Blockchain was a mystic word unknown to quite a lot of us until recently. And look what has happened in the last few years, not even decades!
Here are some of the insights from the Bitop research team that cannot remain unnoticed even by those for whom technology is not “their bread and butter”:
The unstoppable growth of the global blockchain market
We at Bitop estimate the global blockchain market to be USD 11.8 billion in 2020 and it is expected to reach USD 70.5 billion by 2026, growing at an annual rate, CAGR, of 58.7 % during that period.
Blockchain turned out to be an immutable digital economic transaction register that can not only record transactions but can also be used for payments, smart contracts, compliance management, digital identity risk, and many more.
This significant growth can be explained by the increased investment in blockchain technology and venture capital funds. Banking, financial services, and insurance, BFSI, hold the lion’s share in the international marketplace due to the increasing adoption of blockchain technology in this sector.
With such a large array of industries that can be impacted by blockchain technology, Bitop as a trading platform is committed to becoming a bridge connecting traditional finance and blockchain assets.
How blockchain will transform business & society respectively
We at Bitop believe that blockchain technology is expected to make the most transformative changes in the way business functions nowadays. The market is driven by the growing need for faster transactions and simplified business processes. This leads to a change in international trade, more efficient transaction management, digitalization in various industry sectors, and an increased need for transparency of information.
The small and medium-size companies, SMEs, avail themselves of the blockchain technology in their payroll, billing, inventory, and automation of other business processes, thus making them faster and at a lower cost.
Individuals, on the other hand, that want to get involved in the blockchain industry may find a platform like Bitop extremely beneficial in guiding them during their first steps in navigating the new era of financial markets.
Private, public and hybrid blockchains
The domination of private blockchains is becoming more and more obvious. They are customized in accordance with corporate business needs. The market, in general, is segmented in the public, private and hybrid blockchain. Besides the private segment, the hybrid one is also likely to grow at a considerable rate as it provides common characteristics to the other two types. One of its values is that it provides privacy, and it is not accessible to everyone.
Is crypto the new gold
The “digital gold” aspect which some cryptocurrencies may have also contributed to their rising popularity. Digital currencies attract more users - the number of blockchain wallets has reached 74.7 million, which is 18.57 % growth within the last 6 months (as of the time this article was written), according to an observation made by the Bitop research team. Their institutional adoption is noticeable, and it is both in investments and offerings.
“As of June 27, 2021, the total market value of digital currencies is approximately RMB 89 trillion. Among them, traditional PE (Private Equity), VC (Venture Capital), hedge funds and other capitals that have investment and incubation activities in the blockchain industry.” - Bitop Whitepaper
The conversion of some of the fiat treasury into crypto as a hedge against inflation is proof of the first one, and it is expected more traditional players to adopt crypto in their services. PayPal was one of the biggest names in 2020 that announced the crypto trading option for its users. The Dow Jones announced it will provide cryptocurrency indices this year which is proof of how serious Wall Street is taking crypto.
Stablecoins vs altcoins
Stablecoins are increasing their usage due to the high volatility of cryptocurrencies. The demand for stablecoins on behalf of governments and institutions is increasing and many national banks are experimenting with stablecoins of their national currency, so-called CBDCs (Central Bank Digital Currencies). China is a leader in this area. The EU is also thinking of implementing a digital Euro.
So comes the simultaneous rise of the crypto scams
However, we at Bitop need to draw your attention to the fact that not everything in the crypto space runs as smoothly as we all want it. There are also certain disadvantages that are not to be neglected, such as the significant initial investment and security concerns.
One of the most likely vulnerabilities concerns the distributed ledger technology, DLT, which originates outside the blockchain itself. Usually, they are named “endpoint vulnerabilities”, as this is where humans and the blockchain meet. The issues here are connected to the credentials required to access the ledger and how these credentials can be exposed by security weaknesses at the endpoints.
The other issue is the public and private key security which is used to access the blockchain. Without the right keys, no hacker will be able to access your data. Another security aspect is the untested code that quite a few of the blockchains are still experimenting with. One infamous example is that of The DAO attack in 2016, when after the crowdsale the Ethereum community witnessed an attack at two vulnerabilities in The DAO code. After transferring USD 55 million worth of Ether the hacker ended his malicious actions for reasons still unknown to us.
The security approach that Bitop is taking is to combine the dual methods of centralization and decentralization to establish a million-dollar risk protection fund with liquidity providers and project parties to make up for the losses of users.
Governments are not just sitting and watching the show
Governments will enforce regulations related to FinTech. EU legislators are pursuing a regulatory system for crypto-asset markets. As crypto is establishing itself as a new asset class and has survived quite a few ups and downs the regulation will increase especially in the areas of taxation and licensing the users. This could create some discomfort to the crypto companies that have been found at the very beginning of the crypto ages when there were no regulations at all. A perfect example of this is the current case with SEC and Ripple.
NFTs - proof of ownership or the metaverse of art
The NFT industry has so far appeared to be the ‘modern-day’ art collecting, but it can be much more than that - a proof of ownership, a wide array of visual graphics, art, memorabilia, even “digital bragging rights”. It could also be a virtual reality which with the help of new technologies and AI can create a parallel galaxy that one day would hardly be separated from the real (or so we think) world we live in now, AKA the Metaverse.
Some more about our BTOP token - in our next article, so have some patience :)
More DeFi applications, DAPs and DAO
The blockchain and crypto space is more mature now and many projects have moved from the proof-of-concept to the commercial stage. DeFi grows and more of its principles are tested as it provides decentralized services that are open, accessible, censorship-resistant, and governed for and by its users’ benefit. They reshape the financial structure by removing the middleman and creating a direct peer-to-peer relationship.
DAPs (Decentralised Applications) are built on the blockchain, there is no control over them in the network. Data is distributed, it’s open-source, and all records must be public.
In DAOs (Decentralised Autonomous Organisations) every member has the right to vote on specific topics, decide on things and therefore transfer the power from one central authority to the majority.
The rise of crypto banks
Switzerland was the first jurisdiction to grant full banking licenses to crypto projects in 2019 and this is how Sygnum became the first crypto bank. In 2020 in the US the state of Wyoming created a new type of crypto banking license and this is how projects like Kraken and Avanti started to operate.
Another example is BlockFi which is expected to launch a credit card with an option of paying 1.5% off the purchases made back in Bitcoin.
As we from the Bitop team can see after having read all of the above, blockchain is one of the hottest and fastest-growing aspects in the IT sector today. It is showing no signs of slowing down so let’s see how these trends will unfold, it’s definitely going to be an exciting journey!
Join us at Bitop so we can enjoy the ride together! :)
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