Cryptocurrencies and blockchain technology have received a lot of interest worldwide. The industry creates a lot of potential for global transactions and innovative solutions for capital markets. Though the volatility and some security concerns make cryptocurrencies very risky, many people around the world have invested their money into currencies such as Bitcoin.

On February 20, many cryptocurrency enthusiasts met at the Blockchain Economy Istanbul summit for a full day of presentations from dozens of international experts. Turkish and foreign investors, banking officials, entrepreneurs and professionals working in the financial industry participated in the summit.

Presenters of the conference focused on the current and future trends of the cryptocurrency market and blockchain technology while addressing some global challenges as well.

Over the last couple of years, global large institutions and corporations have begun cooperating with blockchain projects. One example is the cooperation between IBM and the Stellar Lumens.

Cal Evans, a managing consultant at Gresham International and an expert in the field of cryptocurrency, says decentralization is critical, noting there is a "trickle of modern companies starting to get up to date with the new technology and if they fail to do it, the larger institutions really will fall a death to decentralization. Because ultimately, things are always done at the cheapest possible price, and decentralization enables things to be done very cheaply and very effectively, and so that's why these organizations will need to catch up."

But there are risks and challenges involved in cryptocurrencies as well. The market is extremely volatile. Bitcoin, the first major cryptocurrency, soared to peak at around 20,000 U.S. dollars per coin in December 2017 and has stumbled over around 4,000 U.S. dollars in the first few months of 2019. 

Evans points out that one of the challenges cryptocurrencies face is related to negative perception, stating that "people trust their money either being run or maintained or monitored by some kind of centralized power, however, if we take a step back, we realize that the introduction of banks and financial institutions is relatively new thing, people used to deal with each other directly for the longest of times."

Despite the risks involved, millions of regular citizens around the world have invested in cryptocurrencies. According to a report published by ING Bank, Turks are among the most interested, with over 18 percent of adults stating they own some cryptocurrencies. 

BtcTurk is Turkey's first and the world's fourth Crypto buying platform. The company's CEO Ozgur Guneri says the platform has over 100,000 active members, most of whom are men aged between 25 to 40. According to research conducted by BtcTurk together with Istanbul University, Turkish investors like to use traditional value savings tools such as gold and foreign currencies, and they find Bitcoin similarly attractive. 

As Turks are also highly active on social media platforms such as Facebook, and the country's household internet access has risen over 80 percent in 2018 according to the state-media Anadolu Agency, it's not very surprising that Turks would be very interested in cryptocurrencies.

Many of those enthusiasts were present at the summit, and aside from the warnings of challenges such as market volatility and regulations, the main message they received from experts speaking at the Blockchain Economy summit in Istanbul seemed to be: The future is digital.