2017 marked the year for cryptocurrencies, as Bitcoin’s price jumped from USD$970 to over USD$19,000, which is approximately a growth of 1900%.

Unfortunately, similar trends were not successfully carried over to 2018, as Bitcoin dropped to a third of its all-time high, with both altcoins and the total market capitalization getting hard hits. A recent post published by Big Think trusts that Bitcoin can revolutionize the world and throughout the post, interesting points were made.

Here is a breakdown on what was being shared:

The first facet that makes blockchain technology is an obvious one and that is, its foundation being decentralization. This not only eliminates middlemen, but also initiates automatic transactions that are completed with the sole consent of those involved. Eliminating a player within a cycle results in reduced costs, saving tons of money for both ends.

Next is blockchain’s “immutable” feature, as it represents accuracy of data stored without any kind of manipulation involved. This feature allows for voting procedures to undergo smoothly and can be helpful in storing valid medical information. Immutability ties in with security, that is breaking in is as rarely likely as making changes to stored data.

Now that we have been given an overview of the positives, some negatives have also been mentioned.

First comes, price volatility. The crypto market has been highly accused of its fluctuations, as it hard to predict any possible trend for the long run. This not only makes it hard to tell whether one will make gains or losses, but it will also reduce one’s confidence in investing in the market.

According to the CFO of PayPal, John Rainey, there is not “a lot of interest from our merchants,” because Bitcoin’s constant fluxes might negatively influence a merchant’s planned product percent margin.

While this still seems to be a problem, investors also need to consider the market itself. Such volatility might be a result of its infancy stage, and the lack of institutional money needed to increase the overall market capitalization.

The second argument made is that of the growing crypto hack, scams and theft cases. 2018 was the year in which thousands of Initial Coin Offerings (ICOs) resulted in nothing more than scams and increased losses. In addition, many hackers were successful in breaching into the system and leaving with large quantities of cryptocurrencies valued at millions.

Regulations on cryptocurrencies have yet to be in place as governmental bodies are trying to understand its specs and finding ways to create laws which won’t hinder the market or the technology’s progress moving forward. Investing into such a market with very little clarity, especially in legal aspects, is surely bothersome for any level of investor.

Big Think argues that the process to get involved in cryptocurrencies “can seem complicated, especially for people who have never done such a thing before.” Whether this can be considered a high barrier to entry is questionable, as many projects have since been established to support multiple accounts under one platform or to facilitate an easier trading experience.

The barrier to entry that does exist are that of ICOs, as they either require investors to contribute costly tokens such as BTC or Ethereum [ETH] or some give most importance to accredited investors, leaving the general public out of the loop.

Of all the cons presented via Big Think, liquidity requires highlighting, as the lack of money further creates an imbalance in the market. For those who have decided to give a shot at the crypto sphere would have noticed the multiple crypto exchanges that exist – all of which reflecting different rules. Hence, one’s ability to buy and sell out is typically limited, adding to the problem of liquidity.

Despite the downside of cryptocurrencies, Big Think’s post noted that many companies and blockchain-based startups have since been established to rid the market of its flaws. An example of Elephant was provided, where the firm plans to target liquidity problems by creating a bridge between “blockchain applications” and “secondary markets”. Also, the firm’s appealing platform is said to support “both experienced and new” investors, which breaks down barriers.

Ultimately, Big Think believes that the crypto sphere will get the user adoption it yearns for. In particular, examples of Amazon considering the likes of cryptocurrencies, and their control over recent web domains like “AmazonEthereum.com” or “AmazonCryptocurrency.com” were given. While the ecommerce and cloud computing firm has yet to announce its involvement, hints exist! Amazon is also working towards a ‘Blockchain Amazon Web Services (AWS)’ to help educate users on blockchain networks and what’s needed to test the waters.

The overall report has given a lot of food for thought, while pointing out the obvious. While many do trust that cryptocurrencies will one day be embraced by society, Big Think’s example of Amazon for mainstream adoption does not seem entirely valid, despite it having a huge user base, as nothing has been confirmed yet. However, other examples of firms attacking existing problems shows that interest in the market is there, and it is only a matter of time for the market to overcome its infancy stage.

Not too long ago, we’ve gotten another extreme of cryptocurrencies that shuts down the points made here. In particular, Bitcoin Exchange Guide reported of Nouriel Roubini, the economist who predicted the 2008 financial crisis. Roubini simply called decentralization a myth, trusts that smart contracts are neither smart nor contracts and claims ICOs are investors approach in escaping the law. Hence, investors have a lot to take in when considering the crypto sphere.

Do your views align with points made in this respective post? Let us know in the comments section below.

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