PwC Official Predicts Greater Institutional Interest in Cryptocurrency in 2019

PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) FinTech & Crypto Leader for Asia, Henri Arslanian, has made a prediction that more institutional entities will enter the cryptocurrency space in the upcoming year.

In an interview with Bloomberg on December 24, Arslanian said that 2019 would bring multiple exciting developments, including the entry of institutional investors and regulatory clarity.

Arslanian said that a greater number of institutional investors would bring their expertise to the industry, which he believes it requires. Referring to Fidelity Investments, he said that some institutions would decide to launch their own solutions, while others would establish partnerships or invest in crypto companies.

When asked about why 2019 should bring any significant change, Arslanian responded:

A lot of elements are changing at the global level. If you look at 2018, a number of jurisdictions provided more regulatory clarity than have before. Countries from Hong Kong to Switzerland, Gibraltar to Malta…I expect many of those to take place as well in 2019.

Touching upon a similar point put forward by the likes of Anthony Pompliano, Arslanian also said that the recent bear market removed “a lot of the noise” from the market, similar to the time of the dot-com bubble.

As for other developments to monitor, Arslanian pointed to security tokens and stablecoins as key influencers in the market.

Despite Bear Market, 2018 Has Seen Institutional Arrival

2018 has been a rough year in terms of market growth and valuation, but it lays a strong foundation for the future development of the technology and its applications.

In particular, 2018 has seen the arrival of institutional investment services like Bakkt and Fidelity, which had been hoped to be a trigger for a bull run, though it appears that these too will take some time to result in stronger adoption.

In another progressive move, some major entities have partnered with certain projects on a trial basis, to better understand how the technology can be integrated into existing business systems. The most notable of these is Ripple, which has greatly expanded RippleNet and roped in several partners.