{"id":14529,"date":"2019-12-26T14:59:43","date_gmt":"2019-12-26T09:29:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.the-next-tech.com\/?p=14529"},"modified":"2024-03-20T17:48:53","modified_gmt":"2024-03-20T12:18:53","slug":"4-blockchain-predictions-for-2020","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.the-next-tech.com\/blockchain-technology\/4-blockchain-predictions-for-2020\/","title":{"rendered":"4 Blockchain Predictions for 2021"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">No matter where you stand\u200a\u2014\u200afrom crypto non-believer to Bitcoin maximalist\u200a\u2014\u200a2019 was a fantastic year for the blockchain space. Sure, ICOs<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/cointelegraph.com\/news\/report-icos-raised-118-million-in-q1-2019-over-58-times-less-than-in-q1-2018\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"> <span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">didn\u2019t raise nearly as much<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> as in 2018, and<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.forbes.com\/sites\/chuckjones\/2019\/12\/23\/bitcoin-could-fall-below-6000\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"> <span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">crypto prices<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> left something to be desired for traders, but these metrics hardly reflect true developments in the space.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">From the birth of<\/span> <span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">new investment products<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> to<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.forbes.com\/sites\/ilkerkoksal\/2019\/06\/12\/meet-the-19-year-old-unifying-the-security-token-industry\/#79aa0ae31c62\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"> <span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">new alliances<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> and even increased involvement from organizations like the<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.worldbank.org\/en\/news\/press-release\/2019\/08\/16\/world-bank-issues-second-tranche-of-blockchain-bond-via-bond-i\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"> <span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">World Bank<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> and<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.forbes.com\/sites\/biserdimitrov\/2019\/12\/02\/enterprise-blockchain-news-that-dominated-november\/#18a475386846\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"> <span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">major enterprises<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, we saw greater maturity in the space than in 2017 and 2018.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Without further ado, let\u2019s take a look at some expected events in 2021.<\/span><br \/>\n<!-- Home page 728x90 --><br \/>\n<ins class=\"adsbygoogle\" style=\"display: inline-block; width: 728px; height: 90px;\" data-ad-client=\"ca-pub-9864771813712812\" data-ad-slot=\"3152971286\"><\/ins><br \/>\n<script>\n(adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});\n<\/script><\/p>\n<h3><b>1. Adoption of Tokenized Funds<\/b><\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Tokenized funds emerged in 2017 with<\/span> <span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">CRYPTO20<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, the world\u2019s first tokenized crypto index fund. CRYPTO20 is an autonomous \u201ctoken-as-a-fund,\u201d which enables investors to purchase a single token, C20, to access a fund that reflects the top 20 cryptoassets.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Since then, a myriad of other funds have come out, from<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/invictuscapital.com\/emsFund\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"> <span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">impact-driven solar funds<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> to<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/invictuscapital.com\/hyperionFund\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"> <span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">tokenized VC funds<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">. However, in just a short span of 2 years, we can\u2019t expect tokenized funds to reach anywhere near the level of traditional players like Vanguard or BlackRock.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Nonetheless, players in the space like<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/invictuscapital.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"> <span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Invictus Capital<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> have made impressive strides in a short period of time, amassing over 15,000 global investors. In 2020, we\u2019ll be sure to see greater adoption by investors, both retail and institutional.<\/span><br \/>\n<span class=\"seethis_lik\"><span>Also read:<\/span> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.the-next-tech.com\/mobile-apps\/how-to-monetize-youtube-channel-without-showing-your-face\/\">How To Monetize YouTube Channel Without Showing Your Face? (2025 Guide)<\/a><\/span>\n<h3><b>2. Rise of Security Tokens<\/b><\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Security tokens are a relatively nascent construct, really emerging<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/hackernoon.com\/a-brief-history-of-security-token-offerings-how-did-we-get-here-b9a2cfade9f3\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"> <span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">around 2018<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">. While utility tokens serve to access features in a decentralized application, security tokens are meant to give financial rights to holders, such as a share of equity, debt, or real assets. Because of the relative simplicity of utility tokens, they can use trivial protocols like<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.investopedia.com\/news\/what-erc20-and-what-does-it-mean-ethereum\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"> <span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Ethereum\u2019s ERC-20<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, which have just a few functions, while security tokens must use much more complex protocols like<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/github.com\/ConsenSys\/ERC1400\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"> <span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">ERC-1400<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">This means that security tokens also have much more stringent regulatory requirements, falling in the same legal basket as traditional securities. The combination of technical and legal complexity meant that security tokens and Security Token Offerings (STOs) haven\u2019t really taken off yet, but they\u2019re geared to succeed in 2020.<\/span><br \/>\n<span class=\"seethis_lik\"><span>Also read:<\/span> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.the-next-tech.com\/mobile-apps\/jailbreak-firestick-in-10-second\/\">How To Jailbreak Firestick In 10 Seconds (2025 Guide)<\/a><\/span>\n<h3><b>3. Libra Finds Its Fit<\/b><\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Facebook\u2019s (in)famous payment network plan was met with tremendous pushback by both European and US regulators, but developments continued to march ahead. One need look no further than<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/github.com\/libra\/libra\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"> <span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Libra\u2019s GitHub repo<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, which is highly active.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Because of the resistance by major legislators, Libra is likely to launch in just one or a few jurisdictions, with a highly limited scope, both in terms of users and functions.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">While Libra won\u2019t make good on its original promises in 2021, it will be a sign of solid progress to make at least a limited launch.<\/span><\/p>\n<h3><b>4. Proof-of-Stake Ethereum Creating a Boom<\/b><\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">By now, it\u2019s well-known that Proof-of-Work is an incredibly inefficient consensus mechanism. In fact, a single POW-powered Bitcoin transaction requires almost as much energy as a<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/digiconomist.net\/bitcoin-energy-consumption\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"> <span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">million VISA transactions<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">. So much for \u201cmass adoption.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">One superior alternative is Proof-of-Stake, which Ethereum has been planning to transition to for a long time. While Proof-of-Work involves<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.bitdegree.org\/tutorials\/proof-of-work-vs-proof-of-stake\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"> <span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">generating random (wasted) computations<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> until consensus is reached, Proof-of-Stake auto-selects a block miner based on their \u201cstake,\u201d or simply how much of the coin they hold.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Ethereum 2.0, or a transition to Proof-of-Stake Ethereum, is<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.coindesk.com\/5-takeaways-on-ethereum-2-0-from-vitaliks-beast-mode-blog-posts\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"> <span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">tentatively planned<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> for the first quarter of 2021. Regardless of whether delays pop up, we\u2019re likely to see the release at least sometime in 2021, which may be a huge upward price driver, as Ethereum may finally meet long-promised expectations of greater scalability.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>No matter where you stand\u200a\u2014\u200afrom crypto non-believer to Bitcoin maximalist\u200a\u2014\u200a2019 was a fantastic year for the blockchain space. Sure, ICOs<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":466,"featured_media":14530,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[135],"tags":[889,887,888],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.the-next-tech.com\/rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14529"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.the-next-tech.com\/rest\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.the-next-tech.com\/rest\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.the-next-tech.com\/rest\/wp\/v2\/users\/466"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.the-next-tech.com\/rest\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14529"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/www.the-next-tech.com\/rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14529\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":77914,"href":"https:\/\/www.the-next-tech.com\/rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14529\/revisions\/77914"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.the-next-tech.com\/rest\/wp\/v2\/media\/14530"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.the-next-tech.com\/rest\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14529"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.the-next-tech.com\/rest\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14529"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.the-next-tech.com\/rest\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14529"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}