According to Chao Cheng-Shorland, Co-founder and CEO of ShelterZoom, Government will allocate resources and funding to accelerate blockchain projects and solve real problems

The concept of blockchain and cryptocurrency gained a lot of attention in 2018. Hundreds of companies new cropped up in these two segment, while some integrated blockchain with their products and tweaked the business model to disrupt the industry they are operating in. Cryptocurrencies also got a lot of eyeballs .

According to Chao Cheng-Shorland, Co-founder and CEO of ShelterZoom, a blockchain-based, real estate purchase and rental platform, 2019 will most certainly see a continuation of this trend and disruption.

In this article, she makes five predictions for 2019:

1- More people will build their business models on blockchain

The slow pace blockchain spending in previous years will change in 2019. Due to the growing consensus of blockchain’s potential impact in major areas of business – and proof of development – more corporate leaders and entrepreneurs will venture into building their business models on blockchain. As reported by PwC, on an individual basis, most firms have spent less than US$500,000 on blockchain. However, a solid 11 per cent of the survey’s respondents have spent more than US$10 million.

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Blockchain is offering not just the technology to build on, but also a reduction and streamlining of operations that incorporates speed and accuracy. Because of this, more companies will allocate additional funds to blockchain in the next few years. International Data Corporation expects annual blockchain spending to reach almost US$12 billion by 2022. More projects will build their business models on blockchain and a “snowball effect” will ensue.

2- Government will allocate resources and funding to accelerate blockchain projects and solve real problems

Governments will continue to take notice of the advantages that blockchain is offering. Although many governments are skeptical of the applications of blockchain and cryptocurrencies, several countries, such as Estonia, are now incorporating cryptocurrency and blockchain applications into their official operations.

Estonia has been a leader in the embrace of blockchain. Almost all of their public services have access to X-Road, a decentralised digital ledger that contains information about all residents and citizens. The platform uses an advanced encryption technology and includes two-factor authentication, enabling people to control their own data and ensure its security.

3- Cryptocurrency will be much more widely used

In their research paper “Cryptocurrencies: Overcoming Barriers to Trust and Adoption,” Dr. Zeynep Gurguc and Professor William Knottenbelt highlight the fact that digital currencies already fullfill one of the three criteria for fiat currency: a store of value. A major change in the medium of currency exchange – from coins, notes and payment cards to digital currency – is possible in the near future. Although the replacement of money as we think of it today by technology still causes significant apprehension for most people, the ability to transfer value from one person to another is a proven cryptocurrency use case.

A great example of this trend is Japan, where Bitcoin and several cryptocurrencies can be used as legally accepted means of payment. This is actually not surprising given that blockchain has been welcomed by the government. In fact, Japan accounts for a large share of the global bitcoin trade. Japan’s Financial Service Agency (FSA) mandates strict anti-money laundering protocol on the exchanges, and if an exchange plays by the rules, the government encourages it.

4- Companies will come up with new solutions for legal digital contracts beyond existing smart contracts

Beyond cryptocurrencies, a powerful blockchain use is the “smart contract“. A smart contract automatically executes whenever the terms and conditions agreed to by the parties involved are met. In 2019, the smart contract function is expected to explode in popularity by not only administering the execution of agreements between parties, but also implementing other aspects of legal contracts, such as resolving contractual dispute settlements by forming a legal digital contract that is fully binding between the parties.

5- More useful utility tokens will be delivered by blockchain

“Token economics” is the rapidly expanding study of new economic models brought on by the proliferation of digital tokens. The plethora of blockchain use cases has only added to the complexity and importance of these new token-based economic models.

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