BLOCKCHAIN IN REVOLUTION

BLOCKCHAIN revolution rolls on despite crytocurrency crash.

It was the year cryptocurrencies fell to earth - the crash has been so severe that parallels have been drawn with dotcom bust.

Bitcoin is down 80 percent from just under $20,000 12 months ago, to about $3,500 in December. Similar falls have been recorded by other cryptos such as ethereum.

The reasons for the bust are well rehearsed : Increased regulatory oversight, especially from the US and China, the emergence of scams linked to a proliferation of crytocurrencies launched via initial coin offerings [ICOs], and disagreements amongst cryptocurrency's developers about how to update the underlying software.

But interviewees told Arab News that the market would recover and that, just as the dotcom boom went on to produce Amazon, so the world of crytocurrencies shouldn't be written off.

Dubai-based entrepreneur and investor, Najam Kidwai, a board adviser to Fusion-org, a not-for-profit foundation that aims to develop blockchain infrastructure for cryptofinance, told Arab News that all innovations needed time to mature and cryptocurrencies were no different.

He added : ''Change needs to be regulated, but if you are doing everything above board, new technology should enhance the user experience, that's the idea of technology - to make life easier.''

In the interim, he predicted, that institutional money will flow into ''the crypto space,''even as retail investors take fright.

Banks and hedge funds had been looking into cyptocurrencies, and building risk and compliance infrastructure to support trading, he said.

Chris Beauchamp, senior market analyst at London based IG Group told Arab News  : 

''They [cryptocurrencies] aren't doomed, they're just not going to change the world overnight. Bitcoin still has the heft to remain part of the financial world, but others will probably fade or evolve over time, like the airlines and car firms of old.'' [Courtesy Arab News].

The honor and serving of the latest Operational Research on Blockchain and Crptocurrencies,  continues.