It’s a new year and a new decade, one in which blockchain technology is set to play a massive part. We run down what we can all expect from the crypto markets in 2020, from prices to adoption, as we try and figure out what the next 12 months have in store.
Regulation
If crypto wants to succeed as a legitimate challenger to the likes of the Nasdaq, then it will have no choice but to be regulated. This has already started in earnest in 2019, with the likes of AMLD5 and the Financial Action Task Force on Money Laundering (FATF) regulations making it much harder for users to crypto users slip through the net, and 2020 will see more of the same.
Countries all over the world will enact tougher restrictions on cryptocurrency and storage, with many likely to adopt the same policies as Ukraine and force crypto users to reveal their holdings. This will be anathema to crypto purists and will drive many users underground for a number of reasons, but for the majority it will be a painful exercise in legitimizing the space so that it can flourish in the 2020s.
Adoption
2019 was a great year for crypto adoption, with many great partnerships such as Enjin and Samsung, Constellation and the US Air Force, and VeChain with just about everyone. Microsoft now awards NFTs to top blockchain developers, while world renowned sports franchises are now engaging supporters with blockchain-based rewards.
2020 will only see more projects signing up with major players who recognize the benefits of blockchain technology as the technology improves and the truly promising projects are wheedled out from the trash. Look out for headline-making deals happening on a regular basis, and hope you’re holding the right tokens!
Bitcoin Halving
The 2020 Bitcoin halving will dominate the first half of the year, and perhaps with good reason. The event, which is slated to happen around May 14, represents an important cog in Bitcoin’s deflationary mechanism. The reward for mining BTC halves every four years to ensure that the release of BTC is staggered to avoid it flooding the market and reducing the value, and typically results in a price rise.
At the time of the last halving in 2016, Bitcoin from $445 to $776 in the lead up to it, although of course the real bull run happened 18 months afterwards. Expect plenty of six figure fantasy predictions and an underwhelming actual price.
Prices
The million-dollar question, literally! Of course no one knows what to expect from the crypto markets at any point in time, but the Bitcoin halving should at least drag the markets up to some degree, even if it doesn’t last. Following this there will of course be another cooling off period, which could mean that, when all is said and done, we end 2020 much as we have ended 2019, ready for a potential full on bull market in 2021. Either way, we at BitStarz news don’t predicted all-time highs in 2020.
The Health of the Market
Many crypto projects are already running on vapours as for as funding goes, with very few making money under their own steam. Because of this we will see more projects leaving the space than joining it in 2020, with some leaving honourably and others pumping their own tokens before selling out and leaving investors stranded.
The space is also still alive with scammers, and with projects such as HEX still managing to pull in $5.5 million in ETH, there is clearly an appetite for investors to hand over their money to obvious scams. This won’t stop in 2020 with authorities still largely powerless to stop them.
Whatever happens in 2020, we can be sure that there will be plenty of drama, crazy price action, headline-making partnerships and equally headline-making scams. Will Craig Wright finally admit he’s not Bitcoin’s creator? Will QuadrigaCX CEO Gerald Cotten be found chilling on a Caribbean beach and not six feet under Indian soil? Will the halving send Bitcoin to the moon?
There’s only one way to find out – through BitStarz News!
