It's a whole other world that we've been walking in to with the World Economic Forum this year. If we compare it to the kind of dismissive, and nuanced approaches financial experts and governmental officials have had toward cryptocurrencies and blockchain technology.

But with 2019, we are seeing a far more positive tune, but it doesn't half have its speculators in terms of those asked about investing in the space. But the Forum has included an interesting number of influential people changing sides.

But without further delay, here are some of the highlights from the World Economic Forum in Davos.

One of the most important developments that has come out of the World Economic Forum is the establishment of the global council on Blockchain. Alongside this announcement, the Co-founder and CEO of BitPesa, Elizabeth Rossiello.

With an extensive amount of experience behind her at the helm of the global remittance company based out of Kenya, Rossiello will be taking on one of the two chairs on the Global Council.

The head of Blockchain for the WEF, Sheila Warren commented that blockchain will likely see far more in the way of mass adoption if and when it is picked up by major governments.

“Whether we like it or not, governments are some of the most successful distribution platforms. If we can find a way to use government to actually deploy and use blockchain technology, we’re going to move a long way towards adoption.”

While the cryptocurrency world has been undergoing a profoundly bearish market over the course of 2018, institutional investors are steadily warming within the winter. According to a recent study conducted by the Global Blockchain Business Council demonstrated that institutional investors are positive about blockchain.

Out of the number of investors interviewed, up to 40 percent believe that Blockchain is the most important innovation since the internet. Along with this bullish percentage, a further 38 percent of them believe that companies would need to present any blockchain related roadmaps within the span of 2019.

Out of those that have previously been highly skeptical about Bitcoin, going so far as to refer to it as a digital ‘Tulip Mania.' Jamie Dimon has been uncharacteristically hesitant about taking what many see as his long anticipated victory lap over the recent decline of Bitcoin.

Instead, Dimon appeared to be quite positive about the future of Bitcoin and cryptocurrency.

“Blockchain is a real technology — it’s just a database we can all access that’s kept up-to-date.”

Dimon's pivot indicates a wider transition towards using blockchain technology. According to research by ResearchandMarkets.com found that blockchain was one of the essential components for JP Morgan's long-term roadmap on its trail towards becoming an ever more competitive bank.

While there is plenty of optimism within the world of institutional investors as well as within the cryptocurrency and blockchain space, they still have their fair share of detractors still. And they took it upon themselves to make that known during the World Economic Forum.

Among them was the PayPal CEO, Dan Schulman, who played down the uses of cryptocurrency, especially Bitcoin, as a means of long term investment and as an digital form of currency.

“We’re not seeing many retailers at all accept any of the cryptocurrencies. But I think the underlying technology is interesting,”

Schulmen went on to argue that, as a result of this limited interest from retailer, that it effectively relegated its purposes down to serving simply as a reward.

“I have always thought that crypto was more of a reward mechanism for implementing blockchain, as opposed to really a currency.”

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