Meanwhile, speculators are having a heyday, with bitcoin now up 2100% YTD. Dave Chapman, Managing Director of cryptocurrency trading firm Octagon Strategy, sees the price of bitcoin exceeding $100,000 before the end of 2018, and eccentric software pioneer John McAfee has said the coin will reach $500,000 within three years.
There are few who dispute that the blockchain technology - whereby information is stored in a public but encrypted ledger - will change economies. Blockchain has arrived, and it's here to stay.
The question is how...and how valuable it, and cryptocurrencies like bitcoin, can become along the way. No one knows the future of cryptocurrencies even as they’re going increasingly mainstream. They could continue to appreciate as they become accepted by more individuals and companies. Or, this could be the precipice of a peak, and cryptocurrencies could decline as speculators realize there's no intrinsic value.
The future is to be determined, but savvy investors have also made considerable returns with health care stocks in the last few years, especially in medical devices. Patient Home Monitoring (TSX: PHM) is one...