Exciting Cryptocurrency Business Ideas for 2018

It’s 2018, which means that now more than ever, the entire world is fascinated by cryptocurrencies. Ever since the Bitcoin boom, many other currencies have started to pop up and have different uses for the underlying technology, such as health records blockchain to simplify healthcare and ways to track charitable donations, so they end up in the right hands.

But one of the biggest industries in which cryptocurrency is making a huge impact is, of course, the business world. This huge potential for making money, as well as sending it quickly and easily, is a huge deal for business leaders anywhere. So if you want to learn more about the potential business ideas that go hand-in-hand with cryptocurrency, so that you can take advantage of this exciting new technology, read on:

How does cryptocurrency work?

Before we delve into ideas for cryptocurrency businesses, it’s a good idea to step back and understand how it works. Let’s use Bitcoin–the biggest out there–as an example. Started in January 2009, with a limited supply of 21 million coins, this currency only differentiates itself from national bank-based currencies in that its value is determined by the people who buy it, instead of by banks and by countries determining the worth of their currency. Additionally, it lives online, so there aren’t actual bills or coins being used to represent it like in the way we usually use the American dollar. But if you’re often using Paypal or Venmo to send payments back and forth between you and your friends, you get a bit of an idea of how it works.

Additionally, cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin use what’s called blockchain technology–it’s a kind of ledger on which transactions are made that makes them immediate and transparent. Additionally, because cryptocurrencies are online, these transactions can be made globally, without the need for a middleman to carry out a currency exchange.

Understanding how cryptocurrencies and blockchain work demonstrate why there’s so much potential when it comes to business ideas. After all, when you have technology that allows you to make fast, traceable, international transactions–all without the need for banks and countries–it revolutionizes the use of money as we know it, and therefore, business, too.

Business ideas

According to 99designs.com, “All the publicity from Bitcoin’s big 2017 move is drawing attention to other cryptocurrencies…This has launched a new wave of investors hoping to get in on the next Bitcoin before the upswing. On our platform alone, we’ve seen a whopping 458 percent increase in design projects with the terms ‘cryptocurrency’ in the title since 2015.” So as you can imagine, there are many ideas already out there.

One of the best ways cryptocurrency and blockchain technology can be used is green businesses. While in the past it was nearly impossible to exactly track our use of resources such as carbon, now the game has completely changed. One great app idea, according to Verdict UK, is creating an app that can track how much carbon was used to create a product. Considering that nine in ten millennials would switch brands to one associated with a cause, there’s huge potential here. Additionally, solar coin schemes such as Smappee helps users track their energy use and get paid in SolarCoin–which, according to Quartz, “in circulation is worth about $2 million.”

Depending on what your entrepreneurial specialty is, this is the way you should be thinking about any creative app or coin scheme you create when thinking about cryptocurrencies. Whether you’ve specialized in graphic design or travel, there are creative ways you can bring cryptocurrency technology into your business.

Another big business idea for 2018 includes combining cryptocurrency with trading them. Considering that there are so many cryptocurrencies being created, if you’re especially good at investing, it’s worth studying up on which cheap ones have the most potential, buy a large number, and wait for their value to go up. According to andyke.com, however, be aware that “it is advised that you buy coins that are already listed on popular trading platforms like BITTREX, BINANCE, COINBASE, etc. or to buy coins that have the potentials of being listed on these platforms under a short period of time. This is because trading the coin in question might not be anytime soon and this will trap your money.”

Finally, if you’re a bit more conservative when it comes to using cryptocurrencies, there’s another kind of business you can run: one where cryptocurrencies and national currencies meet. According to Business News Daily, that’s how BizX works: “BizX dollars are not a cryptocurrency on the blockchain, but a digital currency pegged to the U.S. dollar. Businesses in the network earn BizX dollars by offering goods and services to other members in the network, or they can receive a line of credit in BizX dollars from BizX itself.” By creating a business like this one, you’ll be working in a business that’s a bit less volatile than usual cryptocurrency use, which may be your preference.

These are just a few exciting cryptocurrency business ideas. What others are you excited about?