What have been the main trends in cryptocurrencies in this 2019 that is about to end?
The first one was certainly the recovery of the Bitcoin value, which started the year under $4,000 dollars and will presumably close it at about twice the value, or maybe a little less.
Even the total market cap of all crypto currencies has risen, from about $130 billion to about $200 billion dollars.
However, it seems that these increases have not greatly satisfied the crypto community, so much so that according to a recent survey’s results, which involved more than 3,000 participants, only for 47% of people it was a positive year. In fact, for 53%, 2019 was not a good year for the crypto sector.
It is not known if this result is due for example to some kind of disappointment about expectations, perhaps excessive, about price growth, or the fact that some cryptocurrencies are not closing the year with a price increase (like XRP) or are closing more or less at par (like ETH), but in fact given the peaks reached at the end of 2017 there may still be around a little disappointment.
However, the reasons could also be completely removed from the more speculative context. For example, the so-called mass adoption in this 2019 has not taken place.
According to Federico Monti, CEO of ZBX Blockchain Smart Solutions, cryptocurrencies suffer from a distorted brand awareness: divine blessing for the speculator, scam for the non-trader, with a small minority of hodlers, who have a healthier perception and closer to the nature of the same.
“The mass adoption of crypto is not close and I think the best strategy to make them accept is to convey the knowledge later, after having digested well the wonders of the blockchain, which is already now perceived positively by individuals, companies and public administration. As an operator in the sector I can say that soon we will have the first phase of widespread adoption, with cases that will attract the attention and endorsements of many other adopters.”
Another possible source of disappointment could be due to the excess of enthusiasm spreading after Libra’s announcement in June. In fact, in those days, for example, the annual peaks of Bitcoin values and many other cryptocurrencies were recorded, but with the passing of the months it was discovered that the project of the “Facebook cryptocurrency” was far from becoming reality.
In fact, beyond Libra, it was a very interesting year for the so-called stablecoins, with the birth of new projects, such as USDC, and the spread of others, such as DAI.
Probably the single trend that has given the most headaches is the one related to regulations. Certainly, precisely because of Libra, regulators have begun to devote much attention to stablecoins, and cryptocurrencies in general, and this has not yet produced any obvious advantage. On the contrary, many criticisms, objections and fears have been raised, which have probably affected the perception of these new technologies by the general public.
The single most successful trend, on the other hand, was probably the one linked to DeFi. Although the decentralized financial instruments on Ethereum have been in circulation since 2017, 2019 was certainly the year of their consecration.
It may not be remembered in the future as the year of their explosion, but it certainly will be for being the first year in which they started to spread. In addition, this trend is announced as a possible protagonist also in 2020, since for now its growth does not hint to stop.
Simone Conti of Eidoo commented:
“2019 was the year of Defi. We saw the first successful case of using smart contracts. MakerDao, Synthetix, Compound are projects that have laid the foundations for an industry destined to remain, designing new business models and opening up endless possibilities. The market is dominated by a few players. Next year we will see many of them coming. It will also be the year of DEX”.
In short, perhaps we could say that the common perception about 2019 is too pessimistic, probably because of an initial unjustified excess of enthusiasm.
In fact, from an objective point of view, 2019 does not seem to close at all as a bad year for the crypto sector, although on the other hand it will certainly not be remembered for being one of the best. After all, even the same survey mentioned above actually closed with a sort of draw, since the difference between positive and negative votes is very small.
