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Evidence of blockchain technology’s move into the mainstream is emerging everywhere. A wide range of businesses are rapidly embracing it, and crypto use is growing, notably in the developing world. A clear sign of progress is the increasing number of partnerships that have been forged between development teams and a broad away of institutions. Many of these collaborations have remarkable potential, and lend tremendous legitimacy to their respective blockchain platforms, yet they have done little to move market values.
Cardano (ADA) is the most recent platform to announce a notable partnership. Shoe maker New Balance will be using Cardano to fight counterfeiting. Customers will soon be able to trace the origins of their shoes to ensure that they are authentic.
Not long ago, news of adoption by a major corporation would cause a platform’s market cap to dramatically rise, yet Cardano’s price has barely moved. In fact, it is trading lower than it was a month ago. This phenomenon is the same for other altcoins as well. Ikea has just received the first payment via an Ethereum smart contract, and the market has barely noticed. The Iota and VeChain teams are now regularly announcing new adoption measures, yet the prices of their respective coins have remained mostly stagnant.
There is no single explanation as to why positive news no longer has much impact on value, yet investors are clearly much more risk averse after the price declines of the past eighteen months. Would-be investors are expecting a much greater degree of use and adoption. Also, crypto advocates are now much more skeptical of the marketing, technical, and regulatory status of specific platforms.
Bitcoin’s uncertain status is also likely a contributor to the reticence of investors to jump back into to the alt market. The flagship cryptocurrency’s recovery has clearly stalled, and critics of its ability to ever become a mainstream medium of exchange are becoming more vocal. It is reasonable to assume that until there is more clarity on the status of Bitcoin the entire crypto market will remain somewhat depressed.
The present market status makes it clear that altcoins continue to rise and fall collectively, and the blockchain space has yet to mature enough for individual platforms to perform independently to any great degree. More importantly, despite clear steps toward mass adoption, putting a specific value on individual altcoins is extremely challenging. This fact is not surprising given the fact that the vast majority of crypto investment remains little more than speculation and trading.
Given the remarkable progress taking place some platforms are all but certain to experience significant market growth. The only real question is whether or not their price breakouts will be individual, or part of a much larger recovery of the altcoin space. In either case, this is a very unique, and likely temporary, time in the blockchain revolution where there is no clear correlation between mainstream progress and market value. It is unlikely to last for much longer.
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