By all measures 2019 was a remarkable year for the blockchain and crypto space. We saw the birth of new alliances, new cryptocurrency trading products, Bitcoin and Ethereum survived the bear market, and a plethora of blockchain protocols matured and expanded in growth. Finally, the U.S. Congress and foreign central banks are paying close attention to the benefits of blockchain and digital assets. Even China has entered the blockchain race in full force by spending billions on innovation. The largest financial companies in the world are building on blockchain and this trend is not slowing down.
We have a lot to look forward to in the next year. So, let’s review the most expected events that will shape the blockchain ecosystem in 2020.
1. China will launch it’s Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC)
China has always been active in the blockchain and crypto space, as some of the largest cryptocurrency exchanges are based in China as well as the largest mining power. Still, when President Xi Jinping announced in his speech that blockchain is the future and it is the technology that China will be the leaders in, it led to massive investments and blockchain research work. The scale on which China is operating is enormous: just recently the Bank of China (BoC) completed an issuance equivalent to $2.8 billion worth of financial bonds for small enterprises.
One of the key developments that China is pursuing is the Digital Currency/Electronic Payment (DC/EP) initiative and by the looks of it, this will be rolled out in 2020, even in limited scope.
2. Facebook’s Libra will launch with very limited functionality
Facebook’s payment network initiative that received a mountain of resistance from regulators both in the U.S. and in Europe has been slowly developed, shying away from media attention. Their GitHub repository has regular development commits and activity. The expectation is that Libra will launch in one jurisdiction and with very limited scope, partners and functionality. It will not be the payment rails and onboarding vehicle that it promised originally but still will show signs of progress.
Author: Biser Dimitrov
Read more at: https://www.forbes.com/sites/biserdimitrov/2019/12/11/what-are-the-top-10-blockchain-predictions-for-2020/#27628e5a4d39
