FIVE REASONS 2018 WILL BE THE BEST YEAR FOR CRYPTOCURRENCIES

The last month or so has been one hectic ride for anyone who has Invested time and especially money into cryptocurrencies. One thing that appears to be a recurring theme is the number of ‘analysts’ and so called ‘experts’ who have been highlighting the downfalls of this industry and have focussed heavily on it’s demise.

We’ve always highlighted the importance of calculating both the potential upsides and downsides, and it is apparent that too many people take unnecessary risks and invest more than they can afford, or don’t carry out their due diligence.

With that in mind, Hive account@antonburton & Hive account@alexmavor thought it is important that we provide some optimism and provide five reasons for why 2018 might just be the best year for Crypto currencies yet!

1, Scaling Issues

Bitcoin (BTC) is the most important cryptocurrency. Most government-backed money that goes in and out of crypto goes through bitcoin, so what happens to the original cryptocurrency affects the entire market. We have seen this in most recent weeks.

Bitcoin maintains a dominant position with the biggest user base and the biggest industry. Still, it faces a challenge in scaling up for wider use. At the moment Bitcoin can only handle 7 transactions per second (and with the SegWit upgrade its between 10-12). Compared against credit cards which can run thousands per second, Bitcoins ability surrounding scalability is understandable.

So what’s the solution?

We’d suggest looking at the Lightning network which allows for transactions off the blockchain, thereby reducing transaction costs almost to zero, thus improving the speed of scalability. Over the coming months we can expect a rise in transactions through this channel. Furthermore, the lightning Network doesn’t have any fee!

2, Regulation

Too many individuals feel that regulation can be devastating for the markets, but that in our eyes is a very short-sighted perspective to take. In the long-run, all companies require rules for legal stability. Regulation provides us with the trust and confidence to invest into them. Take a look at Japan when they started regulating Bitcoin. Yes, the market dropped initially, but it did eventually rise.

Majority of countries tend to sing from the same hymnm sheet and regulation will be implemented. It could be very similar to the actions of South Korea, but the end result will play out something similar to that of Japan.

3, Legitimate ICO’s

Like we saw last year, Initial Coin Offerings (ICO’s) will impact the ethereum network as they usually require a high amount of ether. That on it’s own will support the demand for the platform’s digital currency. Greater legitimate ICO’s will lead to further interest in ether. Examples of this already include Telegram and Kodak.

4, Execution & Usability

Start-ups are beginning to appear that provide debit cards to help people spend their cryptocurrency. Thinking about this logically, it means that the number of users and merchants will increase in 2018. This should strengthen the reputation of crypto currencies with more and more companies beginning to trust and accept them.

The business that join the party early will more than likely stand out and where only a few companies survive – others will fail. But like the process of evolution, people will only focus on the winners and ignore the losers.

5, Institutional Investors

Our last but not least reason for why cryptocurrencies will have an enjoyable year in 2018 is due to it being the first year that we start to see the awakening of institutional investors and plenty money flow in to the crypto eco-system.

It has been estimated that between $10-$12 billion dollars has already been invested into cryptocurrencies. That is only a drop in the ocean, when compared to what institutional funds can invest.

Final Thoughts

While there is no guarantee that all 5 factors will take place, there is still a high probability that they can take place. Now, if just one of the above examples help improve the value of cryptocurrencies by 50 – 100%, imagine what will happen when you combine all the factors. There might be a potential return of 7 or 8 times the current level. This is why we believe that 2018 will make crypto currencies the most successful year to date.

As always, don’t take our suggestions as investment advice. We always remind our readers and viewers to undertake their own research and asses the potential risks.

Shout outs

First shout out goes to Hive account@furiouspete - Welcome to Steemit! Hive account@alexmavor also believes that you have nothing on him & that he can eat food faster than you in his sleep. If you are looking for a challenge, we shall be in NYC in the coming weeks!