In spite of bitcoin’s recent drop, market experts foresee more strength after a bullish 2021, and this could just be the tip of the iceberg.
With the launch of a U.S. bitcoin futures-focused exchange traded fund (ETF) in November 2021, institutional investors further embraced digital assets, giving them a veil of legitimacy. One market expert feels that this mirrors the advent of the internet, which was subsequently followed by the Dotcom explosion in the late ’90s and early 2000s.
Businesses were quick to utilize the internet as a medium to support the sale of products and services. While it was followed by a subsequent Dotcom bust, it underscored the revolutionary effect the introduction the internet had on all business sectors.
“This is really like the internet back 20 or 30 years ago. We have to recognize that this only comes along once in a generation. And the innovative technology is allowing businesses to operate faster, cheaper with greater transparency, greater security, and this is why businesses are falling over themselves with development of blockchain technology,” said Ric Edelman, founder of Edelman Financial Engines.
Government Embracing Crypto
Rather than work against the technology, certain governmental agencies are looking to use it to their advantage. Edelman mentioned the Department of Transportation’s innovation unit, which is looking into the use of crypto tokens to reserve parking spaces.
“A novel strategy utilizing blockchain technology would provide a dynamic approach to incentivizing alternatives to driving,” the DOT says. “For instance, travelers can spend tokens to reserve a parking space or receive tokens for agreeing to use a different mode of transportation.”
“As spaces are reserved and become scarcer, the system may offer increasing incentives, or tokens, for travelers to choose not to reserve a space or to take a different mode, such as public transportation and other shared mobility options,” the DOT adds. “Blockchain technology could facilitate tracked, trusted payment transactions and provide verification to ensure that users can access a reserved parking space or earned incentives.”
Once again, this level of innovation hearkens back to the advent of the internet.
“We now have the benefit of experience. We know how the internet just exploded in growth through the 1990s,” Edelman said. “That’s where we’re at today – incredibly early for the investors who are recognizing the opportunities that aren’t going to exist 10 or 15 years from now the way they exist today.”
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