Layer 1s • January 2, 2019, 9:07AM EST
UPDATED: January 2, 2019, 9:18AM EST

Here are the 3 reasons blockchain will become normal in 2019

Read the non-AMP story on Theblock.co
The Block

Blockchain and cryptocurrency mania swept financial markets as the price of digital assets soared in 2017 and then crashed in 2018. In 2019, blockchain and related-technologies will become "normal," according to Mike Orcutt in MIT Technology Review. Here are Orcutt's three reasons why: 

  • Wall Street's big projects enter the fold: Projects including Intercontinental Exchange's Bakkt will launch early this year as well as Fidelity's new crypto brokerage unit Fidelity Digital Assets.
  • Smart contracts become valuable for the real world: Recent improvements in smart-contract technology have laid the foundation for real life applications of the technology in 2019. "Chainlink has partnered with a project called OpenLaw, which is developing simple smart-contract-based legal agreements (for example, an agreement between a worker and a company)," Orcutt wrote. 
  • National cryptos: 15 countries are looking at creating their own cryptocurrencies. Orcutt expects discussions about those currencies to "heat up" in 2019 even if no new state cryptocurrencies are actually created and issued.