Research reveals poor understanding of blockchain amongst senior business executives

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• Despite this, institutional investors expect companies to dramatically increase their investment in this technology over the next few years
• Banking/ finance is widely seen as the sector that will be transformed the most by blockchain
• 39% of investors believe the impact of blockchain on banking could be as big as that of the internet on the media

(London, 22nd January 2019) New research amongst institutional investors from the Global Blockchain Business Council (GBBC) – the leading association for the blockchain ecosystem – reveals 63% believe senior executives at large established businesses have a poor understanding of blockchain. Only 7% described their understanding as ‘good’, with the remainder describing it as ‘average’.

According to the research, 76% of professional investors interviewed don’t feel senior executives at large established businesses are particularly committed to blockchain, but overall they expect global spend on blockchain technology to increase by 108% this year. Over one in 20 (6%) anticipate spend in this area will increase by more than 200% during this time period.

When it comes to which sectors professional investors believe blockchain will have the biggest impact on over the next five years, 69% cited financial services and banking, followed by 45% who said digital identity, and 34% who said healthcare.

Building on this, when asked which sectors will see the biggest increase in the usage of blockchain over the next two years as opposed to just exploring and researching its potential, 33% of institutional investors expect to see a ‘dramatic’ increase in the use of this technology over this time period within financial services and banking, with a further 41% anticipating a slight increase.

The corresponding figures for digital identity – the sector investors expect to see the second largest impact – are 20% and 38%, and for healthcare, which is expected to see the third biggest impact, they are 16% and 37%.

How investors see the level of application of blockchain technology within organisations in the following sectors changing over the next two years

 

Sector	Increase dramatically	Increase slightly	Stay the same/decrease	Don’t know
Financial services/Banking	33%	41%	15%	11%
Digital identity	20%	38%	23%	20%
Healthcare	16%	37%	32%	15%
Retail/shopping	16%	33%	35%	16%
Travel/transport	15%	29%	39%	18%
Energy/utilities	13%	33%	39%	15%
Manufacturing	13%	17%	52%	17%
Government services	11%	33%	37%	19%
Entertainment/media	8%	26%	47%	18%
Voting	7%	31%	39%	23%
Education	2%	20%	58%	20%

Sandra Ro, CEO of the GBBC, said: “Our research suggests there is still a huge task ahead for the blockchain industry to educate senior executives at large corporations about the benefits of this new technology. Despite this, investors still expect companies to invest huge amounts of money into how they can capitalise on blockchain, but they anticipate it will vary greatly between different sectors. Indeed, our research reveals that 39% of professional investors believe blockchain will do to banking what the internet did to media.”

About the research

71 institutional investors (including private equity, hedge funds and pension funds) from around the world were interviewed by the market research company PollRight during December 2018 and January 2019.

About GBBC

The Global Blockchain Business Council (GBBC) is the leading trade association for the blockchain technology ecosystem, which brings together innovative organizations and founding thought-leaders from over 40 countries to advance understanding of blockchain technology amongst global regulators and business leaders.

Conceived on Sir Richard Branson’s Necker Island, the GBBC is a Swiss-based non-profit, which launched formally during the 2017 Annual World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. The organization is dedicated to furthering adoption of blockchain technology through engaging regulators, business leaders, and global changemakers on how to harness this ground-breaking tool to create more secure, equitable, and functional societies.

For further information on GBBC, please visit https://www.gbbcouncil.org

Citigate Dewe Rogerson
Aramide Debo-Aina / Danae Quek/ Patricia DeBidegain/ Will Easton
Email: [email protected]
Phone: +44 (0)207 638 9571