According the the CEO of BitPay, Stephen Pair, payments methods based on blockchain technology will become the norm in the next 3 to 5 years. He talked about the current situation in the market and also gave some explanation about why BTC is currently falling against the USD. Pair said that utility doesn’t influence the price of BTC as much as speculation about future adoption does. He said this during an interview with CNBC on the 13th of December. In response to a question the reporter asked, Pair said:
“One big component that affects the price of BTC is speculation. Investors are the ones who speculate on the possible future usage and adoption of Bitcoin. I am sure that only a little component that drives price is the actual utility.”
Bitcoin And Blockchain Adoption
During the interview, Pair was asked about the possibility of Bitcoin ETF to boost the price of BTC. In reply, he said that the launch and adoption of ETFs is going to push prices higher but they are not simply enough to cause a major price rally. He said that he doesn’t believe we will ever see those kind of price rallies in the future.
Speaking on the issue of the use of cryptocurrencies for day-to-day transactions, Stephen said that he expects that there will be mass adoption of these currencies as a method of payment within the next 3 to 5 years. In his words:
“Before now, I believed that it would take at least 10 years for cryptocurrencies to reach mass adoption. Now, I would say 3 to 5 years. Soon, people will be able to walk into any retail establishment and perform transactions using blockchain-based payment method.”
He also said that he isn’t just talking about Bitcoin and other tokens based on the blockchain but dollars, euros and other currencies will be issued on the blockchain.
The Approval Or Disapproval Of Bitcoin ETF Is Not Near
Hester Peirce, the commissioner of the Securities and Exchange Commission in the United States, said that there is no specific date for the approval of a Bitcoin ETF. Specifically, he said that an approval will come anytime between “now, tomorrow or the next 20 years”. He urged members of the cryptocurrency space not to hold their breath.
A while ago, the Cambridge Centre for Alternative Finance published a study stating that the number of verified users of cryptocurrencies doubled within the year. Following the report, a Bloomberg analyst said that an increase in the user base even amid a price decline is a signal that the market will recover soon.
Cryptocurrency Price Analysis
Meanwhile, the cryptocurrency market capitalization almost fell below the $100 billion mark this weekend when BTC dragged the price of altcoins down. Thankfully, the market is recovering slowly. Right now, BTC is trading at $3,301.32. This shows that it is up by 2.65% against the USD with a trading volume of $3,815,472,163 and a market capitalization of $57,528,310,401.
XRP is trading at $0.293476. This shows that it is up by 2.34% against the USD and down by 0.48% against Bitcoin. The trading volume over a 24 hour period is $319,930,334 and the market capitalization is $12,011,070,395. Ethereum (ETH) is trading at $87.55. This shows that it is up by 4.39% against the USD and up by 1.49% against Bitcoin with a trading volume of $1,697,697,714 and a market capitalization of $9,090,668,623.
