Where will blockchain go in 2019? Will we see a blockchain winter with crashing values of cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin? Or will the hype be ignited once more? Here we look at the key trends for blockchain in the coming year.

1. 5 Blockchain Trends Everyone
Should Know About

2. © 2018 Bernard Marr, Bernard Marr & Co. All rights reserved
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IntroductionIntroduction
Blockchain traveled a rocky road in 2018 but is still hotly tipped as a technology with huge
potential for transforming business and day-to-day life.
The past year saw huge drops in value for its flagship use case – cryptocurrency Bitcoin –
and reports that many pilot programs are failing to show true value. However, many big
players including IBM and Walmart are continuing to push ahead, confident it can provide
real value for organizations in need of innovative solutions around record keeping and
secure recording of transactions.
5 Blockchain Trends
Everyone Should Know About

3. © 2018 Bernard Marr, Bernard Marr & Co. All rights reserved
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Text
IntroductionIntroduction
So, here are my five predictions for how we’re likely to see blockchain use growing and
continuing to make headlines – although they may be slightly less hyperbolic – in 2019.
5 Blockchain Trends
Everyone Should Know About

4. © 2018 Bernard Marr, Bernard Marr & Co. All rights reserved
Less Hype and Scams, More Substance
Any new technology has the potential to attract snake-oil salesman, and perhaps
blockchain attracted more than most. This meant that 2018 saw regulators stepping in,
meaning that those offering “miracle solutions” and get-rich-quick schemes built (or not
built) on blockchain should be far less visible in the next 12 months.
What we should see instead is results of more considered, mature endeavors in the
blockchain arena. Businesses such as Walmart that is investing in solutions designed to
shore up food safety standards in the wake of crises such as 2018's E.coli outbreak.
Walmart's solution means anyone involved in the supply of certain products will be able to
trace individual items back to the farm where they were grown, using a tamper-proof
distributed database.
Amazon is also announcing blockchain projects for this year – with two blockchain
initiatives aiming to enable its AWS customers to take advantage of distributed ledger
technology in their own projects. With big players like those two (and others) entering the
game, it seems certain that blockchain will start to demonstrate that it can bring real value
during 2019.

5. © 2018 Bernard Marr, Bernard Marr & Co. All rights reserved
The Blockchain and Internet of Things Convergence
Continues to Gather Pace
According to one report, the use of blockchain technology to secure data and devices in
the internet of things (IoT) doubled during 2018. This trend is likely to continue next year
and beyond, as more organizations wake up to the potential of distributed, encrypted
ledger technology in this field. The powerful encryption used to secure blockchains means
that attackers need a vast amount of computing power to brute-force their way into just
one node. Additionally, their decentralized nature means attackers can't bypass security by
disabling a single-point-of-failure with, for example, a denial-of-service attack.
As well as security, blockchain offers utility benefits in the IoT field, too. With the number
of connected devices predicted to top 26 billion during 2019, vast amounts of machine-
to-machine communication will be taking place, at far too high a speed for humans to
keep up manually. Experts predict that blockchains will increasingly be used to log and
monitor these communications and transactions, and although this convergence is at a
very early stage, 2019 will see an explosion in its use.

6. © 2018 Bernard Marr, Bernard Marr & Co. All rights reserved
More Blockchain Offerings from
the Financial Services Industry
Cryptocurrency values may have taken a hammering during 2018, due in no small part to a
bursting of the speculative bubble built up around the arrival of such potentially
transformative technology.
But the mainstream financial services industry was undoubtedly shaken by the emergence
of this tech and the potential it has to disrupt their businesses. So much so that it seems
likely they will be at the forefront of the next wave, when it comes crashing in. One
example is Bakkt, the Bitcoin-based futures trading platform planned by ICE, the operator
the New York Stock Exchange.
In developing markets particularly, where much of the population is labelled "unbankable”
due to institutions’ inability or unwillingness to connect them to its services, start-ups are
likely to lead the way with innovative services built around blockchains and digital, fraud-
resistant currencies, storage, and transfer mechanisms.

7. © 2018 Bernard Marr, Bernard Marr & Co. All rights reserved
More Investment Opportunities
Not just in quirky, unknown cryptocurrencies with unproven use cases – blockchain
technology makes it possible to offer and track investments in a whole range of asset
classes that traditionally have been the preserve of institutional investors and the wealthy.
For example, tokenization lowers the bar to entry for investment in property, potentially
allowing more liquid trading of high-value assets and allowing more of us a slice of the pie
of the growth (or losses) they can generate. Regulation will be needed before these
investment opportunities will be considered safe enough for everyday investors to take
part, and as we’ve seen over the last year, this certainly seems to be on its way.
Art, fine wines and property are all examples of investment assets that traditionally were
only an option for well-off investors with the luxury of being able to put capital in up-front
and be in no hurry for their investment to pay off.

8. © 2018 Bernard Marr, Bernard Marr & Co. All rights reserved
More Investment Opportunities
With regulation in place, everyday investors can purchase digitally-backed “shares” in
these asset classes and sell them off when they need to liquidate their funds.
Additionally, blockchain-based “smart contracts" are designed to reduce the reliance on
middlemen such as brokers and lawyers when establishing these transactions, further
lowering the costs and barriers to entry.

9. © 2018 Bernard Marr, Bernard Marr & Co. All rights reserved
Bitcoin (and other cryptocurrencies)
Will Still Be Big Business
I’m not going to be stupid or irresponsible enough to predict that the value of
cryptocurrencies is going to shoot into the stratosphere (again) in 2019. As I’ve said
before, speculating on the value of these digital assets isn’t my business, and if the
tumultuous volatility of recent years proves anything, it’s that no one can accurately
predict what will happen next.
One thing that is clear, though, is that cryptocurrencies are far from dead. Using the
Bitcoin price as a benchmark, prices are still some ten times higher than they were two
years ago, and trading volumes on exchanges show there is still a healthy appetite for
speculative investment.
And that’s before we even start to consider the possible future of alternative
cryptocurrencies such as Ethereum, Ripple and Tether, that all promise to improve on
Bitcoin in some way – offering more utility, security or speed.

10. © 2018 Bernard Marr, Bernard Marr & Co. All rights reserved
Bitcoin (and other cryptocurrencies)
Will Still Be Big Business
During 2019, we may not see a return to the highs of 2017, when the value of crypto
assets in circulation worldwide came close to three-quarters of a trillion dollars. But we
could see a continuation of the period of relative stability that we saw during 2018. And as
the public’s understanding of what cryptocurrencies offer (beyond get-rich-quick
schemes) grows, the foundations of a more useful and valuable crypto ecosystem
beginning to emerge.

11. © 2017 Bernard Marr , Bernard Marr & Co. All rights reserved
© 2018 Bernard Marr, Bernard Marr & Co. All rights reserved
Bernard Marr is an internationally best-selling author, popular keynote speaker, futurist, and a
strategic business & technology advisor to governments and companies. He helps
organisations improve their business performance, use data more intelligently, and
understand the implications of new technologies such as artificial intelligence, big data,
blockchains, and the Internet of Things.
LinkedIn has ranked Bernard as one of the world’s top 5 business influencers. He is a frequent
contributor to the World Economic Forum and writes a regular column for Forbes. Every day
Bernard actively engages his 1.5 million social media followers and shares content that
reaches millions of readers.
Visit The
Website
© 2017 Bernard Marr , Bernard Marr & Co. All rights reserved
© 2018 Bernard Marr, Bernard Marr & Co. All rights reserved
Bernard Marr is an internationally best-selling author, popular keynote speaker, futurist, and a
strategic business & technology advisor to governments and companies. He helps
organisations improve their business performance, use data more intelligently, and
understand the implications of new technologies such as artificial intelligence, big data,
blockchains, and the Internet of Things.
LinkedIn has ranked Bernard as one of the world’s top 5 business influencers. He is a frequent
contributor to the World Economic Forum and writes a regular column for Forbes. Every day
Bernard actively engages his 1.5 million social media followers and shares content that
reaches millions of readers.
Visit The
Website

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