KPMG Report: Blockchain Investments Soaring
According to “Big Four” auditing company KPMG, investments in the Blockchain industry are soaring. The firm published its report Pulse of Fintech 2018 on Tuesday, July 31.
Signs of Tremendous Growth
The report states that investments by traditional venture capitalists in American Blockchain based companies in just the first half of this year have exceeded total investments made last year. However, the report did not mentioned specific numbers.
According to this report, the biggest investments were made in the consortium startup R3 and crypto-investment company Circle Net Finance, each of which generated more than $100 million their funding rounds.
In fact, according to the Bitcoin Venture Capital Tracker, Circle has raised $110 million in the first half of this year through its Series E round of funding. R3 has raised $103 million so far.
Another company that investors put faith in was Paxos, whose Series B funding round generated $65 million. VC firms Liberty City Ventures and RRE Ventures were two of the major investors in this project.
The Financial Services Digital and Fintech Lead for KPMG, Safwan Zaheer stated in this report that the flow of venture capital is higher than there are opportunities for investment. This, he said, is a sign of tremendous growth in the sector.
Zaheer also stated that Blockchain technology has the potential to transform the banking industry. However, currently, investments are being made in companies that have already been able to prove themselves, rather than in new market entrants.
Reasons for Investments
According to the report, Blockchain technology has a wide range of applications across industries. The report states that the technology’s capabilities range from record-keeping and transaction registration to supply chain as well as document management. And while the focus so far has been on the banking and insurance industries, this technology can be used in any number of businesses across the globe.
Investing in Blockchain
Besides simply compiling and analyzing data on Blockchain, KPMG also has invested in the nascent industry. The Netherlands-based auditing firm is partnering with three other auditing firms as well as 20 banks in Taiwan to test a new Blockchain based service that will audit public companies’ financial reports.
The report concluded that Blockchain, along with Artificial Intelligence as well as Robotic Process Automation (RPA), would continue with its growth path and that investments in these three sectors are expected to also concurrently grow over the next 6 months.