Looking back at the digital currency industry in 2015, the beautiful data is actually hurt

        Abstract: At the end of the year, many financial institutions have released several reports on the performance of the digital currency industry in 2015. Most of these reports praised the performance of the digital currency industry in the past year. This praise is mainly reflected in the improvement of public awareness of digital currency, the regulatory efforts of regional governments, especially European governments, and the involvement of large financial consortiums. However, the reality is not so optimistic. The digital currency industry, especially the Bitcoin industry, still faces many problems.

Capital withdrawal will trigger a wave of small business bankruptcies

According to statistics, the amount of venture capital in the Bitcoin field reached $ 1 billion for the first time in 2015 , but it should be noted that most of this $ 1 billion of venture capital occurred in early 2015. According to big data statistics, venture capital financing in Bitcoin-related fields has rapidly declined from the high point in the first quarter of 2015. Big banks and many well-known financial institutions on Wall Street have begun to develop their own businesses in the Bitcoin field instead of investing in old companies in the field. This is not what the " native companies " in the industry want to see. The withdrawal of capital will lead to the exit of many small digital currency companies, and the market does not have enough funds to support the existence of too many companies.

Blockchain overshadows Bitcoin

In addition, in the past year, people have gradually shifted from the field of Bitcoin payment to the underlying Bitcoin protocol blockchain technology. More and more investors and ordinary people have accepted the concept of Bitcoin blockchain, which makes Bitcoin, which should be the protagonist, somewhat sad. While blockchain technology is on the rise, Bitcoin payment has been marginalized, which is greatly out of the original intention of Satoshi Nakamoto to create Bitcoin.

Two different attempts at the digital currency payment industry

Although digital currency (Bitcoin) companies will still face problems such as capital withdrawal and payment marginalization in the foreseeable future, this does not mean that start-ups have no chance to get a piece of the pie in the field of digital currency payments. As the most fundamental and attractive payment function of Bitcoin, it still has a broad market.

On December 17, 2015 , Bitcoin mobile wallet app Airbitz has reached a cooperation with Fold , so that Starbucks gift card app can accept Bitcoin to pay bills. Starbucks customers can load Bitcoin into the Fold app, and customers can bring their smartphones to Starbucks to have the barista scan the QR code. The entire payment process is somewhat similar to the in-store payment of Alipay and WeChat, which are currently popular in China. The slight difference is that users can get a 20% discount when paying with Bitcoin .

While many large chain companies have added Bitcoin payments to their trendy payment options, a group of geeks have already broken away from the fixed mindset of using Bitcoin payments. They have abandoned Bitcoin and turned to developing their own digital currency.

Due to the lack of transparency in the project and the conflict of interest between the software development funders, several core developers of the Bitcoin project withdrew from Bitcoin and created a new digital currency, Decred , which will be developed in a decentralized open governance model. Decred is managed and funded by LLC . In an interview with reporters , the company's CEO Jacob Yocom Piatt said: " The Bitcoin software is controlled by a small group of people who exclusively decide what can be done and cannot be changed. I hate this. "

In China, a series of new digital currency payment solutions have emerged, and the focus of payment development has been placed on solving the level of daily commodity shopping. It is understood that Fuyuan Coin has recently withdrawn from the payment solution based on the Fuyuan Mall platform. Fuyuan Coin is a virtual currency generated in the product operation and circulation of Fuyuan Longshuo Jewelry. This virtual currency is similar to commercial points. When users purchase jewelry products from member companies, they will get a corresponding number of Fuyuan Coins. Customers can use Fuyuan Coins to shop in cooperating merchants, and of course they can also trade on the Fuyuan Coin trading platform. At present, the Fuyuan Online Mall has been completed and officially launched. Users can use Fuyuan Coins to shop in the mall, and the entire shopping process is no different from general e-commerce.

With the emergence of digital currency investment trusts and similar companies that develop digital currency payment solutions, it has become easier for people to invest in digital currencies. It can be said that 2015 was the year when the financial industry's attitude towards Bitcoin technology completely changed, and 2016 will be the year when digital currency applications will spread to the public.