Kaspersky bearish on cryptocurrencies and blockchain technology in 2019

Cryptocurrency prices are unlikely to return to the sky-high rates seen in 2017, Kaspersky said in its latest report.

With the new year just around the corner, cybersecurity firm Kaspersky has come up with its predictions for cryptocurrencies and blockchain technology for 2019.

The firm expects the use of cryptocurrencies as a means of payment to decline further in the forthcoming year. It said:

“In 2017 a number of suppliers of goods and services announced that they would accept cryptocurrencies as a form of payment. However, in the face of huge commissions (an acute problem in December 2017), slow transfers, a large price for integration, and, most importantly, a small number of customers, its use as a method of payment declined steadily. In the end, the use of cryptocurrencies by a legitimate business simply does not make much sense.”

While a number of analysts are bullish on cryptocurrency price, Kaspersky is rather bearish. It noted that there were immense highs and lows in bitcoin price until January 2018. However, it added:

“We do not expect these to return as the value of cryptocurrencies levels out to reflect their popularity. We believe there is a finite audience for whom cryptocurrencies are of interest, and once that limit is reached the price will not rise further.”

With regard to blockchain technology, the cybersecurity expert believes that the “excessive expectations about the use of blockchain beyond the cryptocurrency sphere will disappear.” It went to state that the organizations and industries will arrive at the conclusion that “blockchain has a rather narrow scope of application, and most attempts to use in different ways are not justified.”

“The reliable application of blockchain beyond cryptocurrency has been explored and experimented with for years, but there is little evidence of achievement. We expect 2019 to be the year people stop trying,” it added.