Table of Contents
Introduction
The market of cryptocurrency is a fast and huge field. Nearly every day new cryptocurrencies are introduced, old one’s die, early adopters get wealthy and investors lose money. The whole sentiment about investing in cryptocurrency is increasingly eye-opening. Every cryptocurrency comes with a promise, more often than not with a story to turn the market around. But the reality is, few of them manage to survive the first months, and most are pumped and dumped by speculators and live on as just another coins until the last investor loses hope ever to see a return on his investment.
When it comes to cryptocurrencies there are numerous fundamentals that are involved while investing in them. Also, these concepts of blockchain and cryptocurrency are appreciated only if the fundamentals are legit. Though cryptocurrencies are always designed to be free from government manipulation and control, looking at the market condition and the on-going trends it is estimated that the foundation aspect of the industry is going to face some serious issues. Ans the one’s that will survive are going to do extremely well.
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Things to Know About Cryptocurrency
What are cryptocurrency?
Cryptocurrency is commonly defined as virtual or digital money which takes the form of tokens or coins. The “crypto” in cryptocurrencies implies cryptography which enables a digital token to be stored, securely transacted, generated, all anonymously. The “crypto” feature of these currencies is a clear indication of decentralization.
While some cryptocurrencies have entered the physical world with credit cards and other projects, the majority one still remains completely intangible. Cryptocurrencies are typically developed as a code by teams who build in mechanisms for issuance and other controls.
Where did cryptocurrency originate?
Very few are aware of this but cryptocurrency emerged as a side product of another invention. Satoshi Nakamoto, the unknown inventor of Bitcoin, the very first and still most important cryptocurrency, never intended to invent a currency. The most aspect of Satoshi’s invention was that he found a way to build a decentralized digital cash system. After a series of failed attempts he tried to build a digital cash system without a central entity, like a peer-to-peer network for file sharing. This led to the birth of cryptocurrency.
Why knowing cryptocurrency is essential?
Cryptocurrency has made us realize how technology can fundamentally interrupted our current financial system of notes, coins, commercial and central banks. So staying updated with the concept is essential to keep up and maintain our financial earnings. Another reason why having knowledge about cryptocurrency helps is that it helps to structure our banking systems on a fundamental level. Which none of the technologies invented until now managed to do. Being aware of cryptocurrency at all times also helps us to make our investments in the most appropriate manner and keep track of the market’s status, downfalls as well as high’s.
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Important Types of Cryptocurrency
Digital currency is designed with the aim that it works as a medium of exchange. There are many different types of cryptocurrency, but these are among some of the most well-known currencies.
Bitcoin
Bitcoin is one of the most commonly known currencies. It is considered an original cryptocurrency. This type was created in 2009 as an open-source software. Bitcoin allows users to make transparent peer-to-peer transactions. Each user can view all his transactions, but they are secured through the algorithm within the blockchain. This security allows everyone to see all transactions but only the owner of each Bitcoin can decrypt it with a private key. Bitcoin does not have any central authority figure, unlike banks. With Bitcoin, users have entire control over sending and receiving money, thus enabling anonymous transactions around the world.
Litecoin
Litecoin was considered as an alternative to Bitcoin and was launched in 2011. Similar to other cryptocurrencies, Litecoin is also an open source, global payment network with no central authorities making it completely decentralized. Litecoin is believed to have a faster transaction time compared to its competitors. The currency functions on an algorithm called scrypt. The coin limit for Litecoin is 84 million while its 21 million for Bitcoin, though the latter being considered the best in the market.
Ethereum
Ethereum is an open source platform based on blockchain technology and was created in 2015. While tracking ownership of digital currency transactions, Ethereum blockchain also focuses on running the programming code of any decentralized application, allowing it to be used by application developers so that they can pay for the transaction fees and services on the Ethereum network itself.
Ripple
Ripple is another type of cryptocurrency that was released in 2012. It acts as both, a cryptocurrency as well as a digital payment network for financial transactions. This global settlement network is a secure, low-cost and fast method of transferring money. Unlike other currencies, Ripple allows any type of currency to be exchanged, from USD and Bitcoin to gold and EUR and connects to banks. This type also differs from other types of digital currencies because its primary focus is not for person-to-person transactions, rather for moving sums of money on a larger scale.
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2018 Cryptocurrency Trends
Many analysts around the world saw cryptocurrency to be a huge force in 2018. 2018 was definitely a year where investors and internet users had to constantly keep a watch and be on their toes always to watch out for what was going to happen. To explain further, lets have a look at the 6 major cryptocurrency that dictated the 2018’s market performance.
Decentralized applications gained traction
The main idea behind cryptocurrency is Decentralization. There are a variety of decentralized applications being built. According to State of the dApps (decentralized Apps), there are over 950 dApps built for Ethereum alone. Most of this apps became live in 2018 and even if only a little percentage of the projects boomed, there were still some popular one’s. The apps were used for different purposes like tokenization of aasets, payments 7 lending, insurance, gambling etc. Blockchain technology showed the world it’s full possibilities and potential aside from payment making. Blockchain was utilized fully to satisfy cryptocurrency and human needs.
Value of cryptocurrencies continued to grow
In 2018, more institutions and more individuals bought bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies. Critical governance issues were solved as well. There were possibilities for the cryptocurrency market to experience more growth. Cryptocurrency investors needed to expect a certain melt-down and volatility. Overall the market continued to growth throughout. There was an increase in the value of the cryptocurrency market. This fueled long-term innovation and investments in functionality. In this year, the market experienced a new wave of institutions and personal money going into the business and cryptocurrency market. As time passes, institutions and organizations would learn to adapt to cryptocurrency. In the coming decade, top cryptocurrencies would be used on many platforms.
Cryptocurrencies were legitimized
The cryptocurrency market was increasing and flourishing quickly. The London Block Exchange estimated that one-third of millennials would invest in Bitcoin in 2018. The publicity about cryptocurrencies have improved within the past few years. Cryptocurrencies had no orthodox mainstay such as Central Banks. Initially, most organizations and governments were against cryptocurrencies. As time went by and as information and more details about cryptocurrencies emerged government began to acknowledge the benefits of cryptocurrencies. In 2018, governments and financial institutions worked towards standardizing and legitimization of cryptocurrencies.
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Cryptocurrency 2019 Predictions
Institutional money will be the catalyst
A few months ago it was predicted that institutional money will prove to a catalyst of growth for the industry. Now some real support is being seen of the infrastructure being developed. Not only will we see Cryptocurrencies On The Nasdaq In 2019, which is an existing and huge trading platform, there are even brand new initiatives coming online. To illustrate this point this week Fortune revelead something very important. Bakkt, a cryptocurrency investment platform for institutional money which will launch in November after SEC approval clearly sees a war for institutional money waiting to investing in cryptocurrencies.
Bitcoin’s upside capped
Bitcoin has reached a stage where it will no longer be able to deliver 10-fold returns similar to the past 7 years. One of the reason for this happening will be that since Bitcoin has been introduced in the market, this is the first time there is two-sided trading happening in the Bitcoin market. That’s why it is said in a Bitcoin forecast that a belief that it is very realistic to expect a Bitcoin price of $25,000 as an upside target, assuming the crypto crash is over. Previous all-time highs will be taken out, but we believe Bitcoin will trade within its comfortable band, not higher.
Only added value cryptos will do well
The recent sell-off in crypto prices led to many crypto projects going for a downfall. Many have revealed their real face which was a complete scam. It has been said that 90% of cryptocurrencies will definitely die. It seems that we are already at 50% right now, out of the 2000 cryptocurrencies almost 1000 are found to be dead and/or scam. The remaining ones surely deliver value and are here to stay. It is strongly believed that only the cryptocurrencies that deliver real added value will do very well starting in 2019, and do extremely well in the 2020-2022 period.
Blockchain implementations accelerate
Companies are lately spending way slower than expected on blockchain technology which is one of the main reasons for blockchain to come down. Though this scenario is pursued to change in 2019. PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) is an organization that works many of the well-known businesses around the globe. It recently reported that many of its customers are spending BIG money on blockchain initiatives and that blockchain spending should only keep growing. According to PwC, the demand for services related to blockchain advisory is as high as $1.7 billion for this year.
|
Cryptocurrency
|
Current price per unit (as of Jan. 2, 2019) (USD)
|
Price prediction on Feb. 1, 2019 (USD)
|
Price prediction on Dec. 31, 2019 (USD)
|
% change to Feb. 1, 2019
|
% change to Dec. 31, 2019
|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Bitcoin
|
$3,776
|
$3,494
|
$6,947
|
-7%
|
84%
|
|
Cardano
|
$$0.04
|
$0.06
|
$0.08
|
43%
|
91%
|
|
DOGE
|
$0.0024
|
$0.0013
|
$0.0006
|
-47%
|
-75%
|
|
EOS
|
$2.64
|
$2.32
|
$4.68
|
-12%
|
77%
|
|
Ether
|
$140
|
$117
|
$218
|
-17%
|
55%
|
|
Litecoin
|
$31.64
|
$20.61
|
$24.44
|
-35%
|
-23%
|
|
Monero
|
$47.55
|
$40.50
|
$62.39
|
-15%
|
31%
|
|
NEO
|
$7.67
|
$5.34
|
$5.64
|
-30%
|
-26%
|
|
Stellar Lumens
|
$0.114
|
$0.21
|
$0.41
|
84%
|
260%
|
|
TRON
|
$0.0193
|
$0.0093
|
$0.0192
|
-52%
|
-0.32%
|
|
XRP
|
$0.36
|
0.32
|
0.52
|
-11%
|
44%
|
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Conclusion
Considering that all cryptocurrencies are extremely volatile and the situation with regulations is yet to be stabilized, it’s hard to determine the likelihood of some trends being lasting and powerful. While 2018 has been tough for cryptos, the current year will end the process of maturation. 2019 is also expected to be a year of exponential growth in price from all major types of cryptocurrencies, along with some completely new ones to hit the market. Also, cryptos intros new technologies and unexpected approaches to the market that nothing but enhance the industry. So to stay updated about their rapid transformation, always read and do your own research regularly. To sum up, going by the current trend, it looks like cryptocurrencies are here to stay but how many of them will emerge as leaders amidst the constantly growing competition will only be revealed with time.
