Meme coins or digital gold? Blockchain analyst weighs in on where crypto markets are headed

The cryptocurrency space could branch out into three different markets — and people may even stop talking about crypto as a single entity one year on, predicted Paul Brody, global blockchain leader at EY.

1. ‘Meme coins’
   The first category is what Brody termed “meme coins” such as dogecoin, a digital token that originally started as a joke. Its meteoric rise in price, however, has been no laughing matter. Since the start of the year, dogecoin has risen more than 7,000%, according to data from Coinbase. This segment of cryptocurrencies “could be categorized as investing as entertainment,” Brody said. “It’s hard for me to predict where they’re going to go, but I don’t see them as having a very big future in the ecosystem,” he added.
2. Bitcoin as ‘digital gold’
   The next part of the ecosystem revolves around bitcoin, Brody said. The digital token has often been cited as a potential competitor to gold as a hedge against inflation and safe-haven asset. Still, bitcoin’s price volatility tends to be much higher as compared with gold.
3. The Ethereum ecosystem
   “The third ecosystem, that could potentially diverge here, is the Ethereum ecosystem,” Brody said, adding that it builds a “whole business ecosystem” around sectors such as decentralized financial services and storage. It will be “driven by demand for those services and the growth of that ecosystem,” he added.

Meme coins or digital gold? Blockchain analyst weighs in on where crypto markets are headed, CNBC, May 26