What Cryptocurrency Trends Can We Expect to See in 2019?

2019 is the year cryptocurrency goes legit.

You already know the security value a blockchain platform offers its users. You know the excitement that comes with watching new coins explode onto the market. But the rest of the world needs to catch up.

Consolidate your gains now. We predict this next year is the one where the average Joe jumps on the crypto bandwagon.

What do we mean exactly? Which coins will pop, and what other innovations will the market see?

We’re glad you asked. We’ve run the numbers and consulted the crypto gods to find the cryptocurrency trends 2019 has in store.

Keep reading. Find out how you can pivot to make the most of the cryptocurrency market next year.

From Coins to Chains: Cryptocurrency Trends for the New Year

A good crypto forecast should be more than a report on the hot new coins. We do think those are important. We won’t forget to include them.

However, we have also scanned the horizon for technology trends that will change the market. We’re going to see a few currencies stabilize. We’re going to see a lot more respect from the financial world in general.

Here are our predictions. Evaluate them for yourself.

Bitcoin Stays Strong and Stabilizes

Bitcoin is the gold standard for cryptocurrency. We could say gold is the Bitcoin standard for regular currency. It’s that successful.

There is always instability in a new currency. Bitcoin is no exception. But we predict Bitcoin will come a long way this year.

We see Bitcoin growing steadily in value as the public becomes more familiar with it. At the same time, that means it will stabilize due to two-sided trading on the Bitcoin market. Thus, no more giant explosions in value.

This is good news and bad news. It’s good news for anyone who bought low on Bitcoin in the early days. It’s bad news for anyone who still looks at Bitcoin mining as a get-rich-quick scheme.

That kind of bad news is generally good for a currency, so we’ll take these gains as a win overall.

Ripple Gets All the Buzz

If you’re looking for the shiny new toy, turn your attention from Bitcoin to Ripple. We know Ripple has been around a few years now, but recent developments have made it more attractive.

This year, Ripple launched its xRapid product. xRapid is revolutionary. It allows large commercial customers to convert currency into XRP for rapid transfers.

Rapid transfer of currency across borders is a big breakthrough. Because of xRapid, Ripple is poised to make a big splash in 2019.

Increased Legitimacy as Institutional Money Enters the Market

Bitcoin futures will appear on the NASDAQ in 2019. That’s a big step in legitimizing cryptocurrency in the financial sector.

Because of this legitimacy, institutions are looking to invest in crypto. These investments will increase crypto’s legitimacy even more.

We’ll see how the NASDAQ experiment goes in Q1 of 2019. There are doubters. If they are proved wrong, we’ll see even more currencies hit the market for investment.

It’s a cycle of legitimacy.

New Evaluations

One of the other factors in the legitimacy cycle is the evolution of evaluation tools. So far, these tools have been relatively unsophisticated. That’s because these currencies don’t have long histories to draw from when predicting their future value.

As these currencies stabilize and stick around, evaluating tools get more sophisticated. Experts like Chris Burniske are developing new formulae for evaluation. Burniske’s formula adds velocity to the total size of assets, which he equates to the price of the digital resource plus its quantity.

General Decentralization

Cryptocurrency promises freedom. It appeals to investors who want to move their money around quickly. It appeals to those who aren’t afraid to take risks.

The security that blockchain guarantees in crypto investing makes this independence possible.

We predict this freedom will only grow in 2019.

Decentralized cryptocurrencies forego the blockchain. The blockchain can be a shadowy force, since it’s not exactly clear who controls which parts of it. Decentralized currencies put the power of investing back in the hands of investors.

Decentralized Exchanges

Decentralized cryptocurrencies still need models of organization, no matter how free they are. There need to be exchanges where you can trade them. Otherwise, they would have no value.

We predict the growth of such exchanges in 2019. There are a handful of these exchanges, called DEXs, already. But they need greater technical sophistication, and we expect those developments to come this year.

Decentralized Apps

Decentralization won’t just affect coins. Through smart contracts on the Ethereum platform, we’ll see developers collaborate in new ways.

A game called CryptoKitties has already used smart contracts on Ethereum to let users collect digital pets. The limitations of these contracts have to do with the low scalability of Ethereum’s blockchain. Once developers figure out that scalability, we’re going to see DApps pop up in even greater numbers.

Blockchain Keeps Blowing Up

As foreboding as it can be, blockchain seems here to stay. Yes, most companies’ blockchain platforms are minimally scalable. But these companies are pouring enough money into that problem to fix it quickly.

“Big Four” accounting firm PricewaterhouseCoopers has seen demand for blockchain skyrocket this year. The firm reports that companies are spending on blockchain advisory to the tune of nearly $2 billion.

We like those numbers for predicting the continued growth of blockchain.

Mine Away

Cryptocurrency trends are the most exciting financial trends to follow. There is always a new currency or platform to research. As you dig deeper, you find the investments that diversify and strengthen your portfolio.

Are you looking to go from crypto novice to crypto pro? Let us show you how to start trading cryptocurrency as a full-time job.