The new year will shape up to be one of the brightest years for Bitcoin and the cryptocurrency industry. Not to be misunderstood, this is not a price prediction. I expect 2020 to be a year the industry matures at an accelerated pace. On the crypto-native side, we will see continued innovative technical breakthroughs. On the institutional side, we can expect an increase in sophistication, in terms of education, infrastructure and more attractive product offerings. Bitcoin has demonstrated the ability to bounce back from almost anything. The first decade was defined by Bitcoin, but the next will define which cryptocurrency emerges to rival traditional currencies.

Ilias Louis Hatzis is the Founder at Mercato Blockchain Corporation AG and a weekly columnist at DailyFintech.com.

For those of you that don’t follow the ups and downs of Bitcoin, you probably missed how terrible 2018 was, with the price falling by 83 percent from a historical all-time high in late 2017. This year has been a rebound year, After the first three months of the year, we’ve seen a steady recovery take place, with increasing optimism returning to the market.

As we are about to start the new year and Bitcoin’s second decade, let not forget that in its first decade, Bitcoin has been the best performing asset making unimaginable returns for investors.

What we’ve seen in 2019 is a continued evolution, that’s been happening for some years now. While the crypto industry is still in a prototype state and doesn’t scale well for the most part, we are now starting to see the beginning of scaling. These last 10 years have really been about developing a sufficient amount of bridges, roads and tunnels, the underlying infrastructure to make cryptocurrencies available to more and more people.

We now have the infrastructure to launch scalable decentralized applications on blockchain. We have blockchains that can handle large user bases, with low latency, little friction and zero fees. Now we can build just about anything on blockchain, that we can build on the traditional Internet. We are entering a period where the focus will shift to building services and protocols on top of the existing Bitcoin layer, by a new crop of entrepreneurs and startups.

The big event that’s coming up in May 2020, the “halving”, will be different than in the past. Every four years when the halving happens, the block reward shrinks by 50 percent. But this time it will be even more important, because of the level of maturity the industry has compiled. The diminished new supply of coins will mean that the supply and demand equation will improve. But because investors already know when it’s going to happen, there’s already been some movement in preparation, so I don’t think it will have the impact that most people think it will.

I feel more excited, much more than anytime in the last 18 months, because it feels like we are picking up momentum. Bitcoin is up this week, although it’s been down over the last month or so, but I think we are seeing a level of momentum that’s been building up for the most part of 2019. Detractors have become advocates, big money has been coming in, big tech is taking its first stab at it and governments are fueling their rockets. It feels like everyone’s putting on their jumpsuits, getting ready to take off, something we haven’t seen since 2017.

While 2017 was a crazy year with projects raising absurd amounts of money through token sales, 2018 was a down year and in 2019 it became much harder, resulting in less and less garbage. While there is some still out there, investors are getting much more discerning, being able to spot the good from the bad. I expect token sales and IEOs will rekindle this year, but with the bottom chunk of the market dropping out and less projects raising money this way, the good one’s will be in a much better position to reach their goals.

In 2020, we will continue to see cryptocurrency payments gain momentum. More governments and big businesses will announce their own cryptocurrencies, and while this legitimizes the industry, we should be skeptical. Poorly executed crypto projects will continue to be weeded out. We’ll see more and more cryptocurrencies that popped up in 2017 fade away, going to zero. Bitcoin’s halving in May could spike the price. By now Bitcoin has proven itself as a long-term investment and store of value, so expect people that believe to continue to HODL, regardless of price fluctuations.

Ilias Louis Hatzis is the Founder & CEO at Mercato Blockchain Corporation AG.
He writes the Blockchain Weekly Front Page each Monday.I have no positions or commercial relationships with the companies or people mentioned. I am not receiving compensation for this post.
Subscribe by email to join the 25,000 other Fintech leaders who read our research daily to stay ahead of the curve.
I have no positions or commercial relationships with the companies or people mentioned. I am not receiving compensation for this post.
http://dailyfintech.com

Lisez gratuitement le quotidien Finyear & sa newsletter quotidienne.
Recevez chaque matin par mail la newsletter Finyear, une sélection quotidienne des meilleures infos et expertises en finance digitale, corporate finance & crypto finance.

Read for free The daily newspaper Finyear & its daily newsletter.
Receive the Finyear's newsletter every morning by email, a daily snapshot of the best news and expertise in digital finance, corporate finance & crypto finance.

------------------------

Chaineum :
Fondée en 2015, Chaineum est une boutique STO offrant une expertise de premier plan en matière d’ICO et STO, avec une vision stratégique orientée tant vers le métier de ses clients que sur la technologie blockchain. A ce titre, Chaineum a participé à la mise en œuvre de bonnes pratiques dans le secteur (ICO Charter, Security Token Network).
La division services blockchain de Chaineum, développe la technologie Chaineum Segment, une blockchain privée orientée objets.

About Chaineum:
Founded in 2015, Chaineum is a STO Boutique with a strong expertise in ICO and STO, and a strategic focus on both its clients' business and blockchain technology. As such, Chaineum paved the way in the implementation of certain best practices in this sector (ICO Charter, Security Token Network).
Chaineum's blockchain services division, is developing Chaineum Segment technology, an object-oriented private blockchain.

-------------------------

This website is for informational purposes only and does not constitute an offer to sell, a solicitation to buy, or a recommendation for any security, nor does it constitute an offer to provide investment advisory or other services by FINYEAR.
No reference to any specific security constitutes a recommendation to buy, sell or hold that security or any other security.
Nothing on this website shall be considered a solicitation or offer to buy or sell any security, future, option or other financial instrument or to offer or provide any investment advice or service to any person in any jurisdiction.
Nothing contained on the website constitutes investment advice or offers any opinion with respect to the suitability of any security, and the views expressed on this website should not be taken as advice to buy, sell or hold any security. In preparing the information contained in this website, we have not taken into account the investment needs, objectives and financial circumstances of any particular investor.
This information has no regard to the specific investment objectives, financial situation and particular needs of any specific recipient of this information and investments discussed may not be suitable for all investors.
Any views expressed on this website by us were prepared based upon the information available to us at the time such views were written. Changed or additional information could cause such views to change.
All information is subject to possible correction. Information may quickly become unreliable for various reasons, including changes in market conditions or economic circumstances.