Mainstream interest in cryptocurrencies has momentum

Subject

Cryptocurrencies outlook

Significance

The market capitalisation of cryptocurrencies has increased tenfold from a year ago to more than 120 billion dollars. A bitcoin, at par with an ounce of gold as recently as May, now costs nearly three times as much. This year capital raisings from Initial Coin Offerings have significantly surpassed venture capital investment into blockchain-based technologies.

Impacts

• New cryptocurrencies will be blockchain-based cryptographic tokens that represent digital assets such as storage space or computing power.
• Cryptocurrencies will become their own asset class as values rise across the board with little correlation to other assets.
• Bitcoin will continue to undergo the transformation necessary for it to retain its dominance, which is reducing.
• Cryptocurrencies and Initial Coin Offerings will test the limits of existing laws and regulations.