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Blockchain in business is great. We report news, developments and initiatives in blockchain technology and cryptographic space, and there is an endless stream of blockchain projects and developments from start-ups to multinationals.
And it's easy to see why companies would be very interested in implementing the technology. It is decentralized and cuts off the intermediary, making it less expensive and more transparent.
Blockchain in business titles
In our guide "The 10 retailers using blockchain", let's explore some of the brands that are investing in this new technology.
There are some real big hitters on this list, including Amazon and Walmart. A lot of companies are also filing a lot of blockchain-related patents.
In fact, data from 2018 until August reveal that the Chinese giant of e-commerce Alibaba has filed the largest number of patents related to blockchain with 90. IBM was close with 89. In third place was Mastercard (80) followed by Bank of America (53). The next step was People's Bank of China, which filed a total of 44 patent applications on the central bank's digital currency project.
But it's not just big companies that drive blockchain in business. We also studied the fintech start-ups and explored some of the main developments there.
The global finance company Circle allows its users to send money as a text message. Money can be sent through a table or across the ocean in a matter of seconds. It is available in 29 countries, in GBP, USD and EUR. The big advantage of this is that there are no taxes on exchange rates and therefore it is free to send money anywhere in the world. Something like this could have a major impact on a huge global market. And there are many other examples:
Blockchain in corporate research
PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) 2018 global search on the blockchain
PwC interviewed 600 executives from 15 countries on their use of blockchain technology. Here are the main results of the survey:
- 84% of respondents confirmed that their organizations have a certain involvement in blockchain technology
- 52% are under research or development
- 25% are in the pilot or live phase
Although the vast majority are involved in the blockchain, only 15% of respondents have effectively implemented a solution based on blockchain technology.
World Energy Insights Brief 2018
The World Energy Council (WEC) of the United Nations and PwC undertook a global research program in 2018 that involved 39 energy companies. Here are the results of the main survey:
- In 2017, approximately 100-300 million dollars have been invested in over 100 blockchain applications related to the energy sector
- The energy sector has seen the growth of global investments in digital infrastructures increase by over 20% per year from 2014, reaching $ 47 billion in 2017
- At the time the report was published, there were 122 blockchain start-ups operating in the energy space that had raised over $ 324 million in 2017 alone
- About 45% of the companies interviewed are experimenting with peer-to-peer (P2P) projects
Thus, the results were similar to the PwC study because everyone could see the potential of blockchain technology and were investing in research and development. Full commercial development can be on the horizon, but it is still far away.
Why?
Obstacles to blockchain in corporate adoption
If we step back for a minute, let's consider what the average person on the street probably knows about the blockchain. Probably not much, but many people have heard of cryptocurrencies, the most well-known application of blockchain technology. The titles surrounding cryptography are often filthy and fraudulent, and they speak of fortunes won and lost in a few days, as the highly variable prices of cryptocurrencies vary widely.
In PwC research, they asked respondents what slowed the adoption of blockchain in business. The results were as follows:
- Regulatory uncertainty (48%)
- Lack of trust among users (45%)
- Ability to bring the network together (44%)
- Separate blockchains that do not work together (41%)
- Incapacity of scale
- Concerns about intellectual property
- Verification / compliance problems
If you want to know more about cryptocurrency and blockchain, we have a range of cryptocurrency guides on our website along with the latest cryptocurrency news.
