(Kitco News) - The onset of crypto winter has plunged token prices to their lowest levels in two years, which has scared off the majority of retail investors, but blockchain technology remains popular among global institutional players who continue to find ways to incorporate the tech into their business operations.
According to a recent report released by enterprise blockchain adoption analytics platform Blockdata, 44 out of the top 100 public companies by market capitalization have actively utilized blockchain technology in some form across their business lines over the past 12 months.
The sectors that saw the activity in relation to blockchain technology are Tech, Media, and Telecom, with 16 companies meeting the criteria. The Consumer & Retail and Basic Materials & Industrials sectors ranked second with 9 companies each.
Some of the most recognizable participants include Meta (NASDAQ: META), Salesforce (NYSE: CRM), Adobe (NASDAQ: ADBE), Verizon (NYSE: VZ), Nvidia (NASDAQ: NVDA), UPS (NYSE: UPS), PayPal (NASDAQ: PYPL), Visa (NYSE: V), Walmart (NYSE: WMT), McDonald’s (NYSE: MCD), and Nike (NYSE: NKE).
The way in which blockchain technology is being utilized varied from sector to sector.
In the Consumer & Retail sector, blockchain solutions can be used for supply chain transparency, screening for counterfeit products, creating loyalty programs for customers, and designing and marketing non-fungible tokens (NFTs).
For the financial sector, blockchain technology can help simplify global trade, increase transparency, simplify forex transactions, streamline payment settlements, standardize private placement processes, and enable customers to build custom portfolios.
In the field of healthcare, potential applications include its use to provide solutions for tracking and tracing supply chains, clinical trials, and collecting and accessing medical data and patient records. “These solutions often lower healthcare costs and result in better patient outcomes,” Blockdata said.
Technology, media, and telecom companies “are exploring tokenization across their supply chains to protect the intellectual property exchanged within their networks.” This includes such global players as Tencent, Oracle, Meta, Facebook, Adobe, and Salesforce, which have been expanding their nonfungible token (NFT) capabilities and investments to help establish and secure intellectual property rights.
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In the Energy & Utilities sector, blockchain is being utilized to record and facilitate transactions between the generators and consumers of energy by offering “new opportunities to legitimize, secure, and automatically enhance energy transfers between producers and consumers without going through a supplier.”
And in the basic materials & industrials sector, blockchain is being used to help facilitate the transition toward sustainability.
In the long term, Blockdata suggested that blockchain will eventually work its way into being involved in all marketplaces.
“Companies with an early mover advantage will find it easier to reap the benefits of innovation in this rapidly changing system,” the report said. “In the coming years, companies not using blockchain technology are likely to begin implementing it to upgrade their solutions and services.”
