27 August 2018. We are, in my humble opinion, getting towards the end of the beginning of institutional adoption of cryptoassets as an investable asset class, by that I mean an asset that can and should be held in 401(k) plans, Superannuation and Pension funds around the world.
For the next 4-5 months we will remain in the current holding lounge and it not very pleasant, plastic chairs, sweaty people…you know the deal…but beyond that things are looking very promising.
I come to this view based on a number of important developments, including:
1. global investment bank Nomura and hard wallet provider Ledger have partnered to provide an institutional grade asset custody solution;
5. the opening of the worlds first European regulated blockchain exchange, the Gibraltar Blockchain Exchange; and
6. the SEC approving a BTC Exchange Traded Fund before the end of the year (ok this is anticipatory).
Aside from these events, there are a host of other rumoured developments across the institutional landscape.
On the technology front, it also feels like we are in the departure lounge, we have a number of projects close to rolling out their scaling solution and others working wallets and user interface issues.
In short, over the next 12- 18 months I expect to see institutional investment commencing, the rollout of solutions relative to scalability and rapid escalation of user adoption driven by better user interface.
IMHO, history will record 2018 as being a year of consolidation and preparation for the next 5 -10 years of global adoption of cryptoassets and the transformation of analogue capital markets to crypto capital markets.