After a Year of an 80% Drop in Cryptocurrency Value, 2019 Will Be the Year of Real-World Blockchain Solutions
After a year in which cryptocurrency values plunged by as much as 80%, and blockchain was repeatedly hyped as a miracle cure for business transaction problems, 2019 is shaping up to be the year when real, practical blockchain solutions begin to take form.
Throughout 2018, blockchain repeatedly dominated headlines—largely due to the chaotic digital currency market, where Bitcoin and other tokens lost more than 80% of their value. This turmoil has cast doubts on the underlying distributed ledger technology (DLT) that supports Bitcoin and other digital currencies.
While last year saw an increase in proof-of-concept projects and pilot programs using blockchain, DLT has still not been proven in full-scale production environments.
That does not mean, however, that blockchain lacks the potential to transform a wide range of business processes.
In 2019 and the years ahead, blockchain is expected to evolve to offer greater flexibility and security, enabling practical applications such as mobile voting—similar to the trial conducted in West Virginia last November—as well as supply chain tracking in industries such as international shipping, food, and diamonds.
Below are five predictions from leading investors, research labs, industry foundations, and analysts regarding the next phase of blockchain development.
Wes Levitt — Head of Strategy, Theta Labs
According to Levitt:
1. “The first legally recognized national digital currency will launch, pegged to the fiat currency of a G20 nation.”
This asset will attract strong demand by combining the benefits of digital currency with the stability of government-backed money. Over recent months, several central banks and financial regulators have publicly stated they are evaluating central bank digital currencies (CBDCs).
2. “Mark Zuckerberg’s 2018 resolution to study digital currencies will lead to cryptocurrency payments integrated into Facebook.”
The only question: will Facebook adopt an existing currency or create its own? Levitt notes that Facebook has explored integrating digital payments into Messenger. Similar models already exist in China, such as Alibaba’s Alipay. He believes Facebook will avoid enabling Bitcoin trading directly, instead opting for a controlled, internal digital asset.
3. “The platform wars among smart contract platforms like Ethereum, EOS, and Dfinity will not produce a single clear winner.”
Cross-chain communication technologies will shift the landscape from a winner-takes-all competition to a more interoperable marketplace. Teams across the industry are discussing shared standards and protocols to allow blockchains to communicate with each other.
Levitt compares the current fragmentation to having 500 incompatible internet providers—an unsustainable ecosystem. Interoperable protocols will become critical.
4. “By 2019, blockchain hype will cool, but real development work will continue behind the scenes.”
Headlines will fade, but the foundational work will accelerate as the market stabilizes.
Avivah Litan — Vice President and Distinguished Analyst, Gartner
Litan predicts:
1. “By 2020, most enterprise blockchain deployments will be connected to public blockchains via mechanisms such as sidechains or virtual chains.”
However, large-scale performance and scalability will not mature until around 2022.
2. Public blockchains remain more secure due to decentralized consensus. With thousands of nodes validating transactions, confidence is stronger than in private blockchains controlled by only a few entities.
3. Key emerging scalability solutions include:
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Layer-2 ‘off-chain’ protocols (e.g., Bitcoin’s Lightning Network, Ethereum’s Plasma, Raiden, Liquidity Network, State Channels, TrueBit). These offload transactions to secondary messaging layers without burdening the main chain.
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Sidechains, which manage assets off the main chain but retain the ability to transfer them back. Examples include Polkadot and Ethereum Plasma child chains.
As these technologies mature, authorized/permissioned transactions will increasingly flow through public blockchain infrastructures.
4. “By 2023, scalable hybrid public–private blockchain frameworks will converge at the infrastructure level.”
Jonathan Johnson — President, Medici Ventures & Board Member, Overstock.com
Johnson predicts:
1. “Remote digital voting will see wider adoption.”
Following the successful West Virginia pilot using Voatz—allowing overseas voters to cast ballots securely—more states will explore such systems, initially for overseas and disabled voters.
2. Supply chain applications will expand rapidly, offering increased confidence for both buyers and sellers. Examples include:
– VinX in the wine industry
– GrainChain in grain and agriculture
Blockchain adoption will scale both horizontally (industry-wide) and vertically (from producer to consumer). Large players like Walmart, IBM, and Maersk are expected to drive adoption.
3. Fintech will remain the strongest driver of blockchain use cases.
Blockchain’s “killer app” has always been financial systems, given the reduction of intermediaries and conflict points. Securities trading and settlement are positioned for major disruption.
4. Blockchain will continue to be overhyped, leading some companies to waste money applying it to problems that traditional databases already solve effectively.
Dawn Song — CEO, Oasis Labs & MacArthur Genius Grant Recipient
Song predicts:
1. “After a year focused on scalability, 2019 will shift toward privacy.”
High-profile data breaches and misuse of personal data will push users to “vote with their data,” choosing privacy-respecting applications.
2. This shift will drive advances in privacy-preserving blockchain technology, enabling a new generation of applications that prioritize user control, transparency, and secure data processing.
Bruce Fenton — Founder & Managing Director, Atlantic Financial; Board Member, Bitcoin Foundation
Fenton believes:
1. “Tokenized securities will be the dominant trend.”
Combining distributed ledgers with regulated securities will unlock new funding opportunities and transform capital markets.
2. Privacy will remain a central concern, widening the gap between organizations with strong technological infrastructure and those that fall behind.
