Deutsche Bank has predicted the rise of cryptocurrencies over the next decade on the back of a “fragile” fiat economy. In a paper entitled Imagine 2030, Deutsche Bank describes a world hanging onto its financial principles with its fingertips, with cryptocurrency poised to replace traditional cash after a potential “backlash” from citizens if it collapses.
Crypto Could “Take Off”
Deutsche Bank doesn’t hold back on its assessment of the state of the world economy over the next ten years, with particular regard to the existing monetary system:
The forces that hold the fiat money system together look fragile, particularly decades of low labour costs. Over the next decade, some of these forces could begin to unravel and demand for alternative currencies, from gold to crypto, could take off.
This kind of sentiment gets crypto believers licking their lips in anticipation, and it isn’t without merit – many market observers have been saying for some time that the current global financial system is on the verge of a catastrophic reversal just ten years after the financial crash. This could lead to citizens becoming disaffected with their governments and turning to non-regulated forms of currency like Bitcoin.
Crypto as Fiat Successor Far From Guaranteed
Deutsche also comments more directly on cryptocurrency, stating how regulations could be the catalyst that sends it mainstream:
Until now, cryptocurrencies have been additions, rather than substitutes, to the global inventory of money. Over the next decade, this may change. Overcoming regulatory hurdles will broaden
their appeal and raise the potential to eventually replace cash.
Any ardent crypto fans might just pass out at that summary, but this is a very long term view and relies on a number of specific outcomes. If the fiat system were to collapse, crypto is the defacto replacement currency type as it is already in existence and operating, but just because something is ready first it doesn’t mean it will be adopted immediately. Some will argue that terrorist organisations and states like North Korea have an upper hand due to their stockpiling of crypto in the past years, which could well count against it, although a new cryptocurrency-style system is not unimaginable in those circumstances.
Once more however, it could be a case of ‘blockchain, not Bitcoin’.
