It's a big year for Crypto! Here's why.

Kind of late to the speculation game for this year but after reading others speculations I feel like I should share some of my own. This year is going to be huge for Crypto as a whole. why? For a couple reasons actually. We're getting past the phrase where people create coins just for the sake of it as a store of monetary value, which shows how blockchain technology is really maturing. We're going to see a lot of new (and better exchanges) and some really cool developments with merging uses for different utility tokens. So let's talk about them, shall we? 

Cryptocurrency is here to stay but which ones will stick around? 

As of December, there are over 1368 different altcoins on various exchanges. Unfortunately, a lot of these coins are terrible and have no real value. They don't support a need, are extremely volatile, and there intended purpose is...uncertain to say the least. These are your standard pump n' dump coins. While there will always be people who are in it for for a quick buck these coins will never reach the big leagues when it comes to worth. The time alone will soon be unprofitable searching for  "the next big thing" and will quickly change from a night of research to entering a lottery. 

So where will all the money go? Utility tokens. Those with a real purpose or use. Coins that allow you to purchase a service, create an ecosystem, or facilitate smart contracts will be the real winners. Their value goes beyond their fiat exchange and can actually be used for a real service. Projects like Golem (GNT), Dragon (DRGN) and Storj (STORJ) let you trade their coin for processing power, decentralized server space, and online storage.  Steemit creates an ecosystem of authors and readers who benefit from creating content and curating what they read. The same is true of Cryptokittes where you collect, breed and sell blockchain made cats ( an interesting project to read actually. Link here ). Of course, we have the coins that run these "appcoins" like Etherum, tezos, and the 0x project do through smart contracts.  

We can expect these coins and others to really grow this year, but I wouldn't say at an astronomical rate. For these coins to really grow the services they offer and the coins built on top of them will have to expand but with the teams behind them and people taking an interest, I expect this to happen sooner rather than later in the coming years. So now a good time to do your research and get in. 

Exchanges: what can you do for me? 

There has been a number of exchanges to grow in 2017. Services like Kucoin, Kraken, and Binance (if you can get in, HA!)  are among some of the newer favorites but with some promising newcomers on the horizon and more to come, I predict we'll see a shift in the most popular ones. Exchanges like UpCoin and WCX are offering something that all traders are asking for: lower fees. According to their websites, WCX plans to charge 10x less than the standard fees of other exchanges which sit at 1% on the low-end, and UpCoin is giving new members a $500 credit for fees. That paired with great referral programs, easy to use interface, and in WCX case, it's own coin that promises quarterly payouts of the exchange's profits, make them tempting to both new and old traders. This will probably cause a bump in referral bonuses and lower fees of current exchanges as well like Binance. Here's a shameless plug to my referral link to those exchanges:

1. Binance
2. Upcoin
3. WCX

With the recent regulation changes in South Korea, it wouldn't be surprising for traders to get spooked and move away from exchanges located there like Kucoin and Kraken. Definitely something you want to keep your eye on. 

Some cool stuff in the works 

Something that's caught my attention in the recent months is dapps (decentralized applications). There are already a number of dapps such as Golem, but what really interests me is the integration of multiple coins to create a truly decentralized app. Think of steemit hosted using Dragon and run using the processing power of Golem. Of course, in order to use these services there would have to be some type of smart contract coin to calculate how much of each you need to run the application. I think we may be some years from anyone dapp becoming mainstream, but this is a key year in laying the foundation for dapps. The possibilities are endless as to what we can expect to see. State of the Dapps has some interesting projects underway that you can check out. 

Some last thoughts 

Well, that about ends my speculations for this year, not exactly a "go buy this coin" guide but I hope it helps provide some markers to look out for. Just some last minute thoughts about crypto as a whole:

• I think the coming regulations from countries will have a large impact on coin price and exchanges this coming year. I just don't feel like I know enough to comment on it. (I'm all ears if you can shed some light on this.)
• The coins that make it big will not necessarily be the BEST coins.  With so many coins coming out that do similar things, we're going to have a Betamax vs VHS situation on our hands where it's not about being the best but about convincing people you're the best and whichever one get's the greater adoption. 
• A lot of good coins are not considering their target market. There are some really great projects out their that can really benefit a lot of people. But if you're trying to reach the masses, stop talking about how your complex algorithm uses blockchain technology to validate your share on the blah blah blah. Keep it simple stupid. I think Stream Space does a really good job at this.