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Tim Bird, Fieldfisher's business partner, considers the prospects and pitfalls for the technical agreement in the coming year.
- Blockchain
2018 turned out to be a year for those who invested in blockchain – directly through cryptocurrencies and equity securities in blockchain companies, or indirectly in time and effort spent on tracking and consulting on blockchain-oriented agreements.
This time last year, many of us eagerly awaited CoinsBank's Blockchain Cruise Asia 2018, kicking off what was expected to be a year of strong growth in the blockchain and crypto sector.
At the time of leaving Singapore on January 15, a Bitcoin was worth around $ 12,000. At the expense of morale on board, the price has plummeted by 25% while the ship was somewhere in the Strait of Malacca between Singapore and Phuket.
This alone led to many blockchain-based cryptocurrency projects that were put out of service during the year.
More positive, perhaps, the combined effect of the moves by all the major financial regulators in the world has meant that the initial market for coins (ICO) ended the year with a completely new nomenclature and an increase security offer (although some forward-looking individuals have been referring to tokens encrypted as "securities" since their inception).
UK companies are turning to multiple cloud providers
While the blockchain will continue to mature in 2019, much of the attention previously set on this sector is likely to shift to the underlying infrastructure that allows for the exchange of cryptocurrencies.
Mobile connectivity will continue to replace fixed lines and 5G, when it comes, will allow countries that have skipped copper infrastructure to leverage their early adoption and accelerate the Internet of Things (IoT) and all the data.
- Social media
Having developed on a track more or less parallel to blockchain and cryptocurrency in recent years, social media platforms are now starting to move into the fintech territory.
Facebook has aggressively increased its blockchain capacity and on December 20, 2018, the social media giant has confirmed that it plans to launch its cryptocurrency, a stablecoin linked to the US dollar, in order to provide WhatsApp users with a & # 39 an all-round experience, similar to the one offered by WeChat in China – in the near future.
Electronics is the key to technological growth
Facebook has emphasized that it is still far from issuing the currency and that it is still working on the strategy, including a custody plan, or regular currencies that would be maintained to protect the value of the stablecoin.
While attempts by various startups around the world to launch their own cryptocurrencies, including stablecoin, have had some notable exceptions, have struggled to gain ground, social media giants have some important comparative advantages.
Facebook has about 2.5 billion global users, more than $ 40 billion in annual revenue and more experience in navigating regulatory issues than most start-ups, and could have a better chance of creating a stablecoin that – even if we do not see it before the end of 2019.
It would be the first major technology company to launch such a project, ensuring the first advantage of the mover in its class without having rushed to committing errors made by other smaller companies.
Crypto in 2018: a review
However, it is likely to be a harsh year for the social media industry in general, as global privacy policies and customer use continue to move from text-based sharing and generation of content to more experiences video and image-based.
- Batteries
An area of the technology sector in which the virtual intersects with the physical is the hardware on which the technology sector and the raw materials needed to build it are dependent.
Demand for batteries that power mobile devices increases with each new generation of smartphones and concerns about the amount of electricity needed to power blockchain technologies is stimulating a greater interest in renewable energy and fuel cells / cells to produce and retain energy low-carbon.
The main driver of the battery industry is the electric vehicle market (EV), as electric vehicles continue to pull market shares at a staggering rate of transport based on internal combustion engines.
Battery technology is starting to have a real impact in many sectors and this trend is expected to continue in 2019.
Most car manufacturers now have at least one model of electric car in production or being launched and price tags will continue to fall, making them more accessible to the mass market.
A more innovative development could be the deeper integration of renewable energy into blockchain and cryptocurrency technologies in order to reduce the carbon footprint of these rapidly expanding sectors.
