All eyes on Japan in 2018

[Calangaman]

Even if the fees will be 1/2 or even 1/4 from what they are now they would still be too high for daily usage. Imagine you would have to pay 5-10 bucks every time you buy something with your credit card. I don't think Segwit and LN would decrease the fees to less than 1 USD, so even if bitcoin sustains, there is surely a room of alts to take over in areas where using BTC will simply not be worth it.

Not sure how you derive your fee analysis.
Don't forget that Lightning Networks enables atomic swaps with the other segwit and LN coins like LTC, VTC and MONA so if BTC remains too expensive, these other coins will greatly benefit from it.

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[agooo]

In Japan there is a bar called Nembar, which can be paid by nem

[Mattwald]

2018 should be the year that decides whether crypto become s main stream. Japan I think will be the cutting edge while everyone else follow s suit

[Calangaman]

2018 should be the year that decides whether crypto become s main stream. Japan I think will be the cutting edge while everyone else follow s suit

It's probably too ambitious to expect a crypto to become really mainstream by year end. Adoption takes time.

However, some Japanese alts may grow their network significantly while BTC remains expensive to transact with.

[Jaya912]

2017 April Japan History day for Bitcoin The day long awaited Legalising Bitcoin happened after then every body know till date we have seen the bitcoin price growth obvious japan is crucial market for bitcoin in 2018 as well

I agree with you. Japan is one of big market before and next future.
After legalyzing bitcoin, japan announce to their citizens all about that currency. It means japaness now realize and  will invest on it.

[vincentbeth934]

This is looking good for Bitcoin since more Japanese business will adapt to the technology. The only drawback here is that it could add more to the congestion and already high fees. I hope improvements will be made soon though.

[reck1ess]

***************************************************************************************************************
This paper presents the situation of the cryptocurrency market at the end of 2017 and the challenges that the crypto community still faces. Thanks to its crypto friendly legal framework, Japan should be the country to watch in 2018. The currently high transaction fees of Bitcoin offers an opportunity for Japanese crypto assets to become the preferred payment method on the island and maybe in the world.
***************************************************************************************************************

Looking back, 2017 was a fantastic year for the crypto world. Investors enjoyed 20 fold returns on Bitcoin (BTC), 100 for Ether (ETH), 60 for Litecoin (LTC) and so on. It was hard to lose money in dollar terms.

This exceptional performance is the consequence of years of hard work from developers, exchanges, lobbyists, authors, etc. to make Bitcoin and the likes more known and accessible to the world.
The crypto market is becoming mainstream: institutional and retail investors are now together in this new asset class. The more, the merrier one could say.

Indeed, the influx of new joiners came at a benefit: the skyrocketing rise in value of crypto assets.

But it came at a cost too: Congested blockchains, rising transaction costs, crashing exchanges, etc.

While cryptocurrencies made a name for themselves this year, a lot must be done so that they leave their nascent state and become mature payment methods.

The time is now to scale.

On December 13, Vitalik Buterin, the Founder of Ethereum, challenged his followers on Twitter:

•   “So total cryptocoin market cap just hit $0.5T today. But have we *earned* it?”
•   “How many unbanked people have we banked?”
•   “How much actual usage of micropayment channels is there actually in reality?”

Without a real use case in the daily life of people, 99% of cryptocurrencies and tokens will be remembered as a funny investment that turned out to be a mirage.

Bitcoin is here to stay.

It has the first mover advantage, the biggest network, fair incentives and its scarcity makes it the true digital gold. It’s the benchmark of all crypto assets. For these reasons, Bitcoin will survive and at least act as a store of value.

However, Bitcoin was also designed to be a medium of exchange but it is now too slow and too expensive to use. Being the first mover also has its flaws. Bitcoin blocks are 1 Megabyte big and occur every 10 minutes. That is not enough to cope with the thousands of new transactions happening every minute. Bitcoin miners include the transactions with the highest fees attached in the blocks.
This is how Bitcoin is no longer viable as a medium of exchange for small transactions.

It may be temporary though.

The introduction of the Lightning Networks (LN) solution to the Bitcoin network will make Bitcoin great again.
But when will that happen?
Will the community tear itself apart as it did when the Segregated Witness (Segwit) solution was launched this summer? Nobody knows. There may well be another 12 to 18 months of developments and hiccups along the way.

So what will happen in the meantime?

Now that millions of people have become aware of cryptocurrencies and that the Bitcoin blockchain is in limbo, there is an immense opportunity for an altcoin to become the preferred coin for transactions.

Let’s remember that the value of a coin mostly depends on the size of its network. The more people use it, the higher its value.
Also, the number of merchants accepting Bitcoin vs credit cards is still low worldwide. A successful altcoin could in no time take over Bitcoin as the preferred coin by merchants.

Therefore, this is no surprise that the Bitcoin cash (BCH) supporters are so vocal in the media. BCH offers lower transaction costs thanks to its 8 Megabytes block size. It could thus fill the gap.
Litecoin (LTC) is another contender. It’s a clone of Bitcoin with larger and more frequent blocks. It has Segwit too.

In the end, the users will decide which coin they endorse.

But the legal framework plays an important role here.
In most countries, the legal status of Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies is still unclear. Why would merchants accept cryptocurrencies that are uneasy to apprehend and that the government can ban overnight?

Japan gave cryptocurrencies legal tender status in April. This is a massive step for a rapid adoption by Japanese people and merchants.
Which coins are they likely to endorse for payments?

BCH? LTC? Probably not. These coins are known in Japan but probably lack the support of the local crypto communities.

And Japan has its own altcoins: NEM and MONA. They are very different in design.

NEM is similar to Ether as it enables the creation of NEM powered blockchains and smart contracts. There are 9 billion tokens that were premined. Transactions are validated by nodes, based on a Proof of Importance method.

MONA is a fork of LTC with more frequent blocks. It is popular with gamers and is even accepted by IT stores. Coins are mined by the traditional Proof of Work method.

Both coins enjoy strong local support and can be purchased directly against Fiat on the Japanese exchanges.

This is why Japanese altcoins shall be monitored closely in 2018.

Their adoption by local merchants shall be facilitated thanks to the clear legal framework for cryptocurrencies in Japan and the work of their communities.

Should they become widely adopted in Japan, the network effect could make them very popular in other parts of the world.

Calangaman
Published on Bitcointalk on 27 Dec 2017

Thanks for the information. Time to keep an eye to Japan's cryptocurrencies for now.

[Passive Coin]

It's a pity that Japanese local law focus only on top crypto-currencies.
Small cap coins (like Passive Coin for example) has not any chance to list at Japanese exchange.

Have some Japanese followers and holders of our Passive Coin and found Japanese people as great crypto-enthusiasts and long-term supporters for sensible crypto-projects.
Hope to see more Japanese promoting crypto and BTC usage.  
 

[WUWARAOLUOXIANG]

Japan is making a very clever move. Japanese are very open-minded and they accept the new things fast, that is why Japan is controlling some key technic in the world although they are in a tiny land.   

[JesusCryptos]

Thanks for your very interesting analisys. In fact, NEM's price is skyrocketing right now, and I wonder if it could be connected with what you have said, that Japan has started recognizing cryptocurrencies.

[chiefthor]

***************************************************************************************************************
This paper presents the situation of the cryptocurrency market at the end of 2017 and the challenges that the crypto community still faces. Thanks to its crypto friendly legal framework, Japan should be the country to watch in 2018. The currently high transaction fees of Bitcoin offers an opportunity for Japanese crypto assets to become the preferred payment method on the island and maybe in the world.
***************************************************************************************************************

Looking back, 2017 was a fantastic year for the crypto world. Investors enjoyed 20 fold returns on Bitcoin (BTC), 100 for Ether (ETH), 60 for Litecoin (LTC) and so on. It was hard to lose money in dollar terms.

This exceptional performance is the consequence of years of hard work from developers, exchanges, lobbyists, authors, etc. to make Bitcoin and the likes more known and accessible to the world.
The crypto market is becoming mainstream: institutional and retail investors are now together in this new asset class. The more, the merrier one could say.

Indeed, the influx of new joiners came at a benefit: the skyrocketing rise in value of crypto assets.

But it came at a cost too: Congested blockchains, rising transaction costs, crashing exchanges, etc.

While cryptocurrencies made a name for themselves this year, a lot must be done so that they leave their nascent state and become mature payment methods.

The time is now to scale.

On December 13, Vitalik Buterin, the Founder of Ethereum, challenged his followers on Twitter:

•   “So total cryptocoin market cap just hit $0.5T today. But have we *earned* it?”
•   “How many unbanked people have we banked?”
•   “How much actual usage of micropayment channels is there actually in reality?”

Without a real use case in the daily life of people, 99% of cryptocurrencies and tokens will be remembered as a funny investment that turned out to be a mirage.

Bitcoin is here to stay.

It has the first mover advantage, the biggest network, fair incentives and its scarcity makes it the true digital gold. It’s the benchmark of all crypto assets. For these reasons, Bitcoin will survive and at least act as a store of value.

However, Bitcoin was also designed to be a medium of exchange but it is now too slow and too expensive to use. Being the first mover also has its flaws. Bitcoin blocks are 1 Megabyte big and occur every 10 minutes. That is not enough to cope with the thousands of new transactions happening every minute. Bitcoin miners include the transactions with the highest fees attached in the blocks.
This is how Bitcoin is no longer viable as a medium of exchange for small transactions.

It may be temporary though.

The introduction of the Lightning Networks (LN) solution to the Bitcoin network will make Bitcoin great again.
But when will that happen?
Will the community tear itself apart as it did when the Segregated Witness (Segwit) solution was launched this summer? Nobody knows. There may well be another 12 to 18 months of developments and hiccups along the way.

So what will happen in the meantime?

Now that millions of people have become aware of cryptocurrencies and that the Bitcoin blockchain is in limbo, there is an immense opportunity for an altcoin to become the preferred coin for transactions.

Let’s remember that the value of a coin mostly depends on the size of its network. The more people use it, the higher its value.
Also, the number of merchants accepting Bitcoin vs credit cards is still low worldwide. A successful altcoin could in no time take over Bitcoin as the preferred coin by merchants.

Therefore, this is no surprise that the Bitcoin cash (BCH) supporters are so vocal in the media. BCH offers lower transaction costs thanks to its 8 Megabytes block size. It could thus fill the gap.
Litecoin (LTC) is another contender. It’s a clone of Bitcoin with larger and more frequent blocks. It has Segwit too.

In the end, the users will decide which coin they endorse.

But the legal framework plays an important role here.
In most countries, the legal status of Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies is still unclear. Why would merchants accept cryptocurrencies that are uneasy to apprehend and that the government can ban overnight?

Japan gave cryptocurrencies legal tender status in April. This is a massive step for a rapid adoption by Japanese people and merchants.
Which coins are they likely to endorse for payments?

BCH? LTC? Probably not. These coins are known in Japan but probably lack the support of the local crypto communities.

And Japan has its own altcoins: NEM and MONA. They are very different in design.

NEM is similar to Ether as it enables the creation of NEM powered blockchains and smart contracts. There are 9 billion tokens that were premined. Transactions are validated by nodes, based on a Proof of Importance method.

MONA is a fork of LTC with more frequent blocks. It is popular with gamers and is even accepted by IT stores. Coins are mined by the traditional Proof of Work method.

Both coins enjoy strong local support and can be purchased directly against Fiat on the Japanese exchanges.

This is why Japanese altcoins shall be monitored closely in 2018.

Their adoption by local merchants shall be facilitated thanks to the clear legal framework for cryptocurrencies in Japan and the work of their communities.

Should they become widely adopted in Japan, the network effect could make them very popular in other parts of the world.

Calangaman
Published on Bitcointalk on 27 Dec 2017

Long text but very helpful! Thanks. As what we are expecting in Japan, Japan will innovate more the usage of cryptocurrency. Japan altcoin has the potential to move forward. Nem and MONA are different in bitcoin or ethereum. They will solve the current problem about transaction fees and slow speed of transaction.
I think 2018 will be the great age of cryptocurrency and because Japan will enter the cryptocurrency, many countries will now pull out to join crypto world. I hope this will be a great start to us and somehow, all crypto enthusiast will become successful.
2018 will be the opening year of cryptocurrency, Japan will lead to the innovation and more efficiently altcoin.

[junoreactor]

Even if the fees will be 1/2 or even 1/4 from what they are now they would still be too high for daily usage. Imagine you would have to pay 5-10 bucks every time you buy something with your credit card. I don't think Segwit and LN would decrease the fees to less than 1 USD, so even if bitcoin sustains, there is surely a room of alts to take over in areas where using BTC will simply not be worth it.

1USD fee would solve a lot of problems, now I agree that you won't use your Bitcoin on a daily basis to buy "many stuff" but don't worry, I don't think Bitcoin was ever invented to be a daily life payment solution. Fiat currencies won't disappear, but even if Bitcoin is used in 10% of all transactions in the US for instance, the price would reach at least 100k USD, and it is not out of the realm of possibilities in the next 5 years if everything goes well.

[Calangaman]

Thanks for your very interesting analisys. In fact, NEM's price is skyrocketing right now, and I wonder if it could be connected with what you have said, that Japan has started recognizing cryptocurrencies.

Hi Thanks for your kind words
No, I don't think it's related to this.
Most coins valued 1$ like XRP, ADA, XLM etc, shot up because of noob money.

XEM and MONA are different animals.
I think the Japanese don't realize that they have a mini-BTC with MONA in particular.
We will see.

[ademily]

OH! Good to know and also many thanks for sharing. Yea! waiting for Japan 2018. 

[Sosolean]

have you looked at cardano?

[Geoll29]

The digital currency was originated from Japan. If there are new changes from them I think it should be respected. If not from them we are not enjoying the benefits of cryptocurrencies. Thanks for this valuable information.

[onethefo]

thanks for sharing mate,i think bitcoin in Japan  will be good prospects.
I am looking forward to the development of 2018.

[Calangaman]

have you looked at cardano?

Yes, ADA and XEM have similiarities. These are blockchain protocols. I find them harder to value than pure cryptos like MONA.

[Calangaman]

thanks for sharing mate,i think bitcoin in Japan  will be good prospects.
I am looking forward to the development of 2018.

Yes bitcoin and all japanese cryptos in particular shall be monitored

[bricevdv]

definitely Japan is doing a real promotion for cryptos!!!
https://news.bitcoin.com/japanese-virtual-currency-girls-spreading-cryptocurrency-knowledge/?utm_source=OneSignal+Push&utm_medium=notification&utm_campaign=Push+Notifications