What Doth The Future Hold? A Tour of The Cryptocurrency Industry’s Prospects
3 min readCryptocurrencies have been gaining momentum ever since their inception, but it is the price of Bitcoin that is acting as the main tug for the entire industry and as the most attractive instrument for investors. It is investors who determine the path of development of absolutely any invention or undertaking, or, more correctly – human avarice. Though it is true that for an invention to become successful, it has to first prove its usefulness to average people, market realities state that the market potential and successful advertising of a product determine its future as a return-generating instrument.
The same concerns cryptocurrencies, which are now showing that they are proving their attractiveness to investors. Applicability of cryptocurrencies as an alternative to traditional financial instruments for transaction processing aside, they are, and always will remain investment carriers, because the history of their development and price oscillation has branded them as such
“Everyone wants to earn a lot of money with the smallest possible input, but this could involve high risks,” as stated by Norbert Goffa, Co-founder and Executive Manager of ILCOIN Blockchain Project.
Risks are an acceptable factor and one investors do not fear as they are continuing to pour money into the new DeFi sector with its countless newcomers, all promising some form of alternative financial functionality. But DeFi is certainly not the only inexorable part of the future of cryptocurrencies, since their role as a passive form of income generation cannot be ignored. The transition of the Ethereum network to ETH 2.0 with its PoS algorithm has made it clear that mining is a thing of the past and will no longer be the pillar of the cryptocurrency industry. The dwindling returns of mining will eventually see a small pool of centralized massive mining rig operators take over the generation of blocks in the Bitcoin and other profitable networks, tossing smaller private miners overboard and making tons of mining equipment obsolete.
The abundance of new tokens flooding market are fighting for the new piece of the staking and DeFi market pie, but their chances are not as high as they may believe them to be
“Overall, it can be said that stepping up as a real alternative to Bitcoin is not only a naive idea but also a harmful one. It is in everyone’s interest to have a successful Bitcoin in the long run. Of course, from the speculative point of view, there is no harm if there are corrections in this course. We, at the ILCOIN Development Team, still believe that we don’t have to think about how we can compete with Bitcoin but rather how can we create a market in which Bitcoin is not competitive,” as Norbert states.
Centralization will soon take over as mining becomes unprofitable and the market will eventually be taken over by the most popular and capitalized coins offering the broadest functionality. Such a state of affairs is inevitable, despite the claims of decentralization, as an oligopoly is the natural state of a free market, which the crypto market is in essence.
“One could not just look past the advantages which a blockchain-based network can provide. Obviously, the actual interests go against a decentralized network in many ways, but I think this process is still unstoppable. However, it is everyone’s own responsibility to participate in the crypto revolution undertaking all of its advantages and disadvantages.”
