A number of notable names in fintech and banking are betting on blockchain technology, including Alphabet.
Blockdata, a data-driven platform that focuses on blockchain and distributed ledger technology, revealed an analysis of “Top 100 Public Companies Investing in Blockchain & Crypto Companies” to get exclusive insights into key use cases of blockchain/crypto investments and changes within the areas over the last 10 months.
One of the captivated findings is the list of the most active investors in blockchain companies.
Alphabet Likes Blockchain
According to the research, 40 corporations invested over $6b in blockchain companies from September 2021 to mid-June 2022. Alphabet, the parent company of Google, is on top of the list with a massive $1.5 billion invested into Fireblocks, Dapper Labs, Voltage, and Digital Currency Group.
Over the same period last year, Google’s amount of investment was approximately $601 million distributed to 17 different blockchain companies.
Dapper Labs is still an important investment for Google. While the number of companies backed by Google has significantly dropped, the amount of funding has expanded.
The list includes other leading corporate investors such as BlackRock, Morgan Stanley, and Samsung, among other prominent names.
BlackRock is another standout with a $1.1 billion investment poured into Circle, FTX, and Anchorage Digital. There is also the presence of large corporations such as LG, PayPal, Microsoft, Samsung, and Tencent.
Banks Also Like Blockchain
However, most notably, big banks also participate in the top 20 including Morgan Stanley, Goldman Sachs, UOB, Commonwealth Bank, BNY Mellon, and City Bank.
The vast majority of investments are made in businesses related to NFTs as well as providing NFT solutions in areas such as games, art, entertainment, and Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT). The rest revolves around BaaS platforms, infrastructure, smart contract platforms, scaling solutions, and digital assets.
The fact that large companies and corporations spend relatively large amounts of money on blockchain technology shows that there is a significant amount of room for growth in the blockchain and cryptocurrency industries.
The vision of the big players in technology investment and development is to create blockchain-based alternatives that exist alongside current options in many areas of life.
It should be clarified that the focus of these companies is on technology, not strictly crypto-related. However, developments in the use of technology will impact the cryptocurrency market as blockchain technology is intimately tied to cryptocurrencies.
Blockchain, Not Crypto
In the past, Google took a strong stance against cryptocurrencies; the company even banned all ads associated with crypto. But perspective became more open when Alphabet invested $1 billion in the CME in 2021.
The CME is the global leading crypto derivatives exchange. And now the company has expanded its support to different areas of blockchain and crypto.
The company formed partnerships with three major exchanges including Coinbase, Bitpay, and Gemini, and established a separate department in May to work on Web3 and blockchain development.
Apart from the growing exposure of mega-corporations in blockchain and crypto areas, scam-focused reports are also one of the major things that many people are concerned about.
Data from Chainalysis shows a decline to $1.6 billion in the total scam revenue in 2022. In comparison to the end of July last year, the figure has dropped 65%, according to Chainalysis’ Mid-year Crypto Crime Update.
The report says that scam income might plummet because the prices of numerous cryptocurrencies significantly fall.
Since January 2022, scams have brought in less money, which is about the same as what has happened to the price of Bitcoin. Meanwhile, the total number of transactions made to scams so far in 2022 is at its lowest level in the previous four years.
Chainalysis also points out the different scenarios when prices are up and down. When prices increased, people were drawn in by the excitement and quick profits, which made them more prone to falling for scams. But now prices are in decline, and the number of novice crypto users is also in decline.
