The new decade will unfurl a bag of seismic shifts, predicts the creator of Cardano and Ethereum, Charles Hoskinson. And these changes will propel cryptocurrency and blockchain solutions to the forefront as legacy systems buckle, transform or dissolve.
In an ask-me-anything session uploaded on January 3rd, the 11th birthday of Bitcoin, Hoskinson acknowledges how the popular cryptocurrency gave him an eye-opening introduction to the world of global finance, and he recounts how dramatically official attitudes and perceptions have changed.
“Every central bank in the world is aware of cryptocurrencies and some are even taking positions in cryptocurrencies. There’s really never been a time in human history where one piece of technology has obtained such enormous global relevance without any central coordinated effort, any central coordinated marketing. No company controls it and the revolution is just getting started.”
And he expects its emergence to coalesce with other epic changes. In a big picture reveal, Hoskinson plots some of the major events he believes will shape the new decade.
2020 Predictions
- The first brain-computer interface devices will be implanted into consumers.
- Private space travel will take off.
- Virtual reality and augmented reality will shift from fun things to mainstream things.
- Cell phone technology will enter its next phase.
- The electric vehicle market will double or quadruple.
- Electric car batteries will last for 600 to 1,200 miles on a single charge.
- Self-driving cars and intelligent infrastructures will gain traction.
- Alternative energy sources will proliferate.
- Quantum teleportation experiments will evolve.
- Quantum computers will reach full mainstream viability.
- One or more African nations will attain the same economic prominence of countries like Brazil and South Korea.
- New passport and identity systems will impact how people move around the globe.
- Data will be treated as a commodity and will be subject to regulations.
Hoskinson says the consequences of these technologies will reach every government service and that cryptocurrencies will gain an opening once another economic collapse – similar to 2008 – shakes the markets this decade.
“I think that means it’s a great opening for cryptocurrencies to be ready to start taking over the global economy.”
Hoskinson adds that he’s happy to be alive to witness all of the changes he anticipates, including a reorganization of the media.
“This is the last decade of traditional organized media, in my view. We’re probably going to have less CNNs and Fox Newses and Bloombergs and Wall Street Journals and more Joe Rogans, especially as we enter the 2025s and beyond. And I think our space in particular is going to fundamentally change the incentives of journalism. And we’ll actually move to a different way of paying for content, curating content.”
