Crypto market game changers for 2019 Q1

As you surely know already the current year has been a carnage for the cryptocurrency markets. Since last December’s mania phase, things have been going steadily down, and mid-November was even worse.

But if you know that, you also know that these fluctuations have happened before in crypto and, every time, the market comes back with a vengeance. It’s only a matter of time before a new bullish run hits the market and prices soar. When will that happen? We don’t really know, but it could be on next year’s Q1, and it could happen because of the developments we’ll detail for you in this article.

Nasdaq, Fidelity, and ErisX

Most of the cryptocurrency market is supported by retail investors simply because institutional investors (like Wall Street) have been distrustful of Bitcoin and the cryptosphere from the very beginning, so they’ve kept themselves away.

But the next bullish run could be supported by money injected by institutional players, and here’s one example. Nasdaq and Fidelity, who are giant financial players in the traditional financial markets are working together to launch and support a new crypto exchange (which would be designed precisely to be Wall-Street friendly) called ErisX.

“With increasing financial support from leading-edge firms, ErisX stands to provide the most robust, secure and regulated digital asset offering available to both institutional and individual participants,” according to Thomas Chiapas, the company’s CEO. “Closing this second round of funding enables us to continue building our modern platform and expand our team.”

If Wall Street really starts to take crypto seriously, it will be time to buy.

Bakkt

What is there in common between Microsoft and Starbuck’s beside the fact they’re super rich, dominant in their markets, and based out of Seattle? Well, the answer now is crypto.

Microsoft is joining forces with Starbucks and ICE (the company that owns and operates the New York Stock Exchange and many others in the world) to create Bakkt, which will be a digital platform that will provide financial services for end-users based on digital assets and blockchain technology.

This is not just about paying your espresso using Bitcoin (though it is also about that). It’s about institutional money entering abundantly the cryptomarkets thus reflecting confidence, creating demand for tokens, increasing trade volumes and, in general, making life better for retail investors as well.

The partnership is already announced and the new company will go online soon with a credibility that no other blockchain project can match (except for IBM since it partnered up with Stellar Lumens).

And that’s just the beginning

Bakkt and ErisX are just the most spectacular examples of things to come in crypto in the short term. But there’s a lot more in the works. Goldman Sachs and JPMorgan have been considering to enter crypto for months, and they will. They’ll also bring institutional money that will pump things up. Swiss financial institutions are also interested as well as a list of important South Korean investors.

So while there is no doubt that the market remains bullish, things are about to change because the big boys in finance are getting ready to jump in. Pay attention to that news, as they will probably signal the beginning of a new bullish run that will outperform all others.

Image courtesy of Pixabay.

Ali Qamar: Ali Qamar is the blockchain and cryptocurrency enthusiast (also a full-time privacy and security guru), his work has been featured in many major crypto, finance, and security blogs. He also is the founder of 5Gist.com. Follow Ali on Twitter @AliQammar57