Tag Archives: future

Four Good Reasons to Be Optimistic About Bitcoin: Is Bitcoin the cryptocurrency of the future?

Four Good Reasons to Be Optimistic About Bitcoin: Is Bitcoin the cryptocurrency of the future?

So far in 2022, the entire crypto market has been impacted by wider economic and political uncertainties, led by Bitcoin (CRYPTO: BTC), with prices down more than 50% over the past six months and the price heading for the ninth consecutive red weekly candle. And while Terraform Labs successfully airdropped new Luna tokens to previous holders, the market sentiment continues to be bearish, with the Fear and Greed Index remaining in the doldrums.

One way to avoid panic selling when the price of cryptocurrencies drop significantly is to remind yourself of the essentials, to stick to your plan and don’t invest more than you can afford to lose.  Of course, that’s easy to say when you’ve lost money in Luna and seen your Bitcoin investments go down in value. However, there’s also an upside to the current market conditions as users can now buy Bitcoin at the new low price around the $30,000 mark.  But no matter what level your holdings in the current market, you should be optimistic about the long term viability of Bitcoin. Here are four key reasons to consider, to help re-frame your mindset and support your belief in Bitcoin going forward.

Mass adoption of crypto assets

According to relevant data, cryptocurrencies have reached a tipping point in 2021.  It has evolved from what many consider a niche investment to be a global, established asset class.  Venture capitalists are pouring money into the cryptocurrency market.  Among them, venture capital invested more than $30 billion in crypto assets and blockchain startups, with more than $10.5 billion in investment in the fourth quarter of 2021 alone. With an estimated $10 globally in the first quarter of 2022, reportedly the largest amount to date, and double the level for the same quarter in 2021. In fact, investment in crypto has continued to grow despite this year’s decline in Bitcoin price. “This decoupling is demonstrative of investors’ disbelief that a prolonged bear market in digital assets is forthcoming, as well as the significant amount of dry powder held by funds seeking to allocate to the sector,” said Alex Thorn, head of firmwide research at blockchain-focused bank Galaxy Digital in New York earlier this month.

Many major financial institutions are also exploring cryptocurrencies.  Recently, Fidelity, the largest retirement plan provider in the US with over $4.2 trillion in assets under management, said it would allow investors to deposit up to 20% of their retirement savings in the form of Bitcoin into their accounts.  While banking giant JPMorgan recently said that despite the crypto crash, its estimate of Bitcoin’s fair value is $38,000. “The past month’s crypto market correction looks more like capitulation relative to last January/February and going forward we see upside for bitcoin and crypto markets more generally,” the bank’s strategists said. In addition, both Visa and Mastercard have launched their own crypto cards.  And as the regulatory environment is catching up, ironically thanks in part due to the Terra collapse, there is reason to believe that cryptoassets will enjoy mainstream adoption in the future.

Countries adopting Bitcoin as legal tender

El Salvador was the first country to adopt Bitcoin as legal tender, led by President Nayib Bukele, but so far it remains uncertain whether the bold initiative will succeed.  As reported in the Wall Street Journal on May 14, “there are no indications that Mr. Bukele plans to change course. On Monday, he said on Twitter that El Salvador bought 500 bitcoin at an average price of $30,744. “El Salvador just bought the dip!” he added.” It’s not just El Salvador, the Central African Republic also recently approved Bitcoin as its national legal tender.  No one could have imagined that this cryptocurrency, which was only invented some 13 years ago, could become the legal tender of a country today.  If these experiments succeed other countries may adopt Bitcoin or other cryptocurrencies as their legal tender in the future.

Is Bitcoin the cryptocurrency of the future?

One of the appeals of Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies is that it removes friction in terms of costs and transaction speeds from payments, especially international transfers.  Indeed, according to Ark Invest, cumulative Bitcoin transfers have grown by more than 463% in the last year.  ARK analyst Yassine Elmandjra wrote in the report ‘Big Ideas 2022’ that Bitcoin will settle $13.1 trillion in 2021, a figure that even exceeds Visa’s payment volume.

Ark Invest’s research also highlighted several areas where Bitcoin could take market share from traditional activities. These include international remittances, emerging market currencies, institutional investment and acting as a form of digital gold.  Some experts predict that if Bitcoin can make significant progress in advancing these use cases, its price could exceed $1 million by 2030.

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Source: ARK Invest’s Yassine Elmandjra tweet, Jan 25, 2022

Bitcoin’s innovation continues apace

Although Bitcoin is not run by a centralized organization, it continues to grow along decentralized lines.  There is a small core group of developers working on improving the network, fixing bugs and security issues, and improving functionality.  For example, last year Bitcoin implemented a major upgrade called Taproot to improve privacy, scalability, and security.  Another potentially significant move is the development of the Lightning Network, a layer 2 solution to Bitcoin that reduces costs and increases speed.  As reported in Cointelegraph on May 30, “Bitcoin Lightning Network capacity attained an all-time high of 3915.776 BTC, as evidenced by data from Bitcoin Visuals, displaying a commitment to the cause of improving BTC transaction speeds and reducing fees over the layer-2 protocol.” This follows news from CEO of Strike, Jack Mallers, at the Bitcoin 2022 conference, that the company’s plans to collaborate with point-of-sale behemoths Shopify, NCR, and Blackhawk Network to revolutionize the payments industry. As a result, online retailers that support Shopify can now accept payments via the Lightning Network, in turn allowing US merchants to receive payments from customers globally as US dollars. As the integration of the Strike wallet is with major online players in the US economy, this could potentially do a lot for the broader adoption of Bitcoin in the retail industry.

While there are good reasons to remain optimistic about Bitcoin, there are also still many things that investors and traders need to be careful about when investing in Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies.  Data in recent months confirms once again that cryptocurrencies are a highly speculative and volatile asset.  Cryptocurrencies are still a relatively new sector compared to traditional investments like stocks and funds, and while we don’t have certainty exactly how it will develop in the long term the potential is clear to see. “I believe Bitcoin is a viable long term investment both as a store of value looking to the future, with the price trending significantly upwards after each halving event. But also, I’m excited about the rapid development of the Lightning Network, for both retail players but also for financial inclusion across the globe,” said BigONE Chairman Anndy Lian.

Original Source: https://www.benzinga.com/22/06/27599358/four-good-reasons-to-be-optimistic-about-bitcoin-is-bitcoin-the-cryptocurrency-of-the-future

Anndy Lian is an early blockchain adopter and experienced serial entrepreneur who is known for his work in the government sector. He is a best selling book author- “NFT: From Zero to Hero” and “Blockchain Revolution 2030”.

Currently, he is appointed as the Chief Digital Advisor at Mongolia Productivity Organization, championing national digitization. Prior to his current appointments, he was the Chairman of BigONE Exchange, a global top 30 ranked crypto spot exchange and was also the Advisory Board Member for Hyundai DAC, the blockchain arm of South Korea’s largest car manufacturer Hyundai Motor Group. Lian played a pivotal role as the Blockchain Advisor for Asian Productivity Organisation (APO), an intergovernmental organization committed to improving productivity in the Asia-Pacific region.

An avid supporter of incubating start-ups, Anndy has also been a private investor for the past eight years. With a growth investment mindset, Anndy strategically demonstrates this in the companies he chooses to be involved with. He believes that what he is doing through blockchain technology currently will revolutionise and redefine traditional businesses. He also believes that the blockchain industry has to be “redecentralised”.

www.anndy.com
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Cryptos crumble but VCs remain gung-ho on future prospects

Cryptos crumble but VCs remain gung-ho on future prospects

Venture capitalists (VCs) have poured billions into crypto and blockchain startups this year, especially into the Web3 and Ethereum layer-2 scaling solutions space, despite apparent overall bearish sentiments.

According to a report compiled by financial services and investment management firm Galaxy Digital, Venture Capitalists (VCs) have invested over $10 billion in crypto startups in the first quarter of this year.

Just earlier this week, VC giant Andreessen Horowitz announced the close of a $4.5bn crypto fund that focuses on Web3 startups.

Also, a group of former executives from Binance, one of the largest global cryptocurrency exchanges, announced a $100-million venture fund called Old Fashion Research earlier this week, to bring greater crypto adoption to growing markets like Latin America and Africa.

Singapore-based VC firm NGC Ventures also launched a $100-million fund dedicated to high potential Web3 projects and metaverse economies.

Experts say VCs bet on blockchain tech

According to experts, blockchain and not crypto, is the underlying reason for these investments, with crypto being one of the use cases of the blockchain. The possibilities of new use cases, Web 3.0, and accelerated adoption of blockchain technology – all add to the uptick in investments with scale, growth, and returns all on the horizon.

Roderik van der Graaf, Founder of Lemniscap, says the high degree of market volatility that crypto markets are currently experiencing can elicit fear among some investor categories and undercut overall ecosystem sentiment in the short run. However, VCs generally view the market landscape with a wider aperture and execute a consistent, measured approach to building their portfolios. Usually, a foundational market thesis guides their investment rationale.

van der Graaf, the founder of the investment firm specializing in crypto and blockchain technology, added that market downturns do not undermine this thesis in the short term, and in fact, can actually serve as a long-term cleansing force, recalibrating the market equation with fundamentals rather than unfounded collective psychology.

Some of the best projects will emerge during these testing times, and Lemniscap will continue to back high-potential startups as they evolve into high-performance protocols and platforms, said van der Graaf.

Jenny Zheng, Business Development Lead for Bybit NFT Marketplace and co-founder of Blockcast Ventures, said VCs invest more during a down market and grow them in the bull market because in an upward market everything is overpriced, especially, in the crypto world.

“When it goes up, it is like 100 times, when it goes down, it could be down by 99 percent, so the entry point is much more important compared to the traditional finance world,” he says.

Zheng further says that in crypto, there are always new things coming out, from ICO IEO IDO INO to Gamefi, Defi, and NFT. “Following the new trends and getting involved at an early stage is the key. VCs are following the trends too. Defi, Gamefi, and NFTs are the top choices and they are here to stay for many years to come,” according to him.

Sam Kim, CEO of Sukuma Ventures and founder of Gochapaa, a crypto wallet based in Kenya, says the main reason for VCs pouring investments into blockchain companies is because of investors’ enthusiasm to search and deploy fresh capital into innovative technologies and frontier markets where the innovation adoption is still at its infant stage.

“Despite the growing concerns in capital markets from the hawkish sentiment of the US Fed and ongoing conflict in Ukraine, the search for growth is never-ending,” Kim says.

Anndy Lian, Chief Digital Advisor to Mongolian Productivity Organisation, says other asset classes are also not doing well and some of them might take a much longer time for recovery. Crypto, on the other hand, has been proven to recover relatively faster.

“Secondly, blockchain and crypto are still the talking points in the tech industry. The future growth is very promising. I see with my own eyes that traditional fintech companies are rebranding themselves into crypto, jumping onto the bandwagon,” he says.

Lian says the number of projects will surely increase given the huge influx of new money with NFTs and Game-fi continuing to be their favorite options.

“We are not only talking about investors putting their money into companies in the big old economies. Investors are heavily pouring into Cambodia and Kenya too for instance. We are seeing good innovation at work in the crypto space,” Lian says.

Raj Kapoor, the chief advisor of crypto advisory firm Acryptoverse, says those enjoying the party are blockchain technology upstarts, trading platforms, Web3, and even the metaverse.

“Founders are now in a position to pick and choose investors because so much capital is looking to invest in these companies. As a result, founders can take advantage of investors that offer more than just money,” Kapoor says.

Jawad Nayyar, co-founder of Pakistani fintech firm PropTech, says over the last five years, NFTs and cryptocurrencies have gone from a Ponzi scheme to a gambling tool and a highly volatile asset to now finally being recognized as a legitimate virtual assets of value.

“In times of monetary expansion, high inflation, and a huge currency devaluation, the private sector now considers cryptos as a hedge against such economic adversaries,” Nayyar says.

As seen in the early stages of Web3, not all experiences make sense or will work with brand longevity, said Michael Gaizutis, founder and CXO of design agency RNO1. However, by taking that next step and investing in great design partners, investors will feel more confident and users will feel more central to the concepts they take part in, he added.

 

Original Source: https://www.moneycontrol.com/news/world/cryptos-crumble-but-vcs-remain-gung-ho-on-future-prospects-8600621.html

Anndy Lian is an early blockchain adopter and experienced serial entrepreneur who is known for his work in the government sector. He is a best selling book author- “NFT: From Zero to Hero” and “Blockchain Revolution 2030”.

Currently, he is appointed as the Chief Digital Advisor at Mongolia Productivity Organization, championing national digitization. Prior to his current appointments, he was the Chairman of BigONE Exchange, a global top 30 ranked crypto spot exchange and was also the Advisory Board Member for Hyundai DAC, the blockchain arm of South Korea’s largest car manufacturer Hyundai Motor Group. Lian played a pivotal role as the Blockchain Advisor for Asian Productivity Organisation (APO), an intergovernmental organization committed to improving productivity in the Asia-Pacific region.

An avid supporter of incubating start-ups, Anndy has also been a private investor for the past eight years. With a growth investment mindset, Anndy strategically demonstrates this in the companies he chooses to be involved with. He believes that what he is doing through blockchain technology currently will revolutionise and redefine traditional businesses. He also believes that the blockchain industry has to be “redecentralised”.

www.anndy.com
j j j

Cloud Executive Summit Asia: Architecting a Future Cloud Ready Strategy for Metaverse

Cloud Executive Summit Asia: Architecting a Future Cloud Ready Strategy for Metaverse

Metaverse is a much talked about topic nowadays. Technology has a symbiotic relationship with the world, and humans’ interaction with technology constantly gets disrupted with new innovations. The future of the Internet and the vision of it being the Metaverse has definitely a potential for disruptive change to the way we live, work and play. The race is on for businesses looking to have a stake in building and positioning themselves for the arrival of the future. As this will be the next battleground for cloud computing, evolving your cloud strategy and tools will be the first step to lead you to this new frontier. This panel will discuss:

– Defining the metaverse and reasons why we are pursuing it
– Importance of cloud infrastructure in the concept
– How should technologies evolve to support the realisation of this concept

The speakers’ lineup includes:

– Lim May-Ann, Executive Director, Asia Cloud Computing Association (moderator)
– Anndy Lian, Chairman, BigONE Exchange; Chief Digital Advisor, Mongolian Productivity Organization
– Lionel Chok, Chief Metaverse Officer, Hatten Edge Pte Ltd (Subsidiary of Hatten Land Ltd)
– Dr. Khoo Eng Tat, Principal Investigator, Immersive Reality Lab, National University of Singapore

May-Ann Lim, Emeritus Director – Asia Cloud Computing Association: “Foundational technology and the stabilisation of all of the important bits and pieces usually not as sexy as the things that you build on top of it. So it’s important to integrate for all that we have been really exciting things on the internet. I think foundationally it’s still a wire in the ground that’s bringing us a lot of things. So that I think that stability and environmental systems are important.” (10:17)
Anndy Lian, Chairman; Chief Digital Advisor – BigONE Exchange: “In a very, in a very simple manner I will say that the metaverse is giving the decentralised network a very good use case. You know, apart from that metaverse can actually exist in both and in some ways or another is still centralized; you know whether the metaverse is being controlled by the DAO or it’s being controlled by the centralised party, in some ways, they’re still a form of decentralisation. So the simplest version that I have in mind, is an environment, a place where people can live a second life, a virtual environment apart from the life we are experiencing right now.” (6:27)
Lionel Chok, Chief Metaverse Officer – Hatten Edge Pte Ltd (Subsidiary of Hatten Land Ltd): “You don’t know if it will take 10 or 15 years, you don’t know. But what we do know is that because so many of the tech giants missed the boat or didn’t totally respond to web 1.0 or 2.0, you can be sure that nobody is going to miss the boat this time.”
Eng Tat Khoo, Principal Investigator, Immersive Reality Lab – National University of Singapore: “Moving forward, I think that what the real world is, and what the virtual world is going to merge at some point, right? And that will be truly better is truly multidimensional and truly parallel. And for that to happen, I think there need to be breakthroughs happening in the space, one is on understanding the space and objects, so we do object tracking, localization, and I think you also need to develop some intelligence for normal voice interaction and natural language processing.” (26:47)
Cloud Executive Summit Asia, powered by Cloud Expo Asia, launches on 13th April 2022 at Marina Bay Sands. It is a one-day face-to-face event that will bring together CTOs, CIOs, Heads of IT, Infrastructure, Digital Transformation, AI, Cloud Security, Architecture, IT Operations, etc. from all industry verticals. The exhibition and conference promises challenging content and the opportunity to network with your industry peers.

The theme of the event is Accelerate Business Agility Through Cloud and some of the topics that form the 2022 programme include:

Digital Infrastructure: Fast, Agile, Resilient, Sustainable
– AI in Cloud Computing
– Hybrid Cloud Strategy
– Imagine the Future (Metaverse)
– The Rise of Serverless: IT-as-a-Service
– Work Productivity
– Sustainability
– Data Management

Anndy Lian is an early blockchain adopter and experienced serial entrepreneur who is known for his work in the government sector. He is a best selling book author- “NFT: From Zero to Hero” and “Blockchain Revolution 2030”.

Currently, he is appointed as the Chief Digital Advisor at Mongolia Productivity Organization, championing national digitization. Prior to his current appointments, he was the Chairman of BigONE Exchange, a global top 30 ranked crypto spot exchange and was also the Advisory Board Member for Hyundai DAC, the blockchain arm of South Korea’s largest car manufacturer Hyundai Motor Group. Lian played a pivotal role as the Blockchain Advisor for Asian Productivity Organisation (APO), an intergovernmental organization committed to improving productivity in the Asia-Pacific region.

An avid supporter of incubating start-ups, Anndy has also been a private investor for the past eight years. With a growth investment mindset, Anndy strategically demonstrates this in the companies he chooses to be involved with. He believes that what he is doing through blockchain technology currently will revolutionise and redefine traditional businesses. He also believes that the blockchain industry has to be “redecentralised”.

www.anndy.com
j j j