Just How Big Is the Digital Currency Industry?
New startups, new investment, new innovation and new ideas, we talk of them all often in the cryptocurrency industry, and often talk of the need for the industry to build into a wider audience. But what is the reality of this work, just how big is the digital currency industry today and how fast has it really grown? Thanks to a survey carried out by market intelligence firm Greenwich Associates, we now have some idea, both of the current size of the industry and the growth it has managed in the last five years.
We often talk about how the cryptocurrency industry is growing, how blockchain has seen more research, more innovation and more applications almost every month, but what does that all mean in reality? Greenwich Associates, a global provider of market intelligence within financial services and located out of Stamford Connecticut, has recently carried out a survey to try and understand exactly that, and come up with some interesting results.
Investment in the industry, mostly through Bitcoin or Blockchain startups, was at $474 million in 2015, a remarkable figure considering that in 2011 it was just $3 million and a good indicator of just how dramatic that growth really has been over the last five years. Growth is still continuing though, Greenwich Associates estimate than in 2016 that figure will top $1 billion, which shows simply phenomenal continued expansion.
While the raw numbers are incredibly impressive, the survey also sought to understand the reasoning behind such massive levels of investment, and here the picture for the industry is incredibly encouraging as well. While overall reasoning varied business to business, there was one common factor that became a standout in the data, and that is that all view blockchain as having the ability to completely change capital markets within the next five years. This is a view from not just those within the digital currency industry though, it includes banking executives, asset management firms and currency exchanges as well as blockchain firms themselves.
It would seem that the industry is on the cusp of something groundbreaking for the financial industry, however it is also important that we ensure that any improvements seen are credited to the cryptocurrency industry itself. Due to the abstract nature of blockchain for many of the general public, ensuring that connection is made between the viability of digital currency and the way the traditional financial system begins to work is vital for continuing to build the validity of bitcoin and other digital currencies.
Source: DCE Brief
