[ad_1]
A year ago, Bitcoin was trading at € 16,000. Today it is € 3,600. So it was all just a bubble? Yes, say a little. No, say others. "The question has fallen, there is no doubt", says Peter Nagle, the co-founder of the exchange of cryptocurrencies on a Bitcove.it basis.
"There was an element of a bubble at stake, but even if there was a sharp drop in price, there have already been before, it is cyclical and the interest is still there".
This year, analysts say, will somehow sort things out.
But the last months in Ireland have not been particularly promising. Towards the end of 2018, the country's highest profile project – the Irish "Crypto Coast" initiative – ran out for a number of reasons, according to one of its founders, Reuben Godfrey.
Meanwhile, a series of high-profile court and hack cases have exposed Bitcoin and Ethereum to negative light, associating them with the proceeds of crime rather than efficient alternative payments.
And there seems to be a line of small investors who dabbled in cryptocurrencies for the first time in 2018, only to be burned financially.
"People have become excessively excited and now they are overly depressed," says John Gleeson, a Dublin-based trader and writer from Bitcoin. "It fell a lot, but it's the fourth time it has crashed 85pc or more. Much of what has happened is related to the false promises of other alt coins that have come to light, but if you bought and held Bitcoin for a longer period more than two years ago, you're really awake. "
How many people own or have exchanged Bitcoins? Some professionals in the sector estimate it at around 100,000. "We took care of about 40,000 in Ireland," says Nagle, whose company helps people buy and sell Ethereum, Litecoin, Ripple and other cryptocurrencies. "But there are many different services out there".
A difficulty in estimating the size of the Irish cryptographic market is a policy of non-commitment by banks and conventional stock trading companies.
None of the major financial companies that people usually turn to will rely on cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin.
"Goodbody does not recommend or invest in cryptocurrencies on behalf of clients and currently has no plans to offer access to this asset class," said an independent Irish mediation spokesperson.
Other major intermediaries here have a similar rule. This does not mean that Irish investors who use these companies do not invest in cryptocurrencies. Within the major financial companies, some funds have allocated percentages for what are called "alternative strategies". This sometimes includes companies or encrypted funds, although the intermediaries here say they do not provide advice on these entities.
The biggest problem in managing cryptographic resources, say bankers, is its unregulated status. The rules are not sufficiently transparent or reliable, nor is there an administrative chain of responsibility with which regulated investors can coexist.
In the United States, some institutions are moving to address this problem. The owner of the New York Stock Exchange, Intercontinental, is launching a new communication focused on cryptography called Bakkt to allow people to buy, sell and spend digital currencies like Bitcoin. Its great attraction is that it promises to be regulated, giving a certain degree of security to those interested in cryptocurrencies. (He is still awaiting approval from the Commodity Futures Trading Commission). Because of this, and the bluechip series of investors that brought together (including Microsoft), it has just raised $ 182 million in funding.
But even if cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin become more acceptable as traded goods, they still face the permanent problem that cryptocurrencies have had since the beginning: when, if anything, ordinary people will feel they can use technology?
From the effort to create a Bitcoin wallet to find somewhere where you can actually spend it, cryptocurrencies are simply out of bound for the vast majority of ordinary people.
"We have a cryptocurrency ATM in Cork and we'll put one in Galway and then we hope to Dublin," says Nagle, founder of Bitcove.ie.
The idea is to allow people to exchange euros with Bitcoin and vice versa. But even if this works, it is not clear that people have many options for using cryptocurrencies for the types of businesses that associate with conventional money.
While retailers like Microsoft & # 39; s Store and Overstock.com have accepted payment systems compatible with Bitcoin (such as Coinbase) for a while, most online retailers do not. For example, two thirds of Irish buyers use Amazon, but the web giant does not accept cryptocurrencies.
In some respects, things got worse. The influential online payment company Stripe recently stopped processing Bitcoin payments because it took too long for transactions to pass.
The lack of regularized trade involving cryptocurrencies places a disproportionate spotlight on the most shaded activities in which cryptography is anterior and central. So when the Luas.ie website was hijacked earlier this month, most people learned that hackers were looking for a Bitcoin to unlock it.
Fraud is also a problem. Given that so much activity around cryptocurrencies is not regulated, scams and flim-flam operations are common. Last year, US authorities undertook hundreds of formal investigations into cryptographic fraud with 50 cases taken.
BitConnect's high-profile digital currency dramatically ruined last year following a cease-and-discontinue order from US regulators. The company, which had been valued at over € 2 billion, was prosecuted for losses of almost € 1 billion. The market analysts say that much of this was invested by ordinary people, attracted by the promise of getting rich quickly on a growing encrypted market.
But it's not all bad. Between skepticism and doubt there is the enthusiasm for the most important enabling technology behind the cryptocurrencies – blockchain.
Here, the affairs seem hasty. Dozens of Irish institutions have committees or steering groups committed to integrating more blockchain principles into their systems. Banks like AIB, Ulster Bank and permanent TSB are experimenting with blockchain-based payments through schemes such as Project Greenpay.
"This is a great year for the adoption of technology in real-life applications," says Lory Kehoe, CEO of ConsenSys' Irish office. ConsenSys is a blockchain company created by one of the co-founders of Ethereum, Joe Lubin.
"A number of companies are bringing their solutions into the world for consumers to use," says Kehoe.
This includes platforms such as Komgo, a new blockchain platform to facilitate oil and gas operations launched by large multinationals such as Shell, Citi, BNP Paribas and ABN Amro. The company "will try to digitize the commercial finance and commodity sectors through an open blockchain-based platform," the consortium said in a statement.
"This is real," says Kehoe. "Even the government and the public sector are involved, now there are three projects on which the European Commission is working and Ireland is part of it, the goal is to try to create standards sooner rather than later, so that In the summer there will be hundreds of companies that are part of it.We will have a functioning legal entity on how to bring the technology forward. "
Despite the positive assessment, ConsenSys itself was not immune to the pressures of the sector. The company recently announced that it is allowing the 13pc of its staff to go into a "slimming" exercise.
Kehoe says this does not extend to the newly opened Irish office, which currently employs 40 and is still hiring.
"There will soon be significant announcements from ConsenSys in Ireland and projects with Irish companies," he says. "We are still growing in Ireland, we are a really strong team here, so the answer if we are resizing here is not".
Kehoe is not alone. Blockchain, in contrast to straight cryptocurrencies, has an increasing number of supporters from "respectable" economic circles.
"With the amount of institutional money entering the space and the increasing involvement and adoption of such high-level financiers, it is inevitable that in 2019, blockchain, the underlying technology of cryptocurrencies will emerge," says Angel Versetti. CEO of Ambrosus, a blockchain-based Internet of Things network for food and pharmaceutical supply chains.
Some services are already there, others say. "In increasing numbers, consumers are trying out the Rize app from the livestreaming company YouNow, by downloading the Brave browser or using BlockParty, the event ticketing service that organizes concerts and music festivals through their blockchain application," says David. Wachsman, founder and CEO of Wachsman, a service company with clients like Coindesk and Indiegogo.
"The recent sharp crash in cryptographic markets … has had a knock-on effect and has created a public relations challenge for the whole blockchain technology. This is a short-term problem, as current technology continues to mature and advance with real -cases of use. "
Wachsman's view that cryptocurrencies are set to be long-term is taken up by others in blockchain activities.
"We will continue to see the expansion in this area," says Brent Jaciow of Utopia Music, a blockchain-based music tracking and attribution platform. "Some of the key functions include enabling split ownership of assets, enabling the tokenisation of resources and ideas previously impossible with traditional capital markets."
Local Irish supporters did not lose heart in the cryptocurrencies.
"For me, Bitcoin has never been stronger," says Gleeson. "The network is still extremely secure and has never been compromised, we are in a cycle".
Indo Business
[ad_2]Source link
