Sea Change: 40% of Companies Now Have Blockchain In Production, 89% Say Digital Assets “Very or Somewhat” Important

There has been a profound change in attitudes and perceptions where at least some 1,500 senior executives around the globe are concerned.

In its third series of the Global Blockchain Survey, Deloitte says “leaders no longer consider the technology groundbreaking and merely promising—they now see it as integral to organizational innovation.”

Just one example is Israel where last year only 2% said they had blockchain in production. This year “some 40% of Israeli respondents said they have already brought blockchain into production,” Deloitte says.

The survey was carried out between February 6 and March 3, 2020, polling a sample of 1,488 senior executives and practitioners in 14 countries (Brazil, Canada, China, Germany, Hong Kong, Ireland, Israel, Mexico, Singapore, South Africa, Switzerland, the United Arab Emirates, the United Kingdom, and the United States).

This big jump in blockchain’s use in production is one of the biggest finding of the year as far as this space is concerned.

“However, we are noting some key differences in the broader adoption figure, with, for example, 31% of US respondents saying that blockchain is already in production,” they say before adding:

“This starkly contrasts with China, where the figure was nearly double, at 59%. The APAC region, more generally, stood at 53%. Meanwhile, Ireland (48%) and United Arab Emirates (43%) were also drivers of this push, with TMT, financial services, and retail/wholesale/logistics/distribution serving as leading industries. For these regions, industries, and sectors, especially, the future of blockchain is very much happening right now.”

Blockchain tech as you man know is more of a back-end thing, code or a network underneath the user interface, so you wouldn’t necessarily know if something is or isn’t running on the blockchain.

So this significant shift from talking to doing, which was predicted in 2018, has gone a bit unnoticed because people kind of stopped talking about it and started actually using it.

“Put simply, while blockchain was once classified as a technology experiment, it now represents a true agent of change that is affecting the entire organization,” Deloitte says.

The majority consider blockchain technology to be a top strategic priority, highlighting just how important this sector is becoming to the global economy.

Just 2% think it’s not relevant at all, with this survey a bit of a shock as we had not realized just how much has changed out there in the field.

“Nearly 89% said they believe that digital assets will be very or somewhat important to their industries in the next three years. An outright majority (53%) report that digital assets will be very important,” Deloitte says before adding:

“Further bolstering the perceived importance of digital assets is the fact that 83% of survey respondents said they strongly or somewhat believe they will serve as an alternative to, or outright replacement for, fiat currency in the next five to 10 years. In China, that figure rises to 94%.”

That’s mixing two things because as an alternative, cryptos and stablecoins are already an alternative. As an outright replacement of fiat, however, five to ten years is maybe a bit optimistic, but considering the speed of change in perception, it may well be the case they are more right than we are.

A Global Phenomena

“In Germany, blockchain has gained new momentum as policymakers have actively engaged the legislative process. Examples of such legislative initiatives include the publication of a draft law to regulate the offering of cryptocurrency tokens, as well as public support and promotion of lighthouse projects that use blockchain technologies in the national administration. There is also substantial activity around the development of cryptocurrency regulation that might cast Germany as a safe regulatory environment for cryptocurrency activity…

The UK market is seeing ongoing and increasingly mature activity across key sectors with several substantial projects now live, typically among industries reliant on complex, multiparty, and international supply chains. Additionally, we are seeing a hastening of activity linked to digital assets, both in the traditional sectors as well as in areas such as custody services.”

Germany is rising more and more, at least in perception, as a jurisdictional alternative to America with its government generally keen to please the many hackers – as in leet coders – that have sought ‘refuge’ there.

Its close proximity to Switzerland with its Zug crypto valley and the apparent keenness of the German people to communicate in English, makes Germany a potential welcoming hub.

London was in the process of reforming its civil service, which would have given techies a lot more say and power, but there was some sort of a power struggle just before the pause as we may call it, which began in March and still continues in England.

America at a government level remains a little unwelcoming, but private enterprise there is generally free and they are modernizing through digitization with blockchain tech being an important part of it.

In Arabia, and we use that term to describe what used to be that part of the Ottoman empire, the picture is a lot more complicated due to blockchain usage there at a government level being a lot more wider than elsewhere.

Dubai for example has done a lot to digitize and modernize and where western business are concerned, that’s probably where they’d want to be.

Iran however is using the blockchain in a different way in encouraging bitcoin mining in particular but also in previously thinking of launching some sort of tokenized asset money.

South Korea in that region is rising as the centre where this space is concerned. Their people just love cryptos.

Only China is outright hostile to this space at a government level, but their people do like cryptos very much, and their enterprises do use it, especially where it concerns shipping and international commerce.

They use it there and at scale both in regards to supply chains and the like, but also in regards to exchanging value with bitcoin in particular having a significant acceptance rate among merchants where big orders are concerned.

Overall globally the picture is very promising for this tech sector with private enterprise in particular and individuals more and more having positive attitudes because the tech is more and more solving problems globally.

While at a government level, it’s probably Europe where you want to be as they’re most enthusiastic about encouraging the adoption of this technology.

That said, America remains a democracy and although the civil service machine there moves slowly, it does eventually move.

In addition, London has been put a bit off track as has much of the world, but if it does get back to its reform agenda, it may become a very vibrant and competitive hub after the strategic changes later this year.

Copyrights Trustnodes.com