Blockchain technology came into existence back in 2009, as an underlying platform for the famous cryptocurrency Bitcoin. Since the technology has grown from strength to strength and is now considered to be a future powerhouse.
Over the past few years, Blockchain has spread its wings across several sectors, completely revolutionizing them. Right from healthcare and pharm to banking and finance, the distributed ledger technology has marked its presence almost everywhere. The sheer potential it has makes it successful in whichever industry it is applied to. Especially, in the last couple of years, the blockchain industry has grown exponentially.
Seeing the initial success, many giant corporations entered the space, to capitalize on the growing demand, and make investments for the future. Some of the major companies, including Microsoft, Intel, IBM, JPMorgan, HSBC, Facebook, TCS and Bank of America, have set up their blockchain divisions for research and development on the technology. In fact, tech giants like TCS and IBM have been collaborated with start-ups and other big companies to provide blockchain based solutions.
Earlier this year, a report by the UN World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO) stated that there was a rise in filings of blockchain related patents in 2018 by over 50%. While China had the most number of filings, the United States was at s close second. All of these factors indicate that a large number of companies have adopted blockchain, either as a product or as a service. However, a new survey suggests that over two-thirds of companies in the world do not use blockchain.
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The survey was conducted by KPMG, one of the Big Four auditors in the United States. It suggests that there is a huge scope for development of the blockchain space, as only 33% of companies have adopted. The survey was conducted on over 450 respondents from across the globe. Over 60% of the respondents said that they were willing to adopt the technology in their organizations, especially for automation of various tasks.
Nonetheless, 67% of the respondents admitted that they were not using blockchain technology at the moment. However, 27% of them weren’t sure whether their organization was using distributed ledger technology. Respondents to the survey highlighted factors which they felt were preventing their companies from adopting blockchain. 33% of them stated that a lack of resources are holding them back, while 22% of them believed it was due to lack of technical capabilities.
However, KPMG’s survey findings are in contradiction to a report published by PwC in August 2018, which indicated that companies were quite positive towards blockchain. PwC’s report indicated that about 84% of the companies, who participated in its survey were actively involved in blockchain space. Boththese reports come from two of the most trusted sources in the world, and hence, neither of them can be ignored or doubted.
One thing common in both surveys is the fact that companies across the globe are willing to explore blockchain, which shows that technology remains quite desirable. In fact, several major companies like IBM, Amazon, Facebook, and HSBC have expanded their blockchain divisions in the last few months. IBM is currently leading the way in blockchain innovation globally, as it has partnered with several companies start-ups and government agencies individually to develop and provide blockchain based solutions across sectors.
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As the crypto market collapsed in 2018, blockchain based start-ups became the new target for investors. About $5 billion was invested in the blockchain space by venture capitals, a significant bump from the previous year’s $1 billion.
