Since the beginning of 2018, scepticism has been prevalent in the blockchain space. Negative press has become an almost daily occurrence (e.g. WIRED, Forbes, FT). This period of reckoning, referred to as the ‘crypto winter’, should be interpreted in a positive light — the build-up of hype across the ecosystem in 2017 has given way to a more grounded, pragmatic and business-case-first approach to product development.

Our analysis of the UK blockchain ecosystem suggests the underlying activity remains healthy. We expect an acceleration in business investment and entrepreneurial activity due to: improving capital dynamics, more efficient deployment of resources, greater focus on infrastructure development, and accelerating adoption by enterprises, partly driven by the urgent need for digitisation highlighted by the Covid-19 crisis.

In our new report 'Crypto winter or Crypto spring? Reasons to be optimistic about the UK’s blockchain ecosystem' we dig deep into the UK's equity-funded blockchain startups to understands trends around adoption, funding and entrepreneurship.

Key findings include:

• Enterprise adoption is increasing: 63% of startups with business customers unsurprisingly focus on financial services but other sectors, like media and advertising, are growing.
• The funding landscape is maturing: More than 85% of equity funding for UK blockchain startups has occurred since 2017 with 2019 being the second strongest year for raising equity.
• Stronger fundamentals: Since the crash in crypto prices at the beginning of 2018, entrepreneurs are adopting a business-case first approach to product building and placing greater emphasis on company fundamentals.

Download the full report here.