Adoption of virtual currencies will grow significantly in the next few years with one in five consumers planning to make use of them, according to a new report released by Technology Strategies International Inc., a Canadian digital payments research firm.
The report titled “The Future Of Virtual Currencies” suggests that existing financial institutions are not prepared for decentralized monetary systems that will become a “disruptive wave” within five years.
“The open protocols on which these virtual currencies are based, together with the highly collaborative innovation processes at work amongst the different develop communities, has created such a stimulating environment for innovation that it is impossible to halt it,” said Christie Christelis, President of Technology Strategies International Inc. in an official statement. “These innovations aren’t only focused on financial applications of virtual currencies.”
The report stated that since Bitcoin’s inception in 2009, more than 1,700 virtual currencies have been created, although only 35 have market valuations of $1 million or more.
Newer “Bitcoin 2.0 companies” are already looking into fresh applications of the currency in areas such as “smart contracts, colored coins and decentralized autonomous organizations,” according to the report.
According to Christelis, the direction that virtual currencies will take will greatly depend on government regulation. He says that, based on the current environment, a somewhat stable ‘Symbiosis’, where most governments neither focused on enabling the technology nor punished its use is likely, with some threats and responses to security.
