Over half of Fortune 100 companies started crypto initiatives since 2020

According to a recent study, more than half of the Fortune 100 companies have pursued innovation and invested in cryptocurrency, blockchain, or web3 initiatives since early 2020, having recognized the need to update the dated global financial system and the utility of blockchain in such efforts.

As it happens, 52% of the Fortune 100 companies have reported being in the ideation, development, pre-launch, or launch stage of the above initiatives, as per the report ‘The State of Crypto: Corporate Adoption’ by crypto trading platform Coinbase and crypto sector media outlet The Block, shared on June 22.

Launched projects

Specifically, the quarterly breakdown of the crypto and blockchain initiatives by these companies suggests that, in the first quarter of 2020, 40% of them were in the ideation stage, 30% were in development, 20% were in the pre-launch, and 10% were already publicly launched.

Conversely, in the second quarter of 2023, no such initiatives by Fortune 100 organizations were in the ideation stage, whereas 10% of them were in development, 20% were in the pre-launch, and as much as 70% were in the public launch phase, as the study suggests.

Furthermore, the report said that the Fortune 100 companies had made 109 private venture capital (VC) investments across 80 crypto and blockchain projects since 2017, taking part in rounds that peaked at more than $8 billion.

As the authors of the report stated, these companies “are innovating and investing in these technologies because they know that our century-old global financial system needs updating, that blockchain can be a foundational solution, and that not keeping pace will mean losing ground in this global economy to competitors around the world.”

Indeed, the study, which also interviewed the crypto and blockchain-aware US Fortune 500 executives, has found that:

“About two-thirds (64%) of surveyed Fortune 500 executives who are familiar with cryptocurrency or blockchain say that investing in these technologies is important for staying ahead of their competition.”

Lack of clarity

On the other hand, “a lack of clear rules for crypto, blockchain, and web3 tech is not only a top barrier to investment and adoption but a perceived challenge to US leadership of the global financial system,” as 87% of these Fortune 500 executives say clear rules are important to sustain it.

In addition, 92% of them “agree that policymakers should develop new rules for these new technologies instead of enforcing older rules developed for older technologies,” as the study has found.

Meanwhile, these results arrive as the crypto sector is struggling with regulators such as the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) filing lawsuits against some of its largest firms, including crypto exchanges Binance and Coinbase, as well as the waging a court battle against blockchain company Ripple.