EXMO co-founder Ivan Petukhovsky names 5 main trends that will shape The Crypto World in 2019 EXMO Follow Jan 22, 2019 · 4 min read

OPINION Let’s see what to expect from The Cryptocurrency World in 2019:

Firstly, it is a further purification of the market of garbage assets. During the last years, the market was overflowing with “garbage” crypto-assets and fake projects, because of the hype around ICO throughout 2017–2018.

In 2018, the market cleansing phase has already begun and passed actively. We believe that in 2019 this trend will not just continue, but the market will recover for raising capital through the issuance of digital assets. The quality of the market will increase, including due to the emergence of many regulations by states. It will definitely give ICO projects the opportunity to evolve into a modern and reliable tool for raising capital and will provide a powerful impetus to the further development of the digital asset market. So we can safely expect that new promising blockchain projects will continue to appear massively, but there will be a lot fewer scammers among them.

Secondly, we are also confident that in the current year the cryptocurrency world expects the development of regulations and control, and as a result, the future cooperation of financial institutions from the traditional financial market with cryptocurrency companies.

In 2018, the cryptocurrency market disappointed some investors with a protracted and massive decline in prices, as well as the complete absence of any stability, but in spite of this, December ended on a positive note. The main problem that manifested itself is the lack of proper state regulation. And if earlier regulators of developed countries did not know how to react to digital currencies, now they see that these crypto tools attract investors’ attention despite any nuances and subtleties. We have received a clear signal from the regulatory authorities of various countries, including the SEC, stating that the cryptocurrency markets and the ICO should be regulated. This trend will only increase with the development of the industry.

Thirdly, it is assumed that in 2019 regulation will become more ambitious, and countries will begin to interact with each other in these matters. And as a result, the emergence of regulation will set the rules for financial institutions and other legal entities with cryptocurrency.

It will enable exchanges to work seamlessly with banks, including the use of bank transfers, as well as enter into agreements with legal entities. Regulation will provide an additional opportunity to acquire cryptocurrency assets to institutional investors and other capital market players.

Fourthly, market consolidation is expected.

Absorption from the big players from the market of classical finance. IPO (Initial public offering) of major crypto industry players. Rather fast and dynamic development of the world of digital currencies has already entailed many capital investments from the most significant investment banks, international stock exchanges, forex brokers and other players in the crypto industry. The future development of the market will only further strengthen this trend.

V. Clearing the market of substandard projects and “blowing the bubble” led to a lack of high incomes for players such as cryptocurrency exchanges and platforms, ICO sites, mining pools, crypto wallets, manufacturers of mining equipment, and increased competition, also due to the “entrance” to market of new influential players.

We expect that these trends will lead to consolidation of the market (by mergers and acquisitions), and perhaps even to bankruptcies (the sensational story of the WEX exchange can be taken as a prime example). To maintain further development, in the absence of super-profits and the ability to attract significant capital through the ICO, many players have already begun preparations for an IPO to raise equity capital and increase confidence in their company from institutional investors. Due to the trends described above, we predict an increase in the liquidity of the market of crypto active assets, their wider penetration among the broad masses of the population and the inflow of institutional capital in the form of investments, as well as the emergence of new crypto tools secured by real assets. Similarly, the fall in stock markets encourages many investors to enter the crypto market, the collapse in traditional markets is forcing investors to take profits and look for new investment opportunities.

It seems that the year 2019 will be a period of the thaw on the market of digital currencies and the revival of cryptocurrency as a tool for integrating the blockchain into familiar things. People will rethink the value of this tool and will no longer see in it a way of natural enrichment.

Share your opinion in comments as well and thank you for reading!