Cryptocurrency Predictions for 2021 – What The Experts Are Saying

Cryptocurrency Predictions for 2021

Cryptocurrencies have been on the market for many years now and have proven to be among the most profitable investment opportunities one can make. If you are thinking about investing or looking to learn more about cryptocurrency, we have all your answers!

The market can be overwhelming which is why we are here to help. With our expert panelist, we have gathered predictions for cryptocurrency in 2021.

 

Our Panel of Experts:

  • Dominik Stroukal – Chief Economist at Banka Creditas and Economic Expert at SatoshiLabs/Trezor
  • Claude Brown – Partner at Reed Smith
  • Jelle Pol – Business Director at Dusk Network

 

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Dominik Stroukal – Chief Economist at Banka Creditas and Economic Expert at SatoshiLabs/Trezor

 

Dominik Stroukal

 

“2021 will be a year of regulation and adoption. Bitcoin experienced four record years, 2011, 2013, 2017 and 2020. There has always been a significant correction that temporarily cleared the market of greed and diverted interest to adoption, user-friendliness and experimentation. And with it, regulation. This is the fate awaiting 2021, too.

After all, it was in 2012 when the Bitcoin Foundation was founded to help adoption, in 2014 the first hardware wallet, Trezor, was created, in 2018, despite the price drop, the number of places accepting cryptocurrencies on Coinmap.org increased by 25%. Each record year has historically prepared the ground for yet another bull run.

What will it be this year? 2021 will definitely be a year of regulation. This has been a topic throughout the last decade, but only now do we see what a regulator can do if it decides to throw a cryptocurrency under the bus. It will be obvious how different countries in favor of crypto are from those that prefer to maintain the status quo and protect consumers, even against their will.

The second main topic will be adoption. Bitcoin and a handful of other cryptocurrencies are widely used, at least for cryptocurrency standards. With the increase in fees last year, we probably saw fewer actual payments but we cannot know that for sure due to the impact of lockdowns.

The pandemic masks the need to solve the problems of adoption, which were on full display during the previous bull run in 2017. Back then, the solutions were divided among forks, altcoins and Bitcoin’s experiments with the Lightning Network. The latter network is now much more user friendly than it was a year ago, but it’s difficult enough to have to carefully explain how Bitcoin works, let alone conceptualize a network that straddles it, which doesn’t help adoption much.

We will have to pay more attention to adoption and regulation in 2021 than ever before, so that the Bitcoin arc transcends being entertainment for geeks and a possible investment commodity, and realizes the destiny that it was always supposed to become, the money of the future.”

 

Claude Brown – Partner at Reed Smith

 

Claude Brown

 

“It is said that a general fights his next war based on his last battle and for the fintech and cryptoasset worlds, 2020 will shape 2021.

Headlining the year will be the continuing effect of the coronavirus pandemic. Before 2020, the trend to digital money always carried the caution that it should not leave the disadvantaged, elderly and other vulnerable groups behind. The contagion of COVID-19 not only saw a shift away from cash that was unprecedented in speed and scale, but changed societies’ views of digital currencies.

Not only did private commercial transactions almost dispense with cash but also central banks boosted their plans for central bank digital currency as a means of facilitating public transactions, such as tax collection and emergency grants. This trend is likely to continue into 2021 and beyond.

With varying degrees of ease and enthusiasm, business and government embraced remote working. The proliferation of devices connected to the internet, many outside enterprise strength cybersecurity systems, and the dissemination of industrially valuable data can only increase the risk and severity of cyberattacks. This is unlikely to be limited to commercial data; the increased reliance of governments on online data systems and exacerbated global tensions caused by the pandemic in 2020 will lead to increased cyberthreats at a national level. This is against a background of healthcare data becoming valuable in the search for vaccines and a better understanding of the epidemiological behaviour of the coronavirus becoming a key component in national defence and economic recovery strategies.

The resurgence of Bitcoin will undoubtedly provoke renewed consumer interest in cryptoassets and revitalise financial regulators’ concerns over their role in money laundering and terrorist financing. With regulators confined to remote monitoring and reduced intervention capacity, the risk of consumer fraud will be a concern. Against this background, a less ambitious and cautious (re)launch of Diem (the rebranded cryptocurrency ‘Libra”) may well receive a warmer welcome from regulators and lawmakers than it did in 2019.”

 

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Jelle Pol – Business Director at Dusk Network

 

jelle-pol-dusk-network

 

2021: All strong new services and products will be digitally native, and blockchain-driven alternative finance is a must for a good recovery from COVID-19

The pandemic immensely accelerated the transition from paperwork and physical processes to digital processes. This can be seen via notaries passing deeds from home, or companies being able to incorporate online. The trend was already existent, however the pandemic has forced all the laggards that were protecting their traditional interests to embrace this new reality.

I foresee that we will subconsciously adopt the norm that digital is the new native origin for documents and processes, and physical and paperwork will be seen as the copies. All new or existing businesses must think about offering their products and services in a digitally native fashion, or they will stand a poor chance of succeeding in the post-covid era.

Secondly, we are also hopeful in looking towards a finish line for the pandemic, and starting our economic recovery. In reality a lot of the economic recession however is still taking place, with businesses forced to close shop every day. Many industries are also thriving, and this effect creates what we call a K-shapedrecovery, where a global recession leads to a period of prosperity for certain industries (food delivery, conference apps), and further decline for others (travel, hospitality). Blockchain and DeFi can play a unique role in making the financial markets that typically only exacerbate these issues more fair and efficient, by facilitating an infrastructure that can be used to deploy and shift capital to the places where it is needed most, without being hindered by the interests of the gatekeepers that are in place today. 

Finally, all these changes will renew the outcry for privacy. With corona trackers on most phones, and your financial positions potentially out there for everybody to see, the need for compliant solutions will find the forefront again. This does not mean shady anonymous transactions and the like, but protecting peoples fundamental rights, where privacy and useful regulations are a force of good.”

 

For any questions, comments or features, please contact us directly.

 

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