Blockchain Trends for 2019

2018 has been a banner year for blockchain as industries spanning the gamut from retail to shipping embraced the technology to improve data transparency, streamline business processes and enable better traceability. IBM and Maersk’s TradeLens platform grew to nearly 100 participants, Food Trust added major partners such as Carrefour and Walmart which is currently putting all their leafy green suppliers on the network, and the city of Dubai rolled out the world’s first municipal blockchain network and Central Banks began to openly embrace the idea of digital currency.

Looking ahead to the new year, these are the top seven blockchain trends to keep an eye on. 

1. Blockchain Goes Mainstream…Quietly: In 2019, consumers will begin to see blockchain applied to a variety of everyday uses, but they probably won’t recognize it as blockchain. Financial service providers will roll out identity tokens enabling users to log into online banking sites without a user name or password. Permissioned data exchanges and Standards for personal identity will allow consumers to seamlessly share personal data from one party to another. And more food retailers will hop on the blockchain bandwagon, which will promote better food safety. On the backend, these projects will be powered by and cryptographically secured through blockchain technology.  
2. Enter the Regulators: In an effort to impose a measure of oversight on the rapidly evolving cryptocurrency space, the SEC this year began to flex its regulatory muscle, issuing opinions as well as fines and enforcement actions. 2019 will likely see government agencies take on a more prominent role as they scramble to classify blockchain-based financial instruments and institute a regulatory framework. Should cryptocurrencies be treated as securities? Is tokenized gold a currency or a commodity? Federal regulatory clarity in this area as well as contractual certainty and identity, will not only help define emergent markets, but also provide a degree of stability and confidence. Still, expect the regulatory landscape to become more complex before it gets better.
3.  Individual States Will Outpace the Federal Government: Compared to states like Delaware and Idaho which have both publicly endorsed and invested in blockchain networks, as well as Arizona and Indiana, which have legal rulings on the technology, the U.S. federal government has been relatively mum on any nationwide initiatives. This trend is likely to continue in 2019 as individual states move nimbly to pilot new use cases and move them into production. States will use blockchain to streamline and standardize access to data across various agencies, while deploying new, cryptographically secured methods for accessing local services like Emergency Response systems.    
4. The Death of the ICO: Initial coin offerings (ICOs) made headlines and minted millionaires in 2018, but they also came to symbolize the speculative, shady, get-rich-quick schemes many in the mainstream consider synonymous with blockchain. In 2013, the market was made of just 14 cryptoassets that were largely spin-offs of Bitcoin with similar applications. Now, there are over 1,500 cryptoassets with over half being tokens created on top of other networks. Deadcoins.com listed 182 scam coins and 680 dead coins in total at the time of writing. In a research report from Satis Group, 78% of ICO’s were Identified Scams, ~4% Failed, ~3% had Gone Dead, and ~15% went on to trade on an exchange. 

2019 will see the rise of commodity- and asset-backed secure token offerings (STO) that deliver most of the benefits of ICOs, while also facilitating the exchange of real value and injecting greater liquidity into cryptocurrencies.  

1. Addressing the Blockchain Skills Shortage: Software engineers specializing in blockchain will become the new rock stars of the tech world in 2019. Possessing blockchain development skills will no longer be enough and there will be a growing need for developers who can incorporate their AI skills as the technologies begin to converge at some level. The need to offer educational opportunities will continue to increase in the new year as both startups and more-established companies ramp up their blockchain initiatives and launch new projects. In addition, blockchain is being used for skills credentialing across subject areas, enabling learners to earn and keep track of badges and other credentials and share the information with potential employers via the blockchain.
2.  Blockchains Networks Start Talking to Each Other: From supply-chain management solutions to cross-border payment systems, 2018 saw the rise of a multitude of innovative blockchain projects. But while these disparate networks share the same underlying technology, they remain mostly siloed off from one another. In 2019, blockchain networks will begin to come together in a cohesive, secure way, laying the groundwork for an end-to-end blockchain ecosystem. The integration of Hyperleger Fabric and Ethereum is one such example. Greater unity around standards and the value of open source will help accelerate these connections, driving better and more efficient blockchain solutions, enabling participants to benefit from a broader array of data.  
3.  A Better Bitcoin: It’s easy to forget that the digital currency we all know as bitcoin was a first of its kind. In the 10 years since its first trade was conceived on paper in 2009, several iterations of enhanced crypto designs have been released with varying levels of sophistication, but many still suffer from a lack of scalability and insufficient transactional throughput. Moving into 2019, protocols which don’t depend on inefficient processes like “mining”–will continue to make DLT and cryptocurrency a more viable payment medium, bringing it closer than ever to the mainstream. The world of crypto will see how blockchain is still standing strong thanks to enterprise use cases.