The value of digital assets will increase this year—perhaps significantly, according to the RIA Digital Assets Council.

The rise will be fueled by increased institutional adoption of digital asset investing, and the snowball effect of individual investors jumping into the investment class, many of whom will be spurred by a fear of missing out on the growth, the council said in a release issued today.

“Blockchain and digital assets are new asset classes with the potential to transform commerce on a global scale,” Ric Edelman, council founder and a prominent thought leader in the investment advisory field, said in a statement. The council is an educational organization on digital assets for financial advisors.

The prediction about the growth of value for digital assets is the first of 21 the council issued for the New Year. In addition to growth, the council said digital assets will experience volatility during 2021, which is not unusual for this asset class. Following the first prediction, council also made the following forecasts:

2. Bitcoin’s share of market will rise, as lots of Layer 1 coins will disappear. But Bitcoin will not be the best-performing digital asset.

3. For the financial services industry—financial advisors and their firms as well as asset managers (from mutual funds to hedge funds to pension funds and endowments to corporate balance sheets and family offices)—reputational risk will shift from “Why did you invest in that?” to “Why didn’t you invest in that?” There will be significant window dressing at each quarter-end as investment managers strive to hide their failure to own digital assets

4. Federal acquiescence to (if not outright approval of) digital assets will continue, as evidenced by 2020’s regulatory proposals (stablecoins and prohibition of anonymous wallets, for examples) and regulation by enforcement (SEC’s action against Ripple, for example). The more they regulate, the more legitimate digital assets become, fostering greater adoption. And as the number of investors rises, and the amount of capital invested increases, the harder it will be for the federal government to outlaw it. (Already, more than 20 million people own Bitcoin, including 6% of the U.S. population, with $350 billion invested.) Truly, bitcoin is here to stay.

5. Further progress in the development of CBDCs will continue. By 2025, most countries will have one in use.

6. We will see at least one centralized company launch a decentralized, user-owned/operated crypto-network where the crypto-network has legitimate checks and balances over the company’s actions.

7. Some of the biggest IPOs of the year will involve crypto companies.

8. Top talent from law, engineering and financial services will leave their positions (and often, careers) to take (or create) new ones in the blockchain and digital asset space. It’ll snowball to conspicuous levels.

9. Frauds and scams will increase commensurate with the price of Bitcoin.

10. The SEC will approve a Bitcoin ETF. That will cause the GBTC, ETHE and BITW premiums to evaporate.

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