Adena Friedman, an American businesswoman who also doubles up as the Chief Executive Officer (C.E.O) of Nasdaq- an American based stock market, believes cryptocurrency is heading and surely will emerge as a global currency of the future.
While enroute to the World Economic Forum, the Nasdaq CEO had some interesting revelation for the future of cryptocurrencies and the economy at large. She terms 2019, as a year that will see “new chapters in Innovation and disruption” go down the books of history. Friedman believes the only inhibitor of crypto to become a global currency is the unfortunate lack of practical utility for the “tremendous demonstration of genius and creativity” available in this space. She is however optimistic we are moving in that direction.
The classic invention cycle
The classic invention Lifecycle, as scholars may describe it entails four main stages. For an invention to be considered mature and successful, it has to go all the four stages which include; marking by pioneers, followed by the hype stage then the proliferation of newcomers and finally a dose of reality. Friedman, like many others in the space believe the crypto space has successfully sailed through the initial stage of the lifecycle. The last stage is normally the toughest as it normally determines whether an invention will sail through the cycle and become successful or fails to achieve its intended purpose.
For instance in the crypto space, already billions of dollars have been put to waste given the vulnerability of the space. Cryptocurrencies have fallen in price by over 90% with some being wiped out in the process. However most cryptocurrencies, the likes of Bitcoin have managed to solder forth despite the market turbulences- a positive gesture for the cryptocurrency ecosystem
Possible outcome
At the end of it all, there will be two possible outcomes; either, just like the internet, “the innovation finds practical utility followed by years of steady and sustainable commercial progress and integration into the economic fabric” or, just like the Segway “the invention fails to achieve broad adoption and its commercial applications as medium of exchange are limited”
Friedman believes that given the tremendous input and effort directed towards the industry including that from some of the most urbane global investors, it would only be fair that the invention gets “an opportunity to find a sustainable future in our economy ”. She also emphasized NASDAQ’s commitment to assist crypto startups gain investors’ trust through offering of such services as clearing, trade-integrity and trade matching to start-up exchanges
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