Top 5 Waves Price Predictions for 2018

Waves is not just a typical cryptocurrency project; it is an attempt to build a new platform in the vein of Bitcoin or Ethereum. The scope of the project is an ambitious one, as it includes a whole new blockchain, a decentralized exchange, a native wallet, and the base on which others can create their own cryptocurrency tokens. If it is successful in these goals, it could not only earn significant returns but upend the whole cryptocurrency market. In this analysis, we take a look at some of the market factors affecting it in order to put together a set of Waves price predictions for potential investors.

What Are The Waves Price Predictions for 2018?

A Platform with a Wide Range of Use Cases

The core of a cryptocurrency’s value comes from the various use cases that it has. While a token with only a few uses may quickly rise in price due to hype or speculation, it is likely to fall back down again. Waves, thanks to its multi-faceted ecosystem and the many different ways in which Wave tokens can be used, has a good base value to rely on. That makes it a solid candidate for long-term investment.

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The central component of the Waves ecosystem is a decentralized exchange protocol that allows users to trade between a variety of both crypto and fiat currencies. The commission on those trades, given to the miners processing the transactions, is paid in Waves tokens. That means there is always a demand for Waves as long as there are trades taking place. Even users who are not actively trading can benefit from holding Waves tokens, as they can pay interest using the proof-of-stake verification algorithm that the Waves platform uses.

As many new tokens are added to the ecosystem through the creation of new distributed applications and cryptocurrencies, as well as a rising amount of people trading crypto using Waves exchanges, the price of each Waves token is likely to go up. With cryptocurrency trading volumes steadily rising across the board, it would not be surprising to see gains of up to 50% by the end of the year for Waves, up to as much as $10 per token.

A History of Independence from the Market

One of the dangers of the cryptocurrency investment market is the strong bandwagon effect. As major currencies like Bitcoin, Ethereum or Ripple go up and down, they tend to drag the rest of the market with them. Often, these shifts can obscure important shifts in the currency’s fundamentals, leaving investors blindsided once the market stabilizes. Luckily, Waves has so far seemed to have avoided that problem.

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While its USD price has obviously fluctuated with the market due to being primarily traded for fiat currencies through Bitcoin or Ethereum intermediaries, its actual market price has stayed relatively level throughout the big spikes and drops in the larger crypto market over the past year. That is another sign that points to Waves being a strong candidate for addition to your long-term portfolio.

Its stability relative to other cryptocurrencies can serve to keep your investments afloat during downturns in the market, while being relatively insulated from sudden market shocks. Based on this, our Waves price predictions show that over the next year Waves will stay in a relatively tight band of value, and is unlikely to drop below $4 or rise above $12 USD for extended periods of time.

Big-name Partners

The most successful cryptocurrencies are those that have not only secured a large section of the enthusiast market, but have also gotten mainstream acceptance, which requires having strong partners in conventional industries. In that aspect, Waves is one of the market leaders. Over the last year, it has landed two huge partnerships that are bound to expand its user base and drive its growth.

In May, it became included in Microsoft’s list of applications for its Azure cloud computing platform. Designed to give companies easy access to blockchain applications and smart contracts, the Waves platform is now the easiest way for firms that are interested in blockchain to get on board. While this has not led to any large-scale projects yet, this is still a major growth opportunity for Waves.

The other major partnership for Waves came at the end of last year, when they joined up with the business consulting group Deloitte to create a set of guidelines and regulations for the cryptocurrency industry.

One of the major reasons why many corporate actors who could use blockchain technologies to improve their business have avoided it so far is the lack of clear regulation and legal frameworks for the technology. By being ahead of the curve in setting the blockchain regulatory agenda, Waves is positioning itself to be one of the first crypto ecosystems to meet corporate regulatory requirements.

Neither of these partnerships is likely to yield strong growth in the short term for the Waves token, but if there is a breakthrough in either, then our Waves price predictions suggest that it could as much as double in price on the news.

Solves the Scalability Problem

Last year has exposed major scalability problems with both the Bitcoin and Ethereum blockchains, which has led many developers and potential users to reevaluate how effective blockchain applications can be for their specific needs. A strong point in favor of future gains for Waves is the fact that it represents one of the potential solutions to the problem.

Firstly, it uses a proof-of-stake algorithm for the verification of additional blocks rather than proof-of-work. That means that instead of performing complex calculations in order to verify that each additional block on the chain is correct, investors instead ‘vote’ for the best next block using invested Waves tokens. The block that earns the most votes is selected and the voters who backed it earn the transaction processing fees.

This makes the Waves algorithm among the fastest current cryptocurrency algorithms. While the recent changes to Bitcoin have addressed some scalability concerns and Ethereum is likewise working on integrating solutions, Waves is an already-functioning solution for developers for applications that require a large number of regular transactions.

While this, like the partnerships outlined above, is not likely to affect the price of the currency in the short term, in the medium term we are likely to see growth of up to 50% or more as Waves captures a larger share of new token ICOs and decentralized applications on the basis of Bitcoin and Ethereum scalability concerns.

Russian Origins Can Be an Asset or Liability

While all cryptocurrency projects are global in nature, each one tends to have a designated home base from which it operates. For Waves, that is Russia, as its entire team is Russian and it is headquartered in Moscow. While Russian developers do make up a large percentage of crypto developers, Russia itself has had a complicated relationship with cryptocurrency, at times embracing it and at times looking to regulate or ban it.

It is difficult to make Waves price predictions in such an environment. Should Russia take a more positive approach to cryptocurrency, Waves is likely to benefit. However, should Russia decide to crack down on crypto development, Waves is likely to be one of the first high-profile targets and could lose all value overnight.

Conclusion

Waves is a cryptocurrency that is perfectly positioned to take advantage of the rising interest in crypto from the wider population and business community. It enables easy crypto trading and app creation, with a strong room for growth and incentives to attract buyers away from Bitcoin and Ethereum.

This leads to overall positive Waves price predictions, with a caveat that the uncertain Russian regulatory environment could hurt it more than the more established and decentralized blockchains. What do you think about the future of the Waves platform? Give us your thoughts below.