Looking back on the last couple of years, it was a wild rollercoaster ride for crypto. 2017 saw a hyperbolic rise in price, only for 2018 to strip the majority of the crypto markets’ newfound value away. It was detrimental to some and many people got shaken out.
However, for the people still involved, if Bitcoin’s and crypto’s history has taught us anything, it’s that market cycles happen; when prices boom, they soon bust — and then it’s rinse and repeat. Now that 2019 is upon us, everyone is speculating and predicting what the year ahead will hold for Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies.
One of the more notable opinions on the matter comes from an article published by Weiss Cryptocurrency Ratings, the famous risk-evaluation firm that’s delved into the world of crypto.
According to Weiss, 2018 was a disastrous year for cryptocurrencies, but only in terms of price action. With regards to the technology, the team at Weiss believes it was a year of major progress.
Looking Ahead to 2019
In the Weiss Cryptocurrency Ratings 2019 forecast, the firm based their predictions and forecasts off 2 models.
The first is a cycles model that helps estimate the timing of major market trends. The second is a model that identifies cryptocurrencies with the strongest combination of risk, reward, technology, and adoption.
Each model is compiled by 10s of thousands of data points that are analyzed weekly. Using these models, the team at Weiss came up with 7 different forecasts for 2019 and beyond.
Forecast #1
Bitcoin will be increasingly used as a store of value.
According to the Weiss team of analysts, Bitcoin makes for a great store of value and is well on its way to becoming a veritable digital gold.
They believe this for a number of reasons, including that Bitcoin is extremely efficient to transport, it costs virtually nothing to store, it’s secure, and it cannot be confiscated by any government.
As well, there is currently no other cryptocurrency or other kinds of assets in the world that have these same properties as well as Bitcoin does.
Forecast #2
The price of Bitcoin will rise again and head for new all-time highs.
Based on their model of timing major market trends, data analysts at Weiss believe Bitcoin will rise up and head for new all-time highs in 2019 and beyond. They said that most of the weak hands have already departed in 2018, and overall, the groundwork has been laid for a new bull market.
Forecast #3
Select altcoins will rise from relative obscurity to as much as 20 times their previous all-time highs.
Weiss analysts predict that only a select few altcoins will rise to the top and even surpass their 2017-2018 peaks. They believe these coins will have superior technology to that of most, leaving the rest behind while they see substantial gains.
Forecast #4
A select group of cryptos will compete to build a new kind of internet.
Weiss Cryptocurrency Ratings believe that coins like EOS (EOS), Cardano (ADA), and Holochain (HOT) are leading the way to create the Internet 3.0, which is a more secure, stable, and sustainable worldwide web.
They also believe there will be others competing that haven’t even joined the market yet. We should expect to see new coins emerge in 2019, one of which could one day have over a $1 trillion market cap if they succeed at creating the internet 3.0.
Forecast #5
Another select group of cryptocurrencies will disrupt the world of banking.
An unpopular opinion among Bitcoin maximalists, but one that’s shared among Weiss Cryptocurrency Ratings analysts, is that Ripple’s XRP, Stellar, or some other coin will become the new kind of digital payment network.
The analysts believe the coins mentioned here have more potential to disrupt financial markets, remittances, wire transfers, and more.
Forecast #6
Bitcoin me-too coins will fade away.
Weiss analysts said that many coins will disappear going into 2019 and beyond. One of the types of coins that may not have a future are cryptos that don’t offer anything new compared to Bitcoin.
Such cryptocurrencies whose use cases are not innovative enough to distinguish them in the market will eventually die off.
Forecast #7
New coins will rocket to the top 10.
Weiss analysts believe that new coins like Holochain or Hedera Hashgraph and others have the potential to rise quickly to the top 10 by market cap. These 2 projects utilize non-blockchain distributed ledger technology and analysts believe they will take a vast majority of market share away from other projects.
What do you think about the Weiss Cryptocurrency Ratings forecasts? What are your forecasts for cryptocurrency going into 2019? Let us know in the comment section below.
