Don Tapscott, the co-founder of Blockchain Research Institute the co-author of the book "Blockchain Revolution" (and other 15 books) recently shared his thoughts about what's coming to the blockchain landscape in 2018.
Just for the record, Don was pretty much on top of the things with his 2017 predictions and was one of the first guys to state that Bitcoin will reach $2000 mark.
The full article was published in Quartz, and you can read it here.
Here's a brief summary of what he wrote.
#1 The value of cryptocurrencies will continue increasing
2018 will be a year of massive institutional buying, and more substantial players will step into the market. The market will be more volatile than ever, but as long as the technology delivers what it promised, the overall value will continue to increase.
However, you shouldn't drop your guard as, over the next few years, most of the top 10 companies will be superseded. New and more powerful businesses are likely to emerge, just like Facebook, Amazon and Google did after the dot-com era.
#2 Cryptocurrencies will embrace even more business models
Financial services, retail, government, energy, education, transportation, media, telecommunications, technology, healthcare, and resources are all the industries whose leading organizations already explore the benefits of the blockchain. At the same time, there is a surge of new blockchain-based startups, which again reminds the dot-com rush. However, it is an inseparable part of technological evolution.
#3 Emergence of new value creation platform
Since Bitcoin is still just a currency and a store of value, blockchain needs a 3rd generation cryptocurrency to overcome the existing bottlenecks. Will Ehtereum manage to become one? Currently, it's still the best candidate for the "flippening".
New platforms to watch in 2018 are AION, ICON, Cosmos and Polkadot, as all of them, address the critical issues of scalability, interoperability, and governance.
#4 The $10 billion ICO as ICO's shift towards utility tokens
2018 will provide ample opportunities for new ICO's - high function currencies, product tokens, loyalty tokens, social tokens, security tokens and others that represent something of value instead of ownership in the company.
Imagine an ICO held by Tesla. If at least 10 million fans had a chance to purchase smart securities that represent the ownership of its new product, it could potentially raise over $10 billion.
In 2017 ICO's proved to be a fantastic tool for fundraising, and in 2018 even more, companies will exploit it.
#5 Cracks in the walls of digital feudalism
Right now most of our digital data is collected by the digital landlords - social media companies, search engines, banks, and governments. Blockchain will provide us an opportunity to get that data back and manage it to our needs - sell it, use it to our life planning and protect our privacy.
Digital blockchain identities are already underway from such companies as uPort from ConsenSys, Civic, and Sovrin. Also, expect for the emergence of "data aggregators" that will curate data by negotiating deals with organizations and individuals.
#6 Digital conglomerates will embrace crypto
There is no doubt that blockchain poses an existential threat to the world's largest digital companies. Therefore, expect these companies to embrace cryptocurrencies and other blockchain applications. It's no secret that Google, Amazon, and Facebook are already exploring partnership and acquisition opportunities.
#7 Implementation of fiat cryptocurrencies
Cryptocurrencies could easily shape the upcoming 100 years of human prosperity. Switzerland, Singapore, Canada, India, Estonia, South Korea, Japan, and the UK are the countries to watch for the first fiat cryptocurrency initiatives.
Meanwhile, we can expect Bitcoin and coins, in general, to be adopted by growing number of retailers, service providers, and organizations.
#8 Governments will be more assertive about cryptocurrency regulations
In 2017 cryptocurrencies became too big to ignore. In 2018 they will be too big to fail.
We have to agree that sensible regulation of crypto ecosystem could be helpful. In a speculative world of ICO's, they are even urgently needed. United States Securities and Exchange Commision (SeC) is on the right track by stating that some, but not all crypto assets are securities.
There's still much to do with the regulations. However, having a cautious, but open-minded approach towards defining crypto space rules is the way to go.
#9 Breakthroughs in energy and climate change
The killer app on blockchain could literally save the planet. It's time for the take-off distributed energy and peer-to-peer sustainable energy trading tokens. Companies like Spectral Enegery and LO3 Energy and Grid+ are leading the way at the moment.
There are also companies that will engage everyone to reduce their carbon footprint. See Veridium, CarbonX Personal Carbon Trading and Zerofootprint Software enabling and rewarding individuals and enterprises for reducing their carbon emissions.
#10 Growing crypto resilience
We can still expect many hacks, thefts, and crimes to happen. Despite that, after every blow, cryptocurrencies bounce back even stronger and hit new records. Both hype and criticism have created an anti-fragile technology that benefits from attacks, stressors, and failures.
It's 1994 all over again. Despite the 2001 crash, the internet today is talked about more than ever.
What do you think about Don's predictions and what do you believe will happen in crypto space during 2018? Comment below. :)