Between September 2021 and June 2022, the 40 firms invested almost $6B into blockchain startups.
In order to identify the main use cases they are supporting and which new banks have entered the market over the past 10 months, Blockdata research recently conducted an analysis of the top 100 banks investing in blockchain and cryptocurrency (ranked by assets under management, AUM).
In order to determine what has changed, which blockchain-related topics are top of mind right now, and which new entrants are investing right now, Blockdata also reviewed the blockchain investment activity of the top 100 public firms (ranked by market capitalization).
Block data examines these prestigious companies’ blockchain investments from September 2021 until the middle of June 2022.
Accordingly, Alphabet ($1,506M in 4 rounds), Blackrock ($1,171M in 3 rounds), Morgan Stanley ($1,10M in 2 rounds), Samsung ($979M in 13 rounds), Goldman Sachs ($698M in 5 rounds), BNY Mellon ($690M in 3 rounds), and PayPal ($650M in 4 rounds) are the investors who participated in the largest funding rounds.
Between September 2021 and June 2022, the 40 firms invested almost $6B into blockchain startups. It is unknown how much each firm contributed in a project because some rounds feature involvement from many investors.
MasterCard is still actively involved in the integration and development of inorganic technologies, while not currently being among the top investors. According to the number of deals it took part in up through September 2021, Mastercard was one of the top 3 most active investors. MasterCard has, however, primarily run incubator and accelerator programs for 4 blockchain firms since that time. It also purchased CipherTrace, a crypto intelligence firm, in September 2021 to strengthen its cybersecurity offerings and keep up with digital assets.
Over the course of 71 investment rounds, 61 blockchain/crypto firms in total received funding. These blockchain businesses operate in more than 20 different sectors and 65 different use cases:
Non-fungible tokens (NFT) solutions and services are provided by nineteen different businesses. Numerous of these come from sectors like distributed ledger technology, arts and entertainment, and gaming (DLT).
There are 12 markets in all, some of which facilitate the exchange of NFTs. Eleven businesses offer gaming services. The businesses that provide NFT solutions, markets, and gaming have a lot of use cases in common.
The rise in popularity of NFTs may mostly be attributed to businesses taking advantage of opportunities to adapt to changing consumer preferences. By creating online marketplaces where users can purchase and sell NFTs, such as virtual real estate, apparel, and other branded goods, the firms receiving funds are facilitating trade in decentralized worlds.
Blockchain services are offered by seven businesses.
In the investigated time frame, ConsenSys obtained one of the biggest investment amounts (a $450M transaction with Microsoft).
Samsung is betting on 15 various use cases throughout the blockchain ecosystem by investing in businesses that provide services including blockchain, development platforms, NFT, and social networks. Alphabet and Blackrock, on the other hand, are demonstrating an entirely different approach by concentrating their investments on a smaller group of firms.
Given the growing demand from customers, banks have begun to expand their exposure to cryptocurrencies and blockchain services. They have invested in cryptocurrency trading, asset management, and custody as a result of this.
The investment pattern over time shows that established firms (Samsung, Microsoft, etc.) are already supportive of the blockchain industry. Finding new businesses and portfolios that contribute to the expansion and consolidation of their core businesses is now necessary. Corporations, like banks, could seek to turn their attention away from trends that stand alone and toward markets where they might experience synergistic development.
