A study from UK-based consultancy Juniper Research has found that the value of cryptocurrency transactions is expected to surpass $1 trillion in 2017, more than 15 times the level of 2016.
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The study is called "The Future of Blockchain : Key Vertical Opportunities & Deployment Strategies 2017-2022". It reports that transaction values in the first six months of the year surpassed $325 billion, driven by the dramatic increase in Ethereum which saw it account for two-thirds of cryptocurrency transaction value in that period.
Cryptocurrencies are now typically seeing daily trades well in excess of $2 billion. Meanwhile, the research found that Litecoin experienced a surge in volume and if current levels are maintained it should exceed $100 billion in transactions this year.
Beyond volume
The research cautioned that a second planned fork in November, when the SegWit2x scaling solution is due to be implemented, may prompt a split in the community, potentially leading to depreciation.
According to research author Dr Windsor Holden: “There is no resolution in sight to the continuing and fundamental disagreements between many Bitcoin miners and Bitcoin Core developers over the future of the cryptocurrency. This in turn could lead to uncertainty about Bitcoin’s future and downward pressure on its valuation.”
The research, which also focused on new use cases for blockchain, claimed that ultimately the brightest prospects in the sector came from deployments of private blockchain technologies for permissioned ledgers, rather than the public chains running cryptocurrencies.
