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As Bitcoin kicks off the new year with a record high market value, 2017 is expected to be an exciting year for Bitcoin. At 2:15 am on January 4, 2009, Beijing time, the Bitcoin Genesis Block was officially born, and it has been exactly eight years since then. In the first week of the new year, we take a look at what industry leaders and stakeholders are saying about the future of Bitcoin and blockchain. Bitcoin Jesus, Bitcoin Investor Roger Ver “2017 could be the best year ever for Bitcoin. We’ve already seen a new all-time high in Bitcoin market cap, and a new all-time high in Bitcoin price is just around the corner. The ‘Bitcoin moment’ is unstoppable. It’s clear that nations and currencies are separating before our eyes. With the former Barclays CEO joining the Blockchain.info board, I think traditional banks will get deeply involved in Bitcoin in 2017.”
Eric Lombrozo, Bitcoin Core developer and co-founder of Ciphrex “2017 will see further modularization and layering of network architectures. We will see breakthroughs in privacy-enhancing cryptography, practical demonstrations of trustless (or minimal) trust, economically viable off-chain protocols for instant microtransactions, and other mechanisms for advancing blockchain networks to reduce social friction.”
Tezos CEO Kathleen Breitman “I think one of the most amazing things about blockchain right now is that regulators are already learning about the use cases for both public and private blockchains. For public blockchains, I think regulators will continue to stick to their ‘wait and see’ approach, focusing on financial controls on exchanges, but also lightly engaging with the technology themselves.”
Alejandro De La Torre, Business Developer at BTC.com “If demonetization continues in countries like India and Venezuela, I think we will see a surge in interest in Bitcoin. Also, another trend I see is Bitcoin security . Many users are realizing that it is not safe to keep Bitcoin on exchanges, and they are switching to wallets with higher security or using cold storage.
Stephen Pair, President and CEO of BitPay “I think we’re going to see a renewed focus on the bitcoin blockchain. We’re going to see some new applications of the bitcoin blockchain that can do some simple but very powerful things. People are going to take a new look at bitcoin.”
Aaron Voisine, Co-founder and CEO of Breadwallet “I predict that 2017 will see Bitcoin recognized as a legitimate “uncorrelated asset” by many money managers and financial advisors. Of course, all sound financial advisors will recommend a diversified portfolio of assets. However, if those assets all move in the same direction, then that diversification won’t do you much good. To be diversified, you need to own assets that rise in value while others fall in value. Bitcoin is a perfect example of this: a currency that has demonstrated a tendency to rise in value during times of fear and economic uncertainty, and I think many money managers will start adding Bitcoin to their portfolios.”
Anthony Di Iorio, Founder and CEO of Decentral and Jaxx “I think 2017 will see the emergence of new leadership projects that will improve and enhance the Bitcoin and Ethereum infrastructure. Two projects I’m watching are Rootstock in Argentina and Qtum in China. I’m also optimistic about Monero, Zcash, and Dash.”
Manfred Karrer, developer and founder of Bitsquare “I predict three things: First, regulation of cryptocurrency exchanges will come. Second, the war between cash, gold, and cryptocurrencies will intensify. Third, privacy-enhancing technologies like Monero and Zcash will grow in importance.”
Susanne Tarkowski Tempelhof, Founder of BitNation “I find it exciting that smart contracts are already being applied to dispute resolution, as they hold the promise of decentralizing some of the most important parts of society: governance, law, and security. Smart contracts are timely in an age where only 3% of Americans believe their elected officials can be trusted, according to a Pew Research Center report. Several smart contract projects have already emerged, including DAMN, Decentralized Court, Crowdjury, and of course BitNation’s Pangea platform.”
Lisk CEO Max Kordek “I think venture capital firms will see the value of cryptocurrencies or so-called “APP coins” and will start investing in this space on a large scale. Second, projects like Lisk and Ethereum will be ready to help developers get into blockchain development, and it will become a ‘trend’, just like iOS development became a trend and a huge industry. Finally, user experience will become an increasingly important focus for blockchain projects. Project leaders will realize that an elegant user experience is a must for mainstream adoption.
Bitcoin Knowledge Podcast host Trace Mayer “Bitcoin’s network effects will grow further in 2017. I think one of the trends is the implementation of SegWit, creating the foundation for millions of daily users. Also, many existing and new use cases and financialization will emerge with Bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs), which I think will pave the way for Bitcoin to gain mass investment.”
Augur co-founder Joey Krug “I think the biggest trend of 2017 is that the first wave of decentralized applications will be built on Ethereum. Bitcoin lets us send money in a trustless environment, and Ethereum lets us do things with that money in a trustless environment, like programmatically control what transactions get sent, which is much more nuanced than Bitcoin Script. This is a big deal because it means we’re finally starting to see some interesting and real-world consumer blockchain applications.”
Alex Tapscott, co-author of "Blockchain Revolution" “First, in 2017, large banks will test digital fiat currencies live, and if they work well, they will lead to larger-scale adoption. Also, large banks will begin to move a large number of OTC transactions to real-time settlement on private distributed ledgers. Today, JPMorgan Chase, Goldman Sachs, Barclays and Santander are leading this trend. Companies large and small in every industry will begin to develop a blockchain strategy, hire IT experts and launch implementation projects. I’m talking about companies such as insurers, healthcare providers, music studios, defense contractors, etc. Eventually, Bitcoin will hit $2,000!
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