2019 is firmly in the books, and the editorials “Crypto Predictions for 2020” have long flooded email inboxes, blogs and forums. Don’t worry, this is not one of them. Instead, let’s look back at the last 12 months and recap some fascinating events and trends that have occurred. Whether you missed it the first time or need to be reminded of its timeliness, you should keep reading.
1) The Crypto Credit Bubble
Back in October, a group of ex-Wall Street traders questioned the success of crypto lending companies by predicting the $ 5 billion crypto credit bubble would burst. Concerns centered on a lack of regulation, cheap credit and blind faith in the strength of the market. The growth in decentralized finance (DeFi), with an emphasis on open source projects and funding accessible to all, is no doubt related to this fear, not least since DeFi grew over 300% last year.
While greed was largely responsible for the 2008 financial crash (as well as the slowdown of the ICO), there are greed-free initiatives in this area. Cred is just an example. The decentralized global credit platform affiliated with the Universal Protocol Alliance and operated by ex-PayPal Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ: PYPL) Executive Dan Schatt prides itself on his comprehensive regulatory and compliance framework. Last summer, Cred partnered with Bitcoin.com to give customers the opportunity to generate interest in their digital assets.
2) Libra in the balance
Facebook Inc.The much-touted Libra stablecoin (NASDAQ: FB) was officially announced in June, but was soon surrounded by a tsunami of bureaucratic problems that led to a moratorium by Congress and a mass exodus of Libra Association companies – not least PayPal. Visa Inc. (NYSE: V), eBay Inc. (NASDAQ: EBAY) and Stripe. What happens next is everyone’s guess. In the meantime, alternatives have come to light.
These include UPA’s aforementioned Universal Dollar and Saga’s SGA token, which were launched in December. The latter is a stable coin originally backed by a basket of national currencies (mimicking the IMF’s SDR basket). Given that Saga’s advisory board includes greats like Professor Jacob A. Frenkel, PhD, chairman of JPMorgan Chase International, it’s definitely one to check out.
3) One year anniversary for RSK Infrastructure Solutions (RIF)
December celebrated the first anniversary of the RSK Infrastructure Framework Open Standard (RIF OS), which is based on the first open source smart contract network secured by the Bitcoin network. With this stack of decentralized financial components, developers can import, build and deploy their EVM-based dApps. A major coup was achieved in 2019 when it acquired the leading Hispanic social network Taringa.
RSK’s SmartBitcoin is tied 1: 1 to BTC, and there is also a BTC-backed stablecoin under the company banner, with libraries, a decentralized exchange, credit logs, and insurance rounding out the stack. With the permission of Open Finance and the security of Bitcoin’s Proof-of-Work, RSK is building a robust defi ecosystem with a variety of real-world applications.
4) Tron partners with Samsung
Tron has cemented its status as the top 15 crypto asset – and one of the most liquid by volume on many global exchanges – over the past 12 months. A milestone was also closed with Samsung when the tech giant integrated Tron’s TRX cryptocurrency into its blockchain keystore. In addition, linking users of newer Samsung phones with TRX allows them to purchase decentralized applications based on the Tron network.
Since the blockchain-based content sharing platform DLive began migrating to the TRON blockchain at the end of 2019, the next 12 months will be interesting for Justin Sun’s company. Are you really surprised
Newcastle United’s decision to partner with crypto trading platform StormGain, which featured the company logo on the sleeves of all 2019-20 jerseys, reflected a current trend: Wolves had its first sports sponsorship deal with one last season Crypto platform completed. namely CoinDeal. In any case, the partnership with the Magpies was quite a coup for StormGain, which only hit the market last summer. Via the margin trading platform, crypto newbies can buy or trade the most popular and most activated coins with up to 150x leverage and trades denominated in tether (USDT).
Perhaps other great sports outfits will gain some of the Premier League glamor before the 2020-21 season begins.
6) Litecoin halves
As the crypto world prepares for the halving of Bitcoin in May 2020, the four-year halving of Litecoin in August met with great interest. The second halving event in Litecoin history followed a forward-looking rally with LTC hitting a high of $ 146 in June before falling back to below $ 40. Despite the fire sale, LTC ended the year up 38%.
7) interoperability everywhere
Interoperability ‘was one of the buzzwords of 2019 as crypto-protocol developers looked for ways to get other crypto-protocols to talk to them. Cross-chain swaps, sidechains, atomic swaps and all sorts of other blockchain voodoos have been used to de-weld crypto networks and usher in a new era of connectivity.
Some of the best work has been done by the EOS scaling solution LiquidApps, which has done more to unite blockchains than perhaps anyone else in space. In 2019, the DAPP network relieved the EOS main chain and reduced resource costs for dApp developers. It has been shown that there are several ways to scale a blockchain.
8) Esports Goes Crypto
The esports and crypto audiences are intimately connected and it was only a matter of time before their homes were united. The $ 1 billion esports market is showing no signs of slowing down, and projects like Kronoverse are betting on it. The blockchain company chains esports games so that players and fans have a verifiable record of all results while being able to trade in-game items using NFTs. Fair casino gaming, offered with the help of the blockchain, has already started to gain in importance on the web. If Kronoverse has its way, demonstrably fair sports will soon follow.
The world of Bitcoin is never boring, and 2020 is sure to reinforce that truism. With the growing volume of Bitcoin derivatives, the growing DeFi market, and the proliferation of crypto-friendly banks, it’s going to be another exciting year in the cryptosphere.
Image by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay
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