Blockchain has become a buzzword within the business world and is slowly gaining credibility as one of the top disruptive technologies for the coming years. On the 20th of October, Solarplaza published an article, The Power of Blockchain, explaining the basics of blockchain and how the technology relates to the energy sector. There have been endless discussions about which specific industries would benefit from blockchain applications, the different use cases for the technology, as well as whether or not businesses actually need this type of platform.
In order to provide an overview of the current landscape, we have collected information on over 60 companies and pilot projects working with blockchain and energy, describing the focus of their businesses and the different use cases they have for blockchain technologies and bundled this information in the complimentary report “A Comprehensive Guide for Companies involved in Blockchain and Energy”.
Most of the activity is currently concentrated on the European continent, with over 65% of the action taking place there. When it comes to blockchain technology applications, the Netherlands has been leading the market in terms of number of companies, followed by Germany and trailed by the USA.
Blockchain applications for businesses are gaining traction and fast, especially in the fintech sector, but has been scrutinized in other industries as well, such as supply chain management, healthcare and energy. There is great interest and enthusiasm coming from all kinds of stakeholder from the industry taking this type of technology to the next level in order to adapt it to large scale operations and more diversified applications.
In terms of use cases, the most common use case so far is Peer-to-Peer energy trading. Platforms for multiple use cases are expected to be developed in the coming years. When it comes to blockchain platforms, Ethereum blockchains enjoy a significant lead over the rest of the other blockchain platforms since around 50% of the projects use Ethereum as a blockchain platform.
The market is relatively young with close to 70% of the active companies founded between 2016 and 2017, which shows that the technology is still in its early stages. There is no dominant design yet for how the blockchain companies operate. Some businesses use tokenization of energy assets as a new way of collecting funds. Another advantage of tokenization is that it allows blockchains to have features, such as certificates of origin represented in coins or tokens. These coins or tokens can then be sold to buyers or investors that would like to own these assets. Until now, 1 out of every 4 companies have conducted (or are planning) an ICO/token sale.
For more information about how and why energy is tokenized, the basics of an ICO and the perspective of a blockchain investor, please visit www.blockchain2business.eu and watch the recordings of our webinar on ICOs and tokens in the energy field that took place on Thursday 9 November 2017.
On 5 and 6 February 2018, Solarplaza will host the Blockchain2Business conference, a high-level B2B platform aimed at unraveling the hype, addressing the core of blockchain potential, and highlighting the present-day & near-future business cases for blockchain applications in the energy field. Learn more about the event on our website: https://www.blockchain2business.eu/
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