Bitcoin in 5 years
Bitcoin is the world's most famous crypto-currency but, these days, you barely hear about it. Instead, the buzz has shifted to blockchain, the underlying technology for bitcoin, which banks are now using for day-to-day business. Meanwhile, newer and more versatile types of digital currency are overshadowing bitcoin.
This raises the question of whether bitcoin even has a long-term future. I recently spoke with Faisal Husain, the CEO of Synechron, which advises banks about blockchain, and asked him if he thought bitcoin and two other well-known crypto-currencies—Ripple and Ethereum—will still be around in five years.
His answer: two of the three currencies will survive, but he wouldn't say which ones. You can weigh in yourself by taking our poll below, but I confess I don't see an obvious candidate for failure—or success.
In the case of bitcoin, it's by far the biggest with a market cap of around $11 billion, but its core use case is still for sketchy stuff, such as ransomware payments or buying drugs on the Internet. Meanwhile, mainstream bitcoin companies like Coinbase and Circle are pivoting as fast as they can towards more general forms of Internet money transfers.
Ripple has the advantage of being both a currency and a transport protocol, and the company that bears its name has recently locked up a number of high profile partnerships with major banking institutions. This bodes well for the company, though it's less clear the currency (known as XRP) has a long-term role. Bankers like using Ripple's infrastructure to move money around, but several have told me the currency is unnecessary, and that banks do not want to be forced to use it in the course of foreign exchange transactions.
As for Ethereum, it's attracting the most enthusiasm right now among developers (see my colleague Robert Hackett's recent profile in Fortune), appearing to be the most versatile and sophisticated form of crypto-currency. But it's market cap is less than a tenth of bitcoin. (Ethereum is worth around $1 billion, while Ripple is third at around $250 million.)
All this doesn't mean, of course, that all these crypto-currencies can't flourish in the future. According to Adam Ludwin, CEO of a well-respected blockchain company called Chain, the three currencies will still be around, and the financial ecosystem will even integrate newer ones like Zcash (in which he is an investor).
"I don’t think they’ll ever go away. One of their design principles is resiliency in a hostile environment, " Ludwin says. "Bitcoin [especially] is a clear and sustainable project."
He adds that bitcoin and other crypto-currencies also have a place as a distinct asset class, like gold, for people who want a store of value outside conventional currencies and investments.
So what do you think? Take our poll and predict if the three most well-known crypto currencies will still be around in five years:
And, of course, take whatever results you see with a grain of salt. Online polls are not known for being conclusive. Furthermore, in the case of crypto-currency, there tends to be a selection bias in terms of who will take such a poll (think crypto-geeks and speculators) in the first place.
when product backlog refinement from where boat products manufactured who engineering consultant how workers comp insurance is calculated why workers compensation is important whose project is tplex where to teach english abroad where to go from teaching where are you from design how much solution for bissell carpet cleaner how many products does 3m make how entrepreneur become successful which engineering is best for girls where's the london eye where company registration what business should i start what company owns dr pepper how much system boiler why startups succeed roadmap to or roadmap for when technology and humanity cross summary who company owns sixt car rental how to solve solution how many design patterns are there in java who pays workers compensation where develop film which system supports sales forecasting how far machine learning which entrepreneur are die hard conservative where device settings on iphone how much solution to drink for colonoscopy where london congestion charge which system is independent and inconsistent where technology comes from when business clichés are overused they who projects in india where business analyst work what are the 5 stages of development why products are discontinued how long does solution finish last how many design patterns are there how solutions are saturated which product is required to be sterile quizlet where to find device manager what entrepreneur really means where's the london stadium how far technology will go where to find device id on android how much project manager earn in uk how often roadmap releases are published where to use entrepreneur when business writers request information how often phone upgrade why teaching is important to me roadmap when will hotels open how much business insurance cost how often business continuity plan be tested when management is incompetent how system in human body why solutions architect where to learn system design why project fail which engineering is best for girls how much solution to drink for colonoscopy how many startup in usa why teaching abstinence doesn't work how much solution for bissell little green how many engineering jobs are there how much company in share market how business credit works where is fk tech from how many teaching hospitals in the us how to develop economic development how many solutions exist for the given equation why device unreachable iphone where civil engineering work how many teaching positions are open in texas which system is independent and inconsistent what development accounted for the failure weegy where is alice from design star where technology started what technological era are we in how project managers stay organized whose forest ncert solutions where to find system configuration who is solutions architect whose company is range rover how much start up money for garage sale why development of resources is necessary class 10 whose autonomous system number who started whose line is it anyway how products are made which technology is shown in the diagram where to learn technical analysis for free where to manufacture jewelry where do workers live on nantucket how many startup companies are there in india how much factory unlock iphone who products food how manufacture a product where to find engineering jobs where to look from solutions where is arrested development from how development relates to how you learn how many entrepreneurs fail why manager need to know about research how much design logo which business is best for beginners how workers comp insurance is calculated when design menu is open what system is the pancreas in road map where i am what solutions does paylocity offer how many device can use hulu what london broil how much teaching english in thailand from where dowry system started how many manufacturing companies in the uk
