With cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin and Ethereum having seen exponential price increases throughout 2017 it's easy to suggest the entire crypto space is in an epic bubble. And while in the short-term this may be true with wild price springs occurring on a regular basis, what 2017 has proven is that more and more individuals and institutions around the world are getting interested. In fact, so much so that Coinbase, one of the most popular crypto currency exchanges in the United States, saw more client accounts created in three years than brokerage firm Charles Schwab has seen in thirty.
This, according to Hive Blockchain Technologies Chairman Frank Holmes in a recent interview with Future Money Trends, is indicative not of a bubble, but rather, a mass adoption. Holmes notes that proof of this adoption comes from the fact that Genesis Mining, one of the largest global blockchain mining leasing firms, recently ran out of mining server space in their massive facility. As well, there is incredible demand as evidenced by Coinbase and other exchanges, especially now that millennials see blockchain as the future of the internet.
Holmes: Coinbase is where most people in America go to open an account... I was just overwhelmed by the staggering data point that in three years they've gone to 13 million accounts... It took 30 years for Schwab to get to 10 million.Full Interview:
Future Money Trends: So, when you see that kind of movement and adoption... when people see the parabolic move the outsider is saying "bubble, bubble, bubble" ... but is this really not a bubble... just a mass adoption?
Holmes: I totally agree... You've got to look at the simple math of this... the maximum amount of Bitcoins is 21 million... it's been estimated that a quarter are lost... the float is about 10 million... If you look at a law called Metcalfe's Law... it basically says that as more people use a platform, the value of each constituent goes up exponentially... it happened with cable and the same thing happened with cell phones... and now we're seeing it with Bitcoin.
... I think that the financial ecosystem is morphing to this decentralized world.
There is no doubt that blockchain technologies will continue to move forward and revolutionize everything from digital payments systems to communications security. And though price movements of some crypto assets may look like a bubble, consider that only a small percentage of the global population has gotten involved from an investment standpoint. Some estimates suggest that the current $600 billion or so total market cap of all cryptocurrencies combined will soon be dwarfed by the trillions of dollars expected to move into the space. In this case, early adopters of successful blockchain technologies will continue to see exponential gains as the market expands.
Related: Top Crypto Mining Executive Explains Why “We’re Hoarding The Coins”