With Ethereum volumes and values soaring, let alone Bitcoin values, it’s no surprise to see a new study suggesting cryptocurrency values are expected to surpass $1 trillion this year, more than 15 times the value they had last year.

The new study, from Juniper Research, is entitled “The Future of Blockchain: Key Vertical Opportunities & Deployment Strategies 2017-2022,” and is, as always, on sale to relevant parties at relevant prices.

Juniper stated that “transaction values in H1 2017 surpassed US$325 billion, driven by the dramatic increase in Ethereum’s price which saw it account for two-thirds of cryptocurrency transaction values in that time".

The company also says that “cryptocurrency is now typically seeing daily trades well in excess of US$2 billion".

Meanwhile, the research found that Litecoin experienced a surge in volume and value, and if current levels are maintained, Juniper suggests Litecoin “should exceed US$100 billion in transactions this year".

And what of Bitcoin’s price continuing its upward trend?

Juniper says that “Bitcoin has continued its recent rise in value in the wake of the currency’s hard fork on 1 August, which resulted in the creation of a new currency, Bitcoin Cash".

Indeed, since the start of 2017, “Bitcoin prices have risen from around US$1000 to more than US$4000. However, the research cautioned that a second planned fork in November, when the SegWit2x scaling solution is due to be implemented, may prompt a split in the community, potentially leading to depreciation".

According to research author Dr Windsor Holden: “There is no resolution in sight to the continuing and fundamental disagreements between many Bitcoin miners and Bitcoin Core developers over the future of the cryptocurrency. This, in turn, could lead to uncertainty about Bitcoin’s future and downward pressure on its valuation.”

The research, which also focused on new use cases for blockchain, claimed that “ultimately the brightest prospects in the sector came from deployments of private blockchain technologies for permissioned ledgers, rather than the public chains running cryptocurrencies".

As per usual, there is a complimentary whitepaper, dubbed “Which Industries are the Best Fit for Blockchain?”

It’s available for download from the Juniper website together with further details of the full research and the attendant IFxl (Interactive Forecast Excel).