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Cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin and Ethereum will increasingly be seen as "safe havens" for investors in 2019, says an influential tech expert.
The comments of Ian McLeod of Thomas Crown Art, the world's leading art technology agency, follow growing concerns that the global economy will experience a significant slowdown before the end of 2019.
The main economic indicators tracked by the OECD have weakened since the beginning of the year and suggest a slower expansion in the next six to nine months.
Likewise, the broader global expansion that began about two years ago has stabilized and weakened, according to the International Monetary Fund.
McLeod notes: "There is a growing list of development factors to be considered for 2019. These include strong trade tensions, rising interest rates, political uncertainties, including Brexit, and financial markets. complacent.
"The United States, the largest economy in the world, has, of course, a major influence on Asian and European economies, as such, if the US stock market were to plunge – as it recently demolished all of its gains in 2018 during a sharp sell-off – global markets are also vulnerable ".
He continues: "In this context, we can expect cryptocurrencies to be increasingly seen as" safe havens "for investors in 2019 and beyond.
"When the negative side of the economy hits, the cryptocurrencies of digital resources like Bitcoin and Ethereum are probably seen by investors as a solid means of storing wealth, in the same way they do with gold."
McLeod adds: "There are several reasons why Bitcoin and Ethereum are safe havens.These include scarcity, because there is a limited supply, permanence, do not face any decay or deterioration that erode their value; and future certainty of the question as the mass adoption of cryptocurrencies and blockchain, the technology that supports them, is imposed on the global level ".
On this last point, he comments: "Since mainstream adoption is about to gain dramatic momentum in 2019 as the world, in particular business, is increasingly realizing the uses and value of cryptography and blockchain.
"Ethereum's blockchain, for example, is used in our artistic activity, allowing us to create a system to use art works as a real store of value, becoming a cryptocurrency portfolio.
"It also solves problems of authenticity and origin – essential in the world of art." All our works of art are recorded on the Ethereum blockchain with a single "smART" contract.
The technology expert concludes: "We are far from the cryptocurrencies that replace the Swiss franc, the Japanese yen or gold as a preferred haven.
"However, while the world goes from legal to digital, and with the adoption of encryption, there can be no doubt that cryptocurrencies will be firmly in the pantheon of safe haven assets within the next decade."
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