bitcoin @ $52k, Decentralized Finance @ $40B, and Central Banks launching Digital Currencies – What’s Going On & What’s Next?
In January of 2017, as we were getting set to launch TransformationWorx after almost a year in incubation developing unique IP in enterprise applications of Blockchain technology and the emerging business and financial system innovation of cryptocurrencies, I was impressed by the fact that a single bitcoin had more than doubled in value in this time from US$380 to around US$1000. I wondered if investing all that corporate money into bitcoin instead of R&D had been a better investment.
On one extreme, we had many leaders, especially those in financial services as well as regulators who made out bitcoin to be almost criminal, vapour-ware that was nothing more than a Ponzi scheme to be avoided at all costs. On the other extreme were the crypto-maximalists and “bitcoin to the moon”-ers.
Today, just a four years later,
- bitcoin crossed US$52,000
- the total market capitalization of cryptocurrencies and tokens has grown 10x to US$1.5 Trillion in the last 12 months (coinmarketcap)
- the mostly ethereum-based Decentralized Finance (DeFi) ecosystem of emerging FinTech services was non-existent in 2017, has seen its locked-in value go up 40x to US$40 Billion in 12 months (DeFi Pulse)
- Decentralized Exchanges have emerged with Uniswap reaching US$100 Billion in transaction volumes (Defiant)
- Major corporations led by Microstrategies with over 71,079 bitcoin in reserve (over US$ 3 Billion), Tesla announcing a US$1.5 Billion investment in bitcoin, GalaxyDigital offering BTC investments holds 16,402 bitcoin (decrypt)
- Several bitcoin funds have been launched including Canadian 3iQ that listed on the TSX in April of 2020, has over $1 Billion in bitcoin, and
- North America’s very first bitcoin ETF for retail investors, from Purpose Financial got a greenlight from the Ontario Securities Commission (OSC) in Canada (Globe&Mail)
What is causing all of this? What are leading corporate CEOs and global banks seeing as strategic value?
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