Crypto Industry Will Gain ‘High Token Value’ Once Massive Adoption Occurs, Investor Says

The cryptocurrency market is currently struggling to increase its value, with the top 10 global coins seeing only a few gains in recent days. But crypto enthusiasts are still hopeful that the industry will see a significant growth once the technology reaches the lives of everyday folks.

Andy Tien, CEO of virtual gifting platform Gifto, said during the Blockchain Open Forum conference held in Seoul on June 28 that there’s still a massive need for digital currencies in the future. He argued that if the global population starts using cryptocurrencies for everyday transactions, “high token value” will follow, the Investor reported.

“One thing I have realized is that to be able to create technology that truly impacts the world, you need to have great applications that will represent the value of the technology so that the average person can appreciate it,” said Tien.

However, one of the obstacles that are hindering this was pointed out by Joyce Kim, co-founder of $3.5 billion blockchain network Stellar.

Kim pointed out that even if blockchain projects are designed for the betterment of the lives of ordinary people, these innovations are usually released too early. As such, the applications suffer from bugs and other technical issues, which will ultimately result in the projects' death.

The reason for this, Kim explained, is that 99 percent of blockchain investors are focusing on making a quick profit rather than be interested in the technology itself. She explained that in order for the industry to flourish, investors shouldn’t pressure developers to hastily release versions of projects so that the creators can polish them to a point where they remain stable after launch.

Steve Wozniak briefly touched on this when he recently said that blockchain initiatives that come out early can "burn themselves out." He added that while the technology has a lot of promise for the global market, it would still take some time for it to fully trickle down to the lives of ordinary people.

It also doesn’t help that the crypto ecosystem is evolving at an accelerated pace. Hard forks and project iterations are coming out left and right, and universities are having a hard time creating specialized curriculums on the subject.

“Technology changes so fast now, and change is taking place much faster in the blockchain industry, which means what is popular and good right now will be good for only a year or six months,” said Yan Palmachinskiy, CEO of blockchain protocol company ENDO. Indeed, a report released by a Chinese agency said that a blockchain venture has a lifespan of only 1.22 years even if continued support is provided to it by its developers.

As of this writing, the world’s leading cryptocurrency, Bitcoin, is trading at $6,100. This value is a far cry from its number in December 2017, when it was trading at more than $19,000.