A good thing never lasts forever. Or so the saying goes. While cryptocurrency prices soared last year, hitting colossal highs of nearly US$20,000 for a single
Bitcoin (BTC), recently BTC fell to its lowest price since October 2017 – dropping as low as US$4,951 on November 19, 2018.
Meanwhile,
blockchain technology has had some major ups and downs over the past year as well, taking investors on a financial – and sometimes emotional – rollercoaster.
Many have been wary about investing in the crypto market specifically because of the wildly unpredictable price swings. The future is opaque, and you’re unsure what the murky waters of tomorrow hold. As a result, the ever-changing mood and tempo of the cryptocurrency market has caused many large corporations to stand by the wayside; hesitant to invest in a project that appears to have more risks than benefits.
But the real reason we’re still hearing about blockchain technology constantly, and will continue to in the future, is simply because the inherent technology behind blockchain is changing the world.
With the long-tern viability of digital token market now in question, hardcore crypto enthusiasts turn to blockchain to save their hopes of a brave new decentralized world…and they’re not alone. Over the past several months, we’ve seen major companies and
venture capital funds joining in and investing into blockchain with the potential that it holds in security, transparency, and efficiency.
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In fact, in many financial publication lists of the
best investing advice for 2019, experts include blockchain alongside robotics and Artificial Intelligence (AI) as some of the biggest technological changes we’ll see coming to the biggest companies in the next few years.
Big corporate names like Facebook, Google, IBM, and Microsoft have been open about their research and experimentation with blockchain technology. And while it took some time for these companies to come around to the idea of blockchain, they see the potential. And, it’s huge.
The global market for blockchain-related products and services is already valued at US$700 million and will continue to rise – with totals projected to exceed
US$60 billion by 2024. Whether these companies are finally coming to play because they’re threatened by the new technological giant or because of their desire to utilize a variety of issues such as global transaction speed and payment processing, their entrance into the blockchain world can’t be ignored.
Just last week the
SEC announced that it is cracking down on regulatory abuses and outright fraud in the industry, giving companies more assurance that the blockchain companies they invest in are legit.
An example of
corporates partnering with blockchain these days is Air France-KLM, Air Canada, Lufthansa, and Air New Zealand partnering with
Winding Tree to try and innovate and modernize a somewhat antiquated business / operational model.
While many other blockchain companies are bridging the gap between the contemporary and the traditional by inviting large corporations to play in the blockchain sandbox, only time will if the old and the new can play together.
There’s no doubt that blockchain technology is here to stay, but the question remains as to just how quickly its mass adoption will take. The internet in the form of the worldwide web debuted in the early 1990’s, long before mainstream adoption which didn’t occur until years later with the introduction of mass social media sites.
Just like the internet back then, little is known about blockchain technology by the masses. Today, we still have a lot to learn about the possibilities it will eventually offer the world.