Although the crypto market has experienced a hard year, the future seems bright for virtual currencies. This is what several experts predict for the future of the space. Ian McLeod, the co-founder of art-tech agency Thomas Crown Art, cryptocurrencies will become a safe haven in the next 12 months. The information was reported by Veredict.
McLeod Believes Cryptos Could Become a Safe Haven
Virtual currencies have been affected by a bear market that started at the beginning of the year. Bitcoin has lost around 80% of its value and there are some analysts that predict that Bitcoin’s price can go even lower. Despite this, the market could start to recover in 2019.
McLeod believes that virtual currencies will become a ‘safe haven’ over the next 12 months. There are different political uncertainties around the world that make him think that this situation could happen. At the same time, there are different indicators that show that a slow down int he global economy could be near.
Some of these things that could make Bitcoin and virtual currencies a safe haven include Brexit, trade wars or rising interest rates.
McLeod commented about this:
“There’s a growing list of investment tailwinds to consider for 2019. These include significant trade tensions, rising interest rates, political uncertainties, including Brexit, and complacent financial markets.”
At the same time, he said that crypto adoption will also increase during the next year. Crypto adoption will be pushed by businesses that will adopt virtual currencies and blockchain technology.
He stated that due to the fact that Bitcoin and other virtual currencies are scarce, with a growing demand, their value would not be eroded. Furthermore, he noted that we could be close to use virtual currencies as haven assets such as the Swiss Franc or gold.
“There are several key reasons why the likes of Bitcoin and Ethereum will be safe havens,” he says. “These include scarcity because there’s a limited supply; permanence, they don’t face any decay or deterioration that erode their value; and future demand certainty as mass adoption of cryptocurrencies and blockchain, the technology that underpins then, takes hold globally.”
According to some reports, virtual currencies could be used as a store of value on several occasions. If there is a debt or a currency crisis, cryptocurrencies could be embraced by investors searching a haven asset. However, if the crisis is not as strong as to create a larger crisis, they might behave in line with traditional markets.
At the time of writing, Bitcoin is being traded around $3,674 according to CoinMarketCap.
