The popularity of Bitcoin has increased exponentially since its birth a decade ago. Moreover, its value has steadily increasing hitting an 18-month high this summer. In this article, experts discuss 10 future Bitcoin developments that could skyrocket the price.
Miners Payments, Regulation Certainty, Gold, and Geopolitical Instability
“Some developments that could skyrocket Bitcoin’s price are:
The upcoming halving of payments to miners: This places pressure on supply and also means that miners won’t sell cheaply due to receiving less bitcoins. As miners receive what are known as “virgin bitcoin” (coins with no prior transactions, thus no issues with previous ownership), these tend to be the more desirable coins for institutional investors and thus this may create uptrend on price.
Regulatory certainty: Worldwide, there are differing regulatory opinions by different national watchdogs around the globe. This undermines total demand as citizens in some countries feel they cannot purchase or speculate on bitcoin. Once regulation becomes clearer worldwide, this could help to create demand as people feel safer transacting with bitcoin and are happy their governments can not intervene and essentially take it from them or imprison them
Supply of gold: Gold is seen as a safe haven due to its seemingly limited supply. However, as mining technology and exploration advances, there could be a potential boom in gold supply (as per natural gas with fracking). If this were to happen, bitcoin could essentially replace gold as the go-to safe-haven asset for investors worldwide as limited supply is guaranteed and it can do the same job as gold for investment purposes.
Geo-political instability: As has been seen in Venezuela and Zimbabwe, the price of bitcoin rockets locally when people lose trust in their local currency due to political and societal breakdown. Bitcoin becomes a go-to for a new economy of survival for these poor people. Furthermore, it is easily transferable across borders should people need to flee their current nations.
There are a lot more potential developments, such as advances in bitcoin derivatives, the IMF and WTO backing bitcoin to become a de facto international currency, etc, but the points raised hold a more tangible impact in the near future for Bitcoin’s price action.”
Paul Cliffe, CEO, Block Venture Project
Smart Contracts, Scaling in Layers, And State-Sponsored Fiat Devaluation
“Despite the price of Bitcoin tripling over the last few months, the price has still not caught up to the underlying fundamentals. From attending conferences all over the world, I can tell you that there is a flurry of activity going on that 99% of the public is missing out on. There isn’t a single catalyst for price and fundamentals to reach parity, as many different developments will have synergistic effects.
Smart Contracts
Network upgrades like MuSig will allow for more “Smart Contract” operations to be done on the Bitcoin Blockchain, thereby eliminating the purported use cases of other competing chains with less security than Bitcoin has.
Scaling in Layers
Multiple second-layer technologies, like Lightning Network, Statechains, and sidechains are being built on top of the Bitcoin Network to leverage its security while providing sustainable scaling.
State-Sponsored Fiat Devaluation
Lastly, governments around the world are continuing to print money at alarming rates, with US President Donald Trump openly calling for a currency war, causing people to flee fiat currencies for assets with more stable monetary policies.”
Bryan Aulds, CEO, and Founder, Billfodl
Continued Massive Adoption, Bitcoin Futures Markets, and Bitcoin Halving
“Bitcoin rallied a bullish run during the first half of 2019 to hit an 18 month high of $13,900 in June 2019 before slipping back and trading around $10,000 for the better part of July. But the coin is far from stabilizing and neither is it close to adopting a negative trajectory with some estimates placing its price at the end of the year at around $20k.
Its ability to rebound from the current price stagnation and rallying yet another bullish price run for the other half of the year will, however, be dependent on different factors. Key among them is the continued massive adoption of the coin and its underlying blockchain technology. The continued establishment of bitcoin futures markets by different crypto-exchanges also has the potential of initiating another bullish run. The much-anticipated Bitcoin halving in May 2020 may kickstart a massive price rally before the end of the year. All eyes are however on the Facebook Libra project and its ability to overcome the current political hurdles threatening its launch. This makes today the best time to invest in Bitcoin before its price surges higher.”
Edith Muthoni, Chief Editor, Leanbonds.com
Although none have been blessed with the oft-coveted art of foretelling the future, the price of Bitcoin seems to be steadily on the rise. Yet, if the developments discussed in this article come to fruition, undoubtedly, Bitcoin’s value will skyrocket into the stratosphere.
