Crypto Industry Q2 2019
After the downward turn of early 2018, the crypto industry seems to be recovering steadily after Q2 2019 marked the first sustained recovery since. Market capitalization went from $144 billion in March to $339 billion in June, but how does this translate to the rest of the industry?
The market
The steady market growth has mainly been boosted by bitcoin, which rose from $3,000 to $11,000 in the last 3 months. A report produced by PwC and the Swiss Crypto Valley Association put this down to countries’ clarification of their crypto market regulation, along with renewed interest in the crypto industry.
Adoption by institutions
Facebook have been developing their cryptocurrency, Libra, for some time now, but the official announcement came at the end of this quarter. This announcement has demonstrated the current adoption trend of the crypto industry, along with an increased global awareness of the issue.
Although blockchain start-ups have shown an impressive ability to raise $822 million in the last 6 months, this still doesn’t beat investment rates shown in 2018. So even though Q2 has been good, it’ll hopefully continue to show a similar rise in coming months.
Regulation
Q2 of 2019 has seen several changes in crypto regulation, some of which has impacted global trends. One notable example was the US Congress halting development on Facebook’s cryptocurrency Libra, although the Bank of England seems more receptive to the idea.
However, information on Congress lobbying activity isn’t yet available for Q2, but this will be interesting to show current trends within the American government, which will understandably have a big impact on future developments.
Blockchain networks
There have been quite a few improvements made during Q2 to the blockchain network’s operation. Importantly, there have been improvements made to the computational power needed for mining, along with changes made to active wallets. For example, the network’s hash rate jumped from 44 terahashes per second in Q1 to 62 in Q2. This demonstrates the steady upward trend shown in other areas of the crypto industry.
Data security
One of the biggest takeaways from Q2 is the increased need for data security in the crypto industry. Data privacy, particularly personal information, is always a target for online theft, but Q2 is already looking to beat Q1’s 1900 reported data breaches. Hopefully Q3 will demonstrate an industry-wide attempt to reduce this issue, but 2019 is currently looking to be the worst year on record for data theft, which will cost hundreds of millions of dollars.
What’s next?
Q2 of 2019 has been reasonably positive for the crypto industry. Along with increased investments and network improvements, some important steps have been taken in national and international regulation. However, what impact these step will have on the market remains to be seen, and Facebook’s Libra will certainly remain in the headline for a while. These signs all point to a positive 2 quarters in the rest of 2019, but this could easily change if the continued rise in cases of data theft stays on its current course.
