METROany investor studying digital currencies feels pressured to explain what sets these currencies apart or what their real-world use might be. A new crypto appears, but apart from speculating on that new asset in a volatile and risky market, what exactly can be done with it?
What is VeChain?
VeChain platform creator Sunny Lu has an answer. Lu, who was once Louis Vuitton’s chief information officer in China, saw a need for companies to more efficiently track their products, control inventory, fight counterfeits and communicate. In 2015, he introduced a new system using blockchain technology, which is based on a decentralized peer-to-peer digital ledger.
Technically, VeChain is a “smart contract” platform, not a cryptocurrency. Two companies, or many companies, can use the platform to share data or keep records.
For transactions, the platform uses two digital tokens, known as VeChain Token (VET) and VeThor (VTHO). Two parties to the blockchain can store value or buy, sell, and trade these tokens, which have a floating exchange rate with “fiat” or traditional currency.
Who uses VeChain?
Several major corporations have adopted the VeChain platform, including PriceWaterhouseCoopers, Renault, and Walmart China. These companies use VeChain to streamline and improve their operations.
Since its inception, the essential function of the platform has been supply chain management, in which companies track the movement of their resources and products. This is done using RFID tags or sensors attached to physical objects. RFID tags can transmit information about location, temperature, chain of custody, and other data to a central database set up on the VeChain blockchain.
The goal is better handling and control of goods as they move around the world. For example, the burgeoning new wine industry in China has adopted VeChain. Plagued with counterfeit high-value wines, wholesalers and producers now use a VeChain platform to track and authenticate individual cases and bottles using RFID tags.
No matter the business, any shipping and logistics system generates a huge amount of data, much of which is scattered, incomplete, and unreliable. The result is inefficiency: goods that arrive late, damaged, stolen or lost. This causes an increase in costs and a lengthening of delivery times. VeChain aims to solve that problem by optimizing and improving communication data within a fully independent blockchain system.
VeChain Price Prediction
Given its functionality and growing adoption, the VET token has a promising future in the world of cryptocurrencies. But the value of the token fluctuates quite dramatically. As of July 17, 2022, VET was trading at $0.02394, over 90% of the token’s all-time high of $0.28. By that date, the supply of tokens had reached 72.5 billion.
As for the future price of the VeChain token, the predictions are varied and many.
How much will VeChain be worth in 2025?
DigitalCoinPrice sees VET at a high of $0.048 by December 2025, although it predicts a high of $0.0621 in August of that year. Trading Beasts predicts a price high of $0.0729 in late 2025.
The most optimistic prediction has been that of GOV Capital, which sets a maximum rate of $0.5497 by the end of 2025, a level that would represent almost a 200% increase from VET’s all-time high.
Will VeChain hit $10?
It seems unlikely that VeChain will reach $10, at least not any time soon. Even the most bullish predictions tend to set the value of VeChain below $1 for at least the next five years.
GOV Capital, for example, sets a maximum price prediction of $0.924 for July 2027. This would represent a nearly 4000% increase from an investment made in mid-2022.
VTHO Price Prediction
As for the VTHO token, which has an outstanding supply of 45.6 billion, its price in mid-July was $0.0018. Like many other digital currencies, VTHO experienced a downward trend in value during the latter half of 2021 and the first half of 2022.
But the VTHO market started moving sideways in the middle of the year. Support emerged, with buyers stepping in to push the token up around 14% over seven days in mid-July.
An optimistic future
The market for VeChain tokens and other digital currencies is susceptible to changes in investor sentiment, just like the stock or bond market. By 2022, cryptocurrencies and traditional markets were linked; Investor confidence periods created a “risk off” market that boosted the value of stocks and cryptocurrencies, while more bearish periods depressed prices.
But the key to the future of any digital money is its utility. Those tokens and coins that can find an application in the real world will naturally be more valued. At the same time, those that have no use outside of speculation by financial risk takers will, in all likelihood, continue to decline.
Given this main trend, VeChain tokens and their practical use in business and logistics should find some support among investors and the cryptocurrency market. Just keep in mind that the cryptocurrency market is volatile and never invest more than you can afford to lose.