As with any new industry, there will be doubt and setbacks in getting customers to accept new products or services. People want proof that the industry will be worth their time and money. Take television, for example. Being able to see live programming on a small screen seemed impossible and televisions were very expensive. Also, the iPhone. Convincing people to have a second phone took some time, especially since cell phones were big and bulky at first. Not to mention very expensive. However, once these products were used and their prices came down, people accepted them. The same can be said for the cryptocurrency industry.

At first, cryptocurrency sounded fantastic. Why would anyone create another form of currency? To give us a safer and easier way to make a payment. We have experienced and/or heard about the problems with transactions made through banking and financial institutions, such as double payments or unauthorized transactions. Cryptocurrency solves these issues by using a decentralized server and cryptography to verify and secure each transaction. Since the 2009 release of Bitcoin, cryptocurrency has slowly infiltrated our economies. People are realizing the benefits of cryptocurrency and are beginning to accept it. And with any industry, each year brings new changes or trends. This year’s top cryptocurrency trends include:

Security Tokens — There will be a demand for more security tokens due to an increase in institutionalized investors now that financial regulators are focusing on security token offerings (STOs) and that many initial coin offerings (ICOs) have failed. STOs offer more security than ICOs, thus more investors want STOs since they are a better investment. Jetcoin — Now there’s a cryptocurrency just for the fans of athletes. Jetcoin was founded by Eric Alexandre in 2014. Fans can choose a star from Alexandre’s pool of athletes and then buy a cryptocurrency token called a JET. As the athlete increases in value, so does the cryptocurrency token. Jetcoin is projected to grow this year, especially since it has partnered with Lagardere Sports Group and Prime Sports Rights. Institutional Money — More institutions will be investing in the cryptocurrency market, since there are more cryptocurrency coins and support for them. For example, Bakkt will be launching later this year. It is a cryptocurrency platform for institutional money. Despite a decrease in Bitcoin price, cryptocurrency is still valuable as the “daily transactions for all cryptocurrencies is up year over year,” per Investing Haven .

The cryptocurrency industry is growing and will be attracting more merchants, making the use of cryptocurrency as common as non-digital cash (e.g. Japanese Yen). For example, Ducatus has a number of businesses that accepts the Ducatus coin (e.g. Ducatus Cafe and Ducatus Travel). We already know the benefits of using cryptocurrency and with institutional support (investing), the public will be more receptive to using it.