While 2018’s crypto market is proving to be a bit of a horror show, investor Ian Balina believes that 2019 could be the year that everything changes.

There’s no escaping the fact that the cryptocurrency markets are bleeding. Just scan the web for any industry related news and you’ll be bombarded by doom and gloom stories. We can’t hide from the fact that today’s prices are in stark contrast to last year’s.

We’re also aware of the volatility of the market and what a major difference a year can make. Which is why we should be ready to see what 2019 holds for virtual currencies, at least that’s the thinking of Ian Balina.

Balina Looks at SEC

According to Digital Trends Live, the crypto and blockchain investor believes that Bitcoin’s drastic price drop can be attributed to the tenacity of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) in their ongoing efforts to eradicate fraud in the ICO sphere as well as their quest to provide regulatory guidelines for the industry. Balina explained:

The SEC has been giving more guidelines to try to protect U.S. investors … they have also been going after exchangers like EtherDelta, which was one of the first decentralized exchanges, meaning that there wasn’t a central person or government really controlling it — it was something that was created for the community. But even with that being created in a decentralized manner, the SEC was saying that there could still be somebody at fault. So the SEC fined the founder of EtherDelta almost $400,000 … 2018 has been the SEC coming in and cleaning the space, trying to bring more regulation, more compliance, so it’s not total anarchy.

Crypto Could be the Comeback Kid Next Year

There is however a light at the end of this very dark digital tunnel. Funny enough, Balina believes that it’s actually the very same SEC that could provide redemption:

At the end of February of 2019, the SEC is reviewing an ETF application for cryptocurrencies, meaning that people with 401Ks, larger retail investors, have the ability to purchase an ETF, an Exchange Traded Fund. [This means] as opposed to buying one particular cryptocurrency like Bitcoin, they can just buy an Index Fund that holds multiple cryptocurrencies and have that be the main exposure to crypto. The SEC has been pushing back this deadline — it was actually supposed to be this year … in my opinion, this could really be a catalyst for a new bull run in 2019.

The possibility of a Bitcoin ETF is definitely something that those in the industry are looking at perhaps as a way to reverse the current downward trajectory.

Even with the red market, adoption is still happening. BitcoinerX recently reported that major online payments platform, PayPal, is integrating tokens and blockchain technology into their employee rewards programs.

Do you agree with Ian Balina? Let us know in the comments below!

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