency market rebounds in 2020, Bitcoin may continue its struggles due to its issues with speed, scalability, and resource requirements. Bitcoin originally set out to take on legacy payment systems, but it has not successfully achieved this. Transactions on the Bitcoin network can take up to 10-15 minutes, making it ill-equipped for mainstream payments. Bitcoin also requires high entry points for network participation, which equates to massive computational power. Bitcoin has also faced issues over the last few years with scalability, which can’t be easily solved. In 2020, I predict we will start to see other cryptocurrency payment systems gain momentum that tackle these challenges and deliver payment solutions that meets the needs of today’s global economy.

Robert Beadles, President at Monarch

I predict that Facebook’s Libra will dominate the spotlight again in 2020. When Libra launched earlier this year, it not only signaled a sea change in the industry, but forced regulators to take cryptocurrency seriously. Government leaders in the United States and abroad are now wrestling with how they’ll handle blockchain technology and crypto payments as we enter a new decade. China’s central bank is doubling down on its efforts to launch a cryptocurrency in response to Libra, and other countries may do the same. In 2020, I expect to see more governments and business leaders announce their own cryptocurrencies, and while this legitimizes the industry, we must stay skeptical. Ask yourself what the motivation is behind these projects, and if they’re in it for the right reasons.

In 2019 we saw many crypto projects crash and burn. Scammers were revealed. Inexperienced teams were exposed. I predict that in 2020, the weeding out of poorly executed crypto projects will continue. We’ll see more and more cryptocurrencies that popped up in 2017 hit zero, and their teams fade away or move on to different projects. I predict 98% of crypto projects and their currencies will go to zero or have no viable exit for their hodlers. As the crypto ecosystem matures, every project needs to have a viable use case, strong funding, strong community, and an experienced leadership team to succeed.

While the price of Bitcoin has been a bit of a disappointment in 2019, I think Bitcoin’s halving in May could spike the price. I expect to see Bitcoin reach $11,000 around this time. The communities that believe in Bitcoin will continue to HODL, regardless of price fluctuations, and by now it’s clear that Bitcoin has proven itself as a long-term investment and store of value. I would further venture to say Bitcoin will hit $2 million a coin in the next 5 years so long as the core dev team doesn’t destroy it accidentally from within, causing a crypto catastrophe and pushing the entire crypto ecosystem from decentralized freedom into a government-backed cryptos that they will feel safer in.

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