Expect ‘Free for All’ in Crypto Market for Years to Come, Top Entrepreneur Warns

Andrew Wong, a senior executive at International Digital Currency Markets (IDCM), believes the likes of Bitcoin and Ethereum are going to be around for the foreseeable future, as well as many of the altcoins challenging their position.

However, he said the mass adoption of cryptocurrencies is “still at least a decade away” – and even if the myriad of scalability issues within the industry are addressed, a lot of work needs to be done before crypto is “more accessible and easier to use for the general population.”

“Free for all” forecast

According to Mr. Wong, there is likely to be a “free for all” in the marketplace until tokens establish dominance in certain sectors.

Right now, the entrepreneur believes several top-performing coins are being overlooked by the crypto community at large – including Stellar. Mr. Wong claims the network, which uses the Lumens coin (XLM,) can more than adequately service 90 percent of smart contract needs and perform 100 times as many transactions per second as the Ethereum network. This is done at a much lower cost. When it comes to coins that have potential for the future, Mr. Wong believes Ravencoin (RVN) and the Dero Project have potential.

The IDCM managing partner does predict that the crypto world will face headwinds in the coming years – with regulation likely to ramp up in the short to medium-term. He believes that greater scrutiny of initial coin offerings (ICOs) will be inevitable going forward and that centralized exchanges will be expected to introduce more stringent know your customer (KYC) checks amid concerns over money laundering.

Mr. Wong said this governance will probably be unlike anything the financial world has seen before, with countries around the world using “attractive regulatory regimes to attract exchanges, projects and businesses” as crypto continues to gain traction.

He added: “Cryptocurrency regulation is absolutely necessary; as long as it is not suffocating innovation, it is a positive thing. Certainty is the main benefit of regulation.”

The current lack of regulation when it comes to exchanges and the developers of crypto products are actually stymying progress, according to Mr. Wong. Scalability issues are affecting the overall user uptake of new business ventures – and price volatility has meant that there can be large fluctuations in how much it costs to use these services.

Sage advice for aspiring entrepreneurs

When asked what advice he would give aspiring entrepreneurs who are hoping to launch their own crypto product, potentially with the help of an ICO, Mr. Wong said fledgling business owners should be prepared for vocal feedback in the day and age of social media.

“Don’t lose belief in your project and ignore any short-term headwinds that will come your way,” he added.

Striking a positive and reassuring note, Mr. Wong said there is a lot of scope for fresh thinking because practically everything is new in the world of crypto – and this means there are always improvements to be made on the status quo.

Mr. Wong made what he describes as a “pivotal jump” to crypto after spending seven years as a trader for JP Morgan in Hong Kong, primarily focusing on Asian equities. He joined International Digital Currency Markets in the summer of 2018 – and according to CoinMarketCap, IDCM is comfortably within the top 30 crypto exchanges by trading volume at the time of writing.