Nov 2021

Enterprise
Blockchain
2021

Learn how start-ups are driving adoption of

blockchain by the world’s largest corporations
and financial institutions

Exclusive dataset
250+ start-ups
10,000+ datapoints
20+ interviews

LeadBlock Partners is an appointed representative of

Sapia Partners LLP which is authorised and regulated by
the Financial Conduct Authority.
 A word from LeadBlock Partners

This research report shares our views on how start-ups are driving adoption
of blockchain by the world’s largest corporations and financial institutions.
The B2B blockchain space includes both fast growing start-ups driving the
use of blockchain by enterprises as well as those driving institutional
adoption of the digital asset class.

We shed light into the uncharted enterprise blockchain space and bring
you our conclusions from the proprietary survey we ran with 250+ start-ups.
Moreover, hear about this high growth and high return potential field
directly from start-up founders and the companies using their solutions.

We also dig into who is solving the challenges which need to be addressed
to drive institutional adoption of digital assets. A market which despite
their limited participation to date relative to retail investors is worth $2.5
trillion up 260% this year with total value locked in DeFi reaching $250bn up
17x yoy.

A total of $8.7bn was invested into digital asset and blockchain start-ups in
1H 2021 alone, 2x yoy. Mega rounds of $100-500mn have become
commonplace. The adoption of digital assets and blockchain has clearly
passed the early adopter phase. We have only started exploring the myriad
of potential use cases across sectors in financial services but also in food,
healthcare, ESG/impact and more. Now is the time to scale.

Jean-Marc Puel, David Chreng-Messembourg, Baptiste Cota

LeadBlock Partners Management team

Thank you for your support:

 Executive Summary

The enterprise blockchain space has education is needed. Looking regionally

seen an unprecedented acceleration. the US still leads the way with 2x more
Revenues have grown 3.5x over the last capital raised by start-ups but Europe is
12 months. Growth is driven by a now catching up as the gap has halved
combination of seasoned founders over the last 12 months.
leading solid teams, selling mature
products to educated businesses ready No winner yet in the Protocol Race.
to adopt blockchain solutions. The main protocols used by start-ups for
enterprise use remains stable with
Investment in the space is soaring and Ethereum, the Hyperledger suite and
we expect investors to double down in Corda dominating. However the race
2022. Growth is driving strong investor isn’t won as most start-ups are protocol
interest and expanding start-up cash agnostic and 30% of them are actively
needs. The virtuous cycle has begun and looking to switch protocols.
will accelerate as start-ups plan to raise
2.5x more than last year over the next 18- Blockchain technology is a powerful
months. We expect to see many large tool to solve for sustainability
rounds in 2022, with Series A, B and challenges. We found that 2/3 of
beyond. enterprise blockchain start-ups address
UN SDGs and they raised on average
A strong acceleration of institutional more capital. Looking into gender
digital asset adoption. We saw imbalance we also found the space to
material capital inflows from institutions be more inclusive with women and
over the past 18 months through ETPs, founders from minorities than the wider
ETFs and Trusts. With a total market start-up ecosystem.
value of $2.5T, $250B locked in DeFi
protocols, and $15B+ injected from Top three sectors for blockchain are
institutions, the crypto market is at a Financial Services, Energy & Natural
tipping point. We expect more VC Resources and Food & Agriculture.
funding to fuel the development of the These last two sectors have seen strong
necessary infrastructure to drive further growth this year driven by increased
institutional adoption. pressure on suppliers, end consumers
and governments to create more supply
More efforts needed to drive chain flexibility, offer more transparency,
blockchain knowledge amongst adhere to ESG standards and reduce
investors and bring the EU into
CO2 emissions. We also saw very strong
contention. We continue to see
adoption of NFT related use cases this
blockchain literacy as a barrier to
year with still a lot more to build.
investment in the space, further
Table of
Contents

5 Outcome 1: A booming sector

11 Outcome 2: Investment soaring

Outcome 3: Institutional Digital Assets

16 adoption accelerating
Outcome 4: All to play for in the Protocol
24 Race
Outcome 5: Blockchain powers ESG initia-
31 tives

38 Outcome 6: Top sectors & use cases

45 Acknowledgements & Authors

Outcome 1
A booming sector
The enterprise blockchain space has seen an unprecedented ac-
celeration. Revenues have grown 3.5x over the last 12 months and
start-ups are on track to raise Series A and B rounds. Growth is
driven by a combination of seasoned founders leading solid teams,
selling mature products to educated businesses ready to adopt
blockchain solutions.
 6 A booming sector

High revenue growth across the sector

Over the last 12 months we have seen B2B blockchain start-ups grow sig-
nificantly as shown in the KPIs below. This acceleration is driven by a
combination of three factors:
• Start-ups have dialled in product market fit for blockchain solutions
and have shown strong revenue growth with shorter sales cycles.
Founders are now focused on raising Series A and Series B rounds to
scale.
• Businesses both large & small are increasingly knowledgeable about
blockchain and are willing to adopt the tech as they would other tech-
nologies
• Talent has been flowing into the sector from seasoned entrepreneurs,
to high level professionals from the worlds largest companies and ex-
perienced developers

The result is much quicker sales cycles, strong revenue growth and a
wider opportunity set than we could have imagined.

3.5x 2x
Average start-up revenue Number of start-ups with
vs 2020 €1mn+ revenues vs 2020

33% 15%
Of start-ups on the path Of start-ups on the path
to Series A to Series B

Source: LeadBlock Partners

 7 A booming sector

Seasoned founders lead blockchain start-ups

As we mentioned last year, interest and experimentation within corpora-

tions has driven many professionals to learn about Blockchain technology
and build products to answer pain points they faced on a daily basis or
tackle opportunities they discovered. This year again, our survey revealed
that founders joining the ecosystem have solid backgrounds and come
from the world’s largest and profitable companies such as IBM, Oracle, or
Goldman Sachs.

More than 20% of founders come from only 10 companies

Source: LeadBlock Partners

22 36%
Average founders years of of founders are Serial
work experience Entrepreneurs

Source: LeadBlock Partners

 8 A booming sector

Blockchain technology is attracting top talents

Founders mainly come from Financial Services & IT

Founders in the blockchain space mainly have financial services back-
grounds or IT backgrounds followed by food and energy. Naturally this is
broadly in line with the sector focus of these start-ups.

Top sectors & firms from where founders come from

Source: LeadBlock Partners

Blockchain skills in demand by employers

Interestingly based on a LinkedIn report on the most in-demand hard
and soft skills of 2020, not only Blockchain made it to the list of skills but
topped it. Additionally, Indeed, the employment website for job listings,
reported they had seen a surge in postings of crypto and blockchain jobs
with a +116% increase between Sept 2020 and July 2021. Moreover, job
postings in the field now go beyond the traditional mining and trading
activities and companies started hiring support functions like human re-
sources and marketing, showing that the industry is maturing. There is no
doubt that employers will value more and more the ability to understand
and apply blockchain technology.
 9 A booming sector

Case study: The future of financial infrastructure

A conversation with Mathew Keeley,

CEO & Founder of GROW Inc

Could we briefly introduce yourself

and GROW Inc?
I’m the CEO and co-founder of GROW
Inc, a technology company that solves
legacy problems in the financial ser-
vices industry. GROW is a story of en-
trepreneurship. Our journey started
with a group of people eager to create
better experiences for Australians and Link to
their pension (superannuation in Aus- full interview
tralia). We found the administrative
systems and reconciliations impossi-
Our innovative DLTA system is the
ble to deal with at the speed we need-
platform of tomorrow that works in
ed. That shifted us to solving the real
the market of today. Underpinned by
problem behind almost every part of
DLT, our enterprise platform harmo-
the financial ecosystem. […]
nises the fragmented world of pension
Our mission is to be the world’s most with a shared version of the truth
innovative fintech company by em- across a fund’s ecosystem. This, to-
powering business, developers, and gether with highly-automated pro-
entrepreneurs to create the future of cesses, significantly lowers operational
finance. We have proven our ability to costs, allows greater flexibility in the
solve complex back, middle and front design and administration of pension
office problems, we are gaining mar- fund offerings and creates better ex-
ket traction in Australia and our tech- periences and outcomes for fund in-
nology has global application, specifi- vestors.
cally in global pension, unlisted man-
This value proposition resonated
aged funds and listed ETF registry.
strongly with Vanguard as it provides
You have successfully been appoint- a technology solution that will assist
ed by institutions like Vanguard to Vanguard in its plans to deliver a high-
provide fund administration ser- value, low-cost fund, and continue to
vices. Could you share what differen- evolve their value proposition over
tiated your offering? time. With trusted data and a unified
consistent view of the customer, Van-
The pension system in Australia has
guard can now develop new personal-
built up high costs and inefficiencies
ised investment solutions and digital
over the decades – issues that nega-
user experiences that anticipate the
tively impact investor returns, fees and
needs of the investor at scale. Togeth-
user experience. Legacy systems and
er, we plan to deliver a simpler, smart-
manual processes mean there’s no
er option when it comes to the way
single source of truth, and to adapt to
Vanguard engages with their inves-
changing circumstances requires
tors.
expensive technology upgrades.
 10 A booming sector

How established businesses adopt blockchain

A conversation with Roland Cortivo,

Chief Revenue Officer, Swisscom
Blockchain
Can you introduce Swisscom and
what brought the company to
launch blockchain products?
Swisscom is one of the most innova-
tive and sustainable companies in
Switzerland. Swisscom offers mobile
telecommunications, fixed network,
Internet and digital TV solutions for
business and residential customers. Together with partner companies,
We are also one of the largest provid- Swisscom is building a comprehensive
ers of IT services in Switzerland, and ecosystem for digital assets, including
are also active in the banking, energy, the following start-ups:
entertainment, advertising and • Daura offers unlisted companies a
healthcare sectors. platform for the digital share regis-
ter, the issue of securities tokens
In fact, it was our track record of bank- and the holding of a virtual general
ing services which lead us to look at meeting.
digital assets in 2015. Today, Swisscom
Blockchain offers enterprise block-
• Custodigit offers a technical solu-
tion for the custody and manage-
chain services and infrastructure for
ment of digital assets for regulated
blockchain applications. We thus facil-
financial services institutions.
itate the establishment of blockchain-
based business models.
How have you seen appetite evolv-
ing for enterprise customers?
What are the main products which
you have launched? The hype surrounding blockchain
technology has given rise to over-
Swisscom has been investing in block-
optimistic expectations here in Swit-
chain technology since 2016 as a core
zerland too. Companies are now aware
element of the future basic infrastruc-
of the technology and consider it real-
ture. For example, Swisscom operates
istic for specific business cases. The fi-
a secure and sustainable infrastruc-
nancial sector is at the forefront of this.
ture for companies based on Hy-
The benefits offered by blockchain,
perledger Fabric. This year, we just
such as cost effectiveness, security
launched a blockchain-based Elec-
and transparency, support its use.
tronic Seal for companies that can
However, a few issues remain to be re-
guarantee tamper-proof data, e.g. a
solved before it is adopted more wide-
watch certificate, and the Green Coin,
ly, including interoperability, standard-
a digital Swiss Franc, designed as an
isation, scalability and energy con-
earmarked stablecoin for sustainable
sumption.
products and services.
Outcome 2
Investment soaring
The acceleration we identified in the previous section is driving
growing investor interest and expanding cash needs to fuel
growth which in turn will drive more investors into the space. We
have entered this virtuous cycle with start-ups planning to raise
2.5x more than last year over the next 18-months. We expect to see
large rounds in 2022, with Series A, B and beyond. In parallel we
continue to see blockchain literacy as a barrier to investment in
the space, further education is needed. Looking regionally we see
the US continues to lead the way but Europe is now catching up.
 12 Investment soaring

Expect to see large rounds in 2022

Capital flowing to the sector driven by growing opportunity

B2B blockchain start-ups are growing fast as shown in the last section.
This high growth is attracting investors and requires more funding to fuel
it. We are seeing this virtuous circle clearly this year with start-ups having
cumulatively raised on average 30% more than last year and planning in
the next 18-months to raise 2.5x more! As such, surveyed start-ups have a
total funding need of €1bn for the next 18 months vs. €350mn in 2020.

Funding acceleration due in the next 18 months, €mn

How to read:

Source: LeadBlock Partners

Expect large rounds in 2022: Series A, B and beyond

Averages sometimes hide the bigger picture! Looking past averages we
found that 20%+ of start-ups are about to raise large rounds of €5mn+ in
2022 including a growing number of Series B rounds at €10mn+.

Distribution of 2022 round sizes show large rounds due

45%

40%

35%

30%

25%

20%

15%

10%

5%

0%
€0-1mn €1-2mn €2-5mn €5-10mn €10mn+
Source: LeadBlock Partners
 13 Investment soaring

Case study: The future of secure data exchange

A conversation with John Sun, Co-

Founder of Spring Labs

Could you introduce yourself and

Spring Labs?
My name is John Sun, Co-Founder and
CEO of Spring Labs. My experience has
been between technology and
fintech, primarily building modern
lending products for underserved con-
sumers. Before Spring Labs I was the
co-founder and Chief Risk Officer at
Avant, a large near-prime consumer
lender where we pioneered the use of
The raise went well with existing in-
alternative data and machine learning
vestors participating and adding new
to better understand our customers.
strategic partners in both the tradi-
tional FS and crypto spaces - including
Spring Labs is a technology and data
LeadBlock Partners of course!
company building privacy-focused
networks enabling exchange of sensi- What are your plans for the future
tive information, without revealing the and what gets you excited?
underlying data. Anywhere competi-
Another project we’re particularly ex-
tive parties would benefit from infor-
cited about is Ky0x. We have a lot of
mation sharing - e.g. to catch fraud
blockchain knowledge in-house, and
across lending institutions and banks -
in combining both our tech and exist-
without sharing sensitive customer in-
ing partnerships we can build KYC-
formation.
forward products for the crypto space.
You successfully raised a $30mn Se- Ky0x provides blockchain companies
ries B round, how was the journey? with a set of essential data ven-
dors, integrations, and policies to aid
The focus for our B round was to bring
in launching your DeFi or NFT applica-
on strategic partners to expand and
tion. All of these benefits can be inte-
deliver our products and services to a
grated with less than 10 lines of code.
wider audience. Spring Labs found a
great partner in TransUnion, who
An example product: the Ky0x identity
shares our mission of enabling better
passport allows users to provide infor-
access to data while improving securi-
mation about themselves in order to
ty and privacy.
access permissioned smart contract
applications while preserving the pri-
As a core part of our strategy to ex-
vacy of their off-chain identity. Over
pand, TU is supporting our growth in
time, more data gets added to the
two key ways: channel sales for our ex-
passport by the user or third parties,
isting network products to bolster our
creating the basis for on-chain reputa-
market presence, and helping us scale
tion.
rapidly with an audience of estab-
lished financial institutions for Ky0x
 14 Investment soaring

Blockchain literacy still a barrier to investment

While investors and the general public is becoming increasingly ac-

quainted with the term blockchain, many investors still struggle to under-
stand the underlying technology, its benefits and how it can be applied.
Moreover, the cryptocurrency frenzy and more recent NFT wave has led
investors to believe blockchain and cryptocurrencies were the same thing
and thus have associated the technology with volatility and high risks. As
shown below, investor education levels have not materially changed
compared to last year showing a lot of investor education remains to be
done.

Founders answer to statement: Investors are

knowledgeable about blockchain technology
50%
45%
46%

38%
80%
40% of investors are not
35%
30% familiar about Block-
30%
24% chain tech
25%
20% 17%
15%

60%
15% 12% 11%
10%
10%
4%
5%
0%
1 - Strongly 2 3 - Neither 4 5 - Strongly Don’t differentiate
disagree agree/disagree agree between cryptocurrency
2021 2020 and Blockchain tech

Source: LeadBlock Partners

The European Investment Bank believes “Limited appetite for blockchain is

notably attributable to lack of knowledge, particularly the misconception that
“blockchain is Bitcoin.” ”
Report: Artificial intelligence, blockchain and the future of Europe by Arnold Ver-
beek (Head Of Unit at EIB) & Maria Lundqvist (Finance Ad-
visor, Innovation Finance Advisory at EIB)
 15 Investment soaring

Funding gap for European blockchain start-ups

Europe is catching up to the US but a funding gap persists

Last year we saw how the US has led the way for blockchain investments.
While this is still true today, Europe has been catching up and funding to-
wards European blockchain start-ups has increased. Indeed, the average
US start-ups raised 2x more capital than European start-ups in 2021 but
this gap has halved over the last 12 months.

European start-ups have raised 50% less than US

counterparts but are catching up, €mn

The European Invest-

ment Bank believes
that “for blockchain
there is an estimated
annual equity invest-
ment gap of €1–2 bil-
lion”
Report: Artificial intelli-
gence, blockchain and
the future of Europe by
Arnold Verbeek (Head Of
Unit at EIF) & Maria
Lundqvist (Finance Ad-
visor, Innovation Fi-

Source: LeadBlock Partners

“2021 is a big acceleration year for blockchain/crypto startups and m&a. Europe
confirmed its importance in this field with many new unicorns like Block-
chain.com, BitPanda, Ledger, Sorare to name a few. Others will emerge before
the end of the year for sure ! So the European dynamic is good and the gap
with the US is reducing. “
Ivan de Lastours, Blockchain/Crypto Lead at Bpifrance
Outcome 3
Institutional Digital
Assets adoption
accelerating
The crypto market emerged from the pandemic as an attractive
asset class, and saw material capital inflows from institutions over
the past 18 months through ETPs, ETFs and Trusts. With a total
market value of $2.5T, $250B locked in DeFi protocols, and $15B+
injected from institutions, the crypto market is at a tipping point -
we expect more VC funding to fuel the infrastructure, to support
the next leg of crypto market growth, the institutionalisation
phase.
 17 Institutional crypto adoption accelerating

2021: The tipping point for institutional capital

Favourable markets conditions

In the early days of cryptos, the infrastructure was designed to fulfil sim-
ple needs to buy, sell and hold cryptos, mainly for retail investors.
Exchanges, and custodians emerged as the leading plays to capture val-
ue from this retail driven demand. In less than a decade, the total market
value of the crypto world grew from 0 to almost $1 trillion by 2020 year
end, a level which started to trigger the interest from institutional capital,
especially at a time of monetary and fiscal stimulus in an already low-
yield environment. 2020-21 has been pivotal years for the crypto market,
driven by the economic impacts of the covid-19 crisis, in an already low-
yield market environment. With the attractive yields in DeFi
(Decentralised Finance) compared to TradFi (Traditional Finance), rang-
ing from 3-4% on stable coins (crypto pegged to the USD) to 10%+ by
providing liquidity on DEXes (Decentralised Exchanges), markets condi-
tions are favourable for institutional capital to gradually move into this
nascent asset class.

Digital asset yields are higher than other asset classes

14%

12%

10%

8%

6%

4%

2%

0%

-2%
UST 5-Year US 10-yr TII Germany 10- Average US US 10-yr gov ICE BofA US Stable coin Ethereum 2.0 Liquidity
TIPS High bond yr bond bank's saving bond High Yield deposit on node providing on
Yield (inflation account Index Aave validator Uniswap (avg
adjusted) reward yield)

Source: Bloomberg, LeadBlock Partners

In addition to this, excess liquidity have led to price inflation across asset
classes globally, and pushed institutional investors to move higher on the
risk curve for higher yields and returns. and equities markets.
 18 Institutional crypto adoption accelerating

Strong inflows drives infra development

The combination of fac- 35

tors listed before have led 30
to inflows into the digital 25
assets space. As a result, 20
over the past 12 months, 15
digital assets’ risk adjusted 10
returns have proven to be 5
attractive versus tradition-
0
al market with Bitcoin and
-5
Ether significantly outper-
Nov-18

Nov-19

Nov-21
Nov-20
Sep-19

Sep-21
Sep-20
May-19

May-20

May-21
Jul-19

Jul-20

Jul-21
Mar-19

Mar-20

Mar-21
Jan-20

Jan-21
Jan-19
forming the commodities
Ether S&P 500 Gold Commodities Bitcoin
Source: Bloomberg, LeadBlock Partners
A maturing infrastructure for institutional
capital
A whole ecosystem of product and service offerings has emerged to ac-
commodate larger capital inflow and volume traded from an increasingly
sophisticated investor base, naturally paving the way for institutional cap-
ital. So far, institutional capital primarily opted for an indirect exposure
through ETPs (Exchange Traded Products), ETFs (Exchange Traded
Funds) and Investment Trusts. Year-to-date, total capital inflow in digital
assets investment products topped $9B, up from $6.7B in 2020 according
to data from CoinShares, with capital inflows into Bitcoin still dominating
at $6.4B. Two days after its launch, ProShares Bitcoin Strategy ETF
reached $1B+ in AUM, making it the fastest ETF to reach the billion mark.
Institutional interest and demand for crypto exposure continues to gain
momentum, with European transaction volumes gradually becoming in-
stitutional led.
100%

80%

60%

40%

20%

0%
Jan-19 May-19 Sep-19 Jan-20 May-20 Sep-20 Jan-21 May-21

Large instituational Institutional Professional Large retail Small retail

Source: Chainalysis
 19 Institutional crypto adoption accelerating

A tailored product for institutional demand

A conversation with Joshua Barra-

clough, CEO of Bitpanda Pro

As CEO of Bitpanda Pro, you will fo-

cus on the offerings for experienced
and institutional investors. Are we at
a tipping point from an institutional
adoption standpoint?
Yes – we are at a tipping point. Over
the last year in particular, we’ve seen a
surge of investor interest as cryptocur-
rencies have become a primary invest-
ment for many digital natives. Adop-
tion has skyrocketed over the past
Bitcoin is a $1tr asset, and has seen the
nine months and institutional money
world’s biggest investors allocate sig-
has poured into the sector, with strong
nificant portions of their portfolios to
signals from major asset managers re-
the currency. When the likes of JPMor-
searching and allocating to crypto.
gan and Blackrock are taking an in-
Speaking to my institutional network vestment seriously, it’s a sure sign that
we are seeing that the majority of tra- it’s here to stay. With new products,
ditional players currently holding cryp- such as ETFs creating new ways for
to assets or at the very least looking to customers to engage and with greater
invest in the next 1-2 years. This wave harmonisation of regulatory ap-
of institutional investment, unaffected proaches across the EU I think it will
by many of the regulatory worries of become easier for institutions to invest
the last bull run, has proven the viabil- and with greater clarity on the risks
ity of Bitcoin as a secure store of value and comfort on what they can do. In-
and inflation hedge. vesting in crypto will quickly move to
an expectation versus a novel man-
We are now seeing increasing interest
date.
in other Layer 1 protocols and innova-
tive DeFi applications which are stead-
Link to
ily gaining adoption. So, far from being
full interview
the meme fuelled gamble that many
still view it as, cryptocurrencies are be-
ing treated by investors in the same
Click above for answers on:
way as stocks and ETFs. Then you have
the likes of Visa and MasterCard are Coming from the traditional banking
working on implementing stablecoin world, in your view, what is still needed
payments and PayPal has announced for institutional crypto adoption to ac-
that it will allow customers to pay all of celerate?
its 29 million merchants with digital
assets by the end of this year. It’s the In this new leading role, what excites
same story for institutional investors. you the most for the next 2-3 years?
 20 Institutional crypto adoption accelerating

Building gateways to unlock institutional capital

A conversation with Christopher

May, CEO & Co-founder of Finoa
Finoa focused since day 1 on institu-
tional grade custody services. How
you saw the opportunity early?
The idea of Finoa was born out of a
pain point that my co-founder, Hen-
rik, and I were facing as individual in-
vestors in crypto since 2016/17; namely
the lack of a secure and comprehen-
sive management platform for our
crypto assets. Navigating the vast
amount of investment opportunities
in a secure and seamless way was dif-
Link to
ficult enough as an individual inves-
full interview
tor, let alone for institutions. Being
aware of their stricter requirements, it
became clear to us that “gateways” economic knowledge. We need to
would be needed to enable large- better educate the wider public on
scale participation of these institu- the benefits of blockchain and give
tions. Back then, institutional interest them the tools to comfortably inter-
was certainly on the rise but concerns act with the different use cases, re-
around security, regulation, and usa- gardless of their familiarity.
bility remained a barrier to entry for
Regulation: There is still a lack of ro-
the vast majority of them. Based on
bust regulatory standards that match
these findings, we identified custody
institutional requirements and are
as the starting product to enable in-
understood by the traditional ecosys-
stitutional participation in the crypto
tem. Regulators need to find ways to
space. We started Finoa as a custody
embrace this exciting technology and
provider with the ambition to build a
encourage innovation while protect-
multi-service product for institutions.
ing consumers and achieving balance
in decentralisation.
What do you see as the main barri-
ers to crypto institutional adoption? Trust: Institutional adoption is still in
its early days, many assets are still vol-
(European) risk-aversion: While insti-
atile, and security is a concern. A fun-
tutions in the US, for example, have
damental shift in mindset is needed
been diving head first and continu-
and it is our role to lower the entry
ously accelerating their participation
barriers by promoting secure plat-
in the crypto space, we still see most
forms and working proactively with
European investors holding back due
both crypto-builders and institutions,
to risk aversion and ambiguity.
to bring new ideas forward that chal-
Education and usability: Accessing lenge existing paradigms in a produc-
blockchain-enabled innovation re- tive way.
quires deep technical and crypto-
 21 Institutional crypto adoption accelerating

Bridging retail and institutional demand

A conversation with Zac Prince,

CEO & Co-founder of BlockFi
BlockFi Prime was introduced in
2021 for institutional and sophisti-
cated investors. Could you tell us
more about this offering?
BlockFi Prime is an integrated plat-
form where institutional investors can
easily access, trade, and borrow digi-
tal assets. This tool provides real-time
streaming quotes and the ability to
trade up to a settlement limit via 24-
hour settlement cycle, both of which
are critical for the “never off” crypto Link to
market. full interview

Due to the overwhelmingly positive

is increasing exponentially and we
response of BlockFi Prime since its
must provide a variety of options for
launch in June, we’re also looking to
consumers to become educated and
broaden this offering by adding tools
invested in the sector.
focused on margin trading, deriva-
tives and automated margin lending. As the CEO of a leading company,
BlockFi was built to serve institutions, what excites you the most for the
so our Prime offering has been a nat- next 2-3 years?
ural addition to our suite of products
I am excited to see where next-
and services.
generation payments methods take
As we move into the the world. They are already driving
‘institutionalisation’ phase of cryp- growth and user adoption in the digi-
to, how do you see the competitive tal payments sector with 45% of con-
landscape evolving, and what key sumers planning to use crypto pay-
role/positioning do you foresee for ments in the next 1-2 years, according
BlockFi? to a survey conducted by Capgemini.
Even more, we have seen main-
Our priority is to make crypto equally
stream payments companies like Visa
as accessible to institutional investors
partnering with crypto native compa-
as it is retail investors. A large majority
nies to offer new products and fea-
of our institutional team comes from
tures to consumers - such as Visa's
the world of traditional finance and
partnerships with BlockFi to launch
were enthralled by the opportunity
the world's first ever crypto rewards
that blockchain could have on these
credit card. In just four months since
storied organizations.
its launch, there are over 60,000 cli-
At the end of the day, with crypto be- ents using the BlockFi Card to earn
coming a more mature asset class, crypto back on their everyday spend-
their heightened demand for expo- ing.
sure - either passive or active -
 22 Institutional crypto adoption accelerating

Bringing crypto to the next level with credit

A conversation with Yichen Wu,

CEO & Co-founder of Tesseract
Tesseract collaborates with parties
across the ecosystem, ranging from
custodians to exchanges, or lending
platforms.

What piece of the puzzle is missing

or needs to mature for greater insti-
tutional capital inflow to happen?
Two things - both require collabora-
tion. The private sector can address
the first, and the public sector must
address the second. As the CEO & co-founder of a fast-
growing company in the digital as-
The current infrastructure layer for
sets world, what excites you the
cryptocurrencies, from secure & insti-
most for the next 2-3 years?
tutionally friendly custody structures
to adequate liquidity & leverage Public sentiment regarding crypto-
across markets, is very fragmented. currencies is changing. The broader
The industry is home to the brightest audience is beginning to grasp the
minds in the world. Still, everyone has potential & implications of immutable
been building independently, and financial transactions, programmable
nothing ties together all the beautiful money, and distributed consensus. As
innovations well enough to make the appreciation for the technology
larger institutions genuinely comfort- shifts beyond price talk, new people
able with the space. Private compa- enter the cryptocurrency ecosystem
nies need to embrace collaboration and start building. I'm incredibly ex-
and join forces to provide seamless cited about that - new people, new
end-to-end solutions that serve even minds coming to the space and
the largest clients. building things we could've not imag-
ined today, let alone three years ago.
The second issue is regulatory uncer-
tainty. Whereas nation-level jurisdic-
tions may have clear regulations,
multinationals that operate world-
wide face the burden of dealing with
multiple jurisdictions. Due to the frag-
mented regulatory sentiment and
uncertainty in some markets, institu-
tions may unnecessarily avoid explor-
ing crypto in further detail.
 23 Institutional crypto adoption accelerating

An entire ecosystem in the making

A full suite of solutions are needed

As discussed with Bitpanda, Tesseract, Blockfi and Finoa the crypto mar-
ket is moving towards its next leg of growth and maturation, the institu-
tionalisation phase. This trend is catalysed by increasing VC flows into the
space driven by specialist and generalist funds as well as a flow of talents
from the traditional financial world. With a crypto market now approach-
ing the $3 trillion market cap mark, and a blossoming DeFi ecosystem
with $250B+ TVL (Total Value Locked) in protocols/applications, products
and services tailored for institutions will continue to emerge, ranging
from execution, custody, credit solutions, data providers, KYC and analyt-
ics.

Total value locked in DeFi reached $250bn+, up 17x yoy

Source: Defillama

Custody start-ups led the way, more to come

With institutional capital starting to flow into the sector the first priority
was to have institutional-grade custody services to store digital assets.
This drove large rounds in 2021 with for example Anchorage $80M Series
C in February, Ledger $380M Series C in June, Fireblocks $310M Series D
in July, Copper is reportedly looking to raise an additional $500M in Q4
2021, few months after a $50M Series B round. These rounds included VC
but also many financial institutions themselves. Looking forward we ex-
pect to see round size pick-up in other areas which enable institutional
adoption of digital assets.
Outcome 4
All to play for in the
Protocol Race
The main protocols used by start-ups for enterprise use remains
stable year-on year with Ethereum, the Hyperledger suite and Cor-
da dominating and accounting for c.65% of market share. However
we don’t believe the race is won as most start-ups are protocol ag-
nostic and 30% of them are actively looking to switch protocols. In
addition more often than not they are looking to switch to the
challengers!
 25 All to play for in the Protocol Race

The protocol race is on!

Ethereum, Corda and Hyperledger solidly in the lead

The top 3 blockchain protocols used for enterprise applications remain
Ethereum, the Hyperledger suite and Corda accounting for c.65% of mar-
ket share. The main change compared to last year is Corda moving into
second place and gaining market share vs Hyperledger protocols.

Protocol split for enterprise blockchain

applications

Stellar
2%
Other
19% Ethereum
28%
30%
Tezos Actively looking to switch
2%
protocols
Quorum
4%

50%
Algorand
4%
Bitcoin Corda
5% Hyperledger 20%
16%
Plan to switch to
challengers

Source: LeadBlock Partners

Challengers could catch-up

There are now four clear challengers to the leading trio which are Al-
gorand, Quorum, Tezos and Stellar. Their market shares are low but they
have momentum which could continue for three reasons (1) high number
of new projects which they could take a large share of, (2) 30% of start-ups
are actively looking to switch protocol with many more keeping an open
mind, (3) those who want to switch are more likely to switch away from a
leader to a challenger than the opposite. Other protocols such as Cardano
and Polkadot have also started to attract the attention of start-ups but
have seen limited enterprise adoption for now. This competition is
healthy as it drives further improvements of protocols to drive more scala-
bility, more security, privacy and interoperability.
 26 All to play for in the Protocol Race

How R3 is driving enterprise adoption

A conversation with Todd McDonald,

Co-Founder and Chief Strategy Of-
ficer, R3 (Corda)

Which of the recent projects

launched on Corda are you most ex-
cited about?
We are thrilled to see infrastructure
layers like SDX go live and support dig-
ital assets for regulated markets.
Alongside SDX, the broader capital
markets ecosystem is swiftly going to
production to support the complete
digital asset lifecycle on Corda. Agora
banks, regulators and payment pro-
and LedgerEdge are introducing
viders simulate the issuance, distribu-
blockchain-powered digital bonds for
tion and exchange of CBDCs every day
primary and secondary markets. HSBC
inside our Sandbox. R3’s work to date
is enabling investors to access records
has also supported industry leading
of assets bought on private markets in
CBDC experimentation from projects
real-time. VALK is using Corda to digi-
such as Jura and Dunbar.
talize the investment, trading and
management of unlisted assets and How do you see the protocol race
has supported over $3 billion worth of shaping up?
deals to date. While HQLAx is working
R3 recognizes that the future is multi-
with the likes of J.P. Morgan, Euroclear,
platform. That’s why we’re investing
Deutsche Börse and Citi to enable
heavily in interoperability solutions, so
atomic swaps of high-quality liquid as-
Corda applications can seamlessly
sets all on Corda.
transact value and assets across the
What are the areas and themes broader ecosystem. We’ve demon-
which will drive enterprise adoption strated interoperability capabilities
of Corda in the future? across traditional and emerging net-
works, including integrations with
The most significant trend we’re see-
Modulr and tests with Ethereum and
ing is the desire from banks and regu-
Solana. We’re very focused on ena-
lators to learn and experiment with
bling highly regulated entities across
regulated digital currencies, namely
capital markets and banking to build
CBDCs and stablecoins. That’s why we
solutions so they can participate in the
hosted a CBDC working group with
future of digital assets, currencies and
140 leading institutions to inform the
payments on and off Corda..
development of R3 Sandbox for Digital
Currencies. The Digital Currencies
Sandbox is a subscription that enables
regulated digital currency experimen-
tation with a ready-made ecosystem.
We see central banks, commercial
 27 All to play for in the Protocol Race

How Hedera is driving enterprise adoption

A conversation with Dr Sabrina

Tachdjian, Head of APAC Ecosystem
at the Hbar Foundation (Hedera)
How do you see the protocol race
shaping up?
The protocol race is definitely heating
up with a handful of major networks
now competing for mass adoption, alt-
hough I believe we are still relatively
early in the game. If you look broadly
at the blockchain industry, multiple
layer 1 and 2 protocols are likely to co-the most energy efficient PoS DLT
exist in the future, which is why the compared to major competitors. For
newly established Hbar Foundation is all these reasons, Hedera Hashgraph is
working to support intercompatibility already the most utilized enterprise-
with other widely used blockchain grade public network with 1.8 billion
networks. Hashport, a Hedera-based transactions in the 2 years since main-
utility that facilitates the movement of net launch, surpassing Ethereum. Go-
digital assets across networks, is a ing forward, fostering a large ecosys-
good example of this convergence. tem around the Hedera Hashgraph
protocol will be essential to sustaining
For enterprise applications however, growth by creating network effects
few public blockchains can truly scale that will accelerate adoption. As such
as efficiently, securely, and affordably the Hbar Foundation was endowed
as Hedera Hashgraph. Our technology with billions of Hbar to support ecosys-
is adequately positioned to meet the tem expansion and to continue to give
demands of enterprise users: a high- Hedera Hashgraph an edge in the en-
throughput, low latency network terprise space and beyond.
providing a BFT-level security, with
low and stable transaction fees that
make perfect sense in real-world im-
Link to
plementations. Hedera’s governance
full interview
by a council of world-class entities
such as Google and IBM also adds a
level of transparency and reliability
that is hardly matched in crypto. Hed- Click above for answers on:
era also meets the unique needs of
enterprise users operating in regulat- Which of the recent projects launched
ed verticals by providing compliance on Hedera are you most excited
features such as native-level KYC/AML about?
for HTS. Another key differentiator is
Hedera’s ultra low energy footprint: a What are the areas and themes which
recent academic study by UCL has de- will drive enterprise adoption of the
termined Hedera Hashgraph to be Hedera protocol in the future?
 28 All to play for in the Protocol Race

How Tezos is driving enterprise adoption

A conversation with Hadrien Zerah,

Managing Director Nomadic Labs
(Tezos)

Which of the recent projects

launched on Tezos are you most ex-
cited about?
Link to
The Tezos ecosystem has flourished in full interview
2021 with more people today choosing
to build on Tezos than many other
How do you see the protocol race
protocols. There is no shortage of pro-
shaping up?
jects that are worthy of the spotlight.
As blockchains continue to evolve and
Recently, the University of Cambridge
innovate at a rapid pace, it is increas-
announced its launch of the Cam-
ingly difficult to forecast how the
bridge Centre for Carbon Credits, with
broader landscape will look in the near
the goal to build a decentralized mar-
future. That said, we do know one
ketplace of verifiable carbon credits to
thing: whatever emerging trends arise,
support global reforestation efforts.
Tezos will be at the forefront. From the
The center brings together an interdis-
very beginning, Tezos was designed to
ciplinary group spanning the universi-
evolve and empower, and that is ex-
ty’s department of computer science,
actly what it will be doing for the eco-
zoology and plant sciences and is cur-
system-- adapting, upgrading, em-
rently working on building a prototype
bracing innovation for users around
of a decentralized carbon credit mar-
the world.
ketplace where purchasers can confi-
dently and directly fund trusted na- Tezos is growing and adapting to the
ture-based projects. The marketplace needs of users, having upgraded al-
will be built on the Tezos blockchain ready seven times with the eighth up-
and use a combination of artificial in- grade soon to come. No other block-
telligence and satellite sensing tech- chain has been upgraded as quickly,
nology. as seamlessly, or as much as Tezos has
in the last 3 years.
We are also particularly excited to see
more brands choosing to build on Te- We expect the incredible momentum
zos than ever before. In 2021, Formula 1 Tezos has seen from NFTs to continue,
racing teams Red Bull Racing Honda as artists, collectors, brands and more
and McLaren Racing, both announced continue to build the future of digital
Tezos as their official technical partner. engagement on the blockchain. The
So far, more than 100,000 NFTs have Metaverse moving into the spotlight, a
been collected by F1 fans from the two greater surge in demand for energy-
teams on Tezos. With these fan experi- efficient NFTs and a low transaction
ences taking place on the platform, costs-- these are all deciding factors
we are looking forward to seeing how that will continue to separate Tezos
Tezos will continue to deliver for lead- from the pack of competing block-
ing brands and organizations. chains.
 29 All to play for in the Protocol Race

Why Blockchain technology?

We asked founders to tell us why they use Blockchain technology as part

of their tech stack. This is their answer:

Source: LeadBlock Partners

Top keywords used, % of answers

20%
18%
16%
14%
12%
10%
8%
6%
4%
2%
0%
Security

Decentralized

Verification / Verify
Smart [contracts]
Digitalise / Digital /

Information
Supply [chain]

Secure
Privacy
Transparency

Digitization

Source: LeadBlock Partners

 30 All to play for in the Protocol Race

Why Blockchain technology?

Digging deeper into the answers to the question “Why do you use block-
chain technology?” We organised keywords into the top themes:

Top themes founders tackle with blockchain , % of answers

60%

50%

40%

30%

20%

10%

0%

Decentralisation
Impact

Accessibility
Certification

Immutability
Cost reduction

Digitisation

Integrity
Trust

Immediacy
Transparency

2021 2020

Source: LeadBlock Partners

Transparency, certification & impact top themes in 2021

We have seen COVID-19 accelerate the adoption of digital technologies
and across industries. Customer demand for online purchasing/services
have soared and so did the use of digital tools for B2B interactions and
business decision making. We can see a big jump in the Transparency
and Certification themes among blockchain start-ups. This is because
blockchain can bring trust into digital based transactions and create cost
efficiencies. Blockchain use also helps eliminate third parties and acceler-
ate deals. At the same time, increasing consumer awareness regarding
sustainable business practices and product origin as well as regulatory
pressure are also key drivers for companies to ensure transparency and to
certify product origin. This is why we saw Impact emerge this year as a
new big theme as we saw a surge in impact-related use cases of block-
chain tech.
Outcome 5
Blockchain powers
ESG initiatives
Blockchain technology and digital assets have been in the news
recently due to concerns over environmental impacts. However,
our analysis shows blockchain technology is a great tool to power
ESG initiatives. We found that 2/3 of enterprise blockchain start-
ups address UN SDGs and they raised on average more capital.
Moreover, women and minorities in blockchain start-ups have
been able to grasp a larger share of the capital raised than their av-
erage European tech counterparts.
 32 Blockchain powers ESG initiatives

Blockchain is a driver of ESG initiatives

Blockchain start-ups widely address UN SDG goals

Blockchain is a powerful technology to empower customers and help
businesses adopt sustainable prac-
tices. However, blockchain and
cryptocurrencies have recently 68%
of blockchain start-ups address at
been the target of criticisms due to least one UN SDG
the energy consumption required
for mining activities. Even though
we applied a stricter methodology 57%
than last year, our survey showed apply to the Energy, Food & Agri-
culture and Healthcare sectors
that most blockchain start-ups in-
Source: LeadBlock Partners
terviewed pursued ESG initiatives
and aimed to tackle at least one UN SDG. Could this be a way for block-
chain start-ups to take action and try to compensate for these criticisms?

ESG start-ups raise more funding

Investigating our data further, we observed that addressing at least one
of the UN SDGs facilitated fundraising. In our survey, ESG start-ups (i.e.
start-ups addressing at least one of the UN SDGs) received more cumula-
tive funding than non ESG start-ups. However, founders addressing at
least one of the UN SDGs found the fundraising process to be more chal-
lenging (40% vs 13%).

Cumulative funding for ESG and non ESG start-ups

Source: LeadBlock Partners

 33 Blockchain powers ESG initiatives

Start-ups target key ESG themes and sectors

Top 5 SDG goals addressed by more than 60% of start-ups

Most blockchain start-ups interviewed aimed to tackle the 5 goals shown
below. These goals are critical for our future and include some of the
toughest challenges which lie ahead for a more sustainable world.
Founders have chosen these goals because with difficulty comes oppor-
tunity.

60% of start-ups address these 5 key goals for our future

Source: LeadBlock Partners

Top 5 sectors include Energy, Food & Ag and Healthcare

Overall, the top 5 sectors most ESG initiatives were Financial Services, En-
ergy, Food & Agriculture, Legal and Healthcare. These are sectors which
are particularly relevant to top 5 goals above mainly driven by block-
chain’s ability to drive financial inclusion and transparency.

Top sectors of blockchain start-ups

addressing UN SDGS’s

Others
24% Financial
Services
25%

Healthcare
Energy &
9%
Natural
Resources
Legal 17%
10% Food &
Agriculture
15%

Source: LeadBlock Partners

 34 Blockchain powers ESG initiatives

How UNICEF leverages blockchain

A conversation with Zenani Orengo

Investment Adviser at UNICEF Ven-
ture Fund
Could you talk about the different
blockchain initiatives that have been
launched by UNICEF?
UNICEF’s CryptoFund is a new finan-
cial vehicle allowing UNICEF to re-
ceive, hold, and disburse cryptocurren-
cy – a first for the UN. By distributing we fundamentally disrupt some sys-
funding in cryptocurrency, UNICEF, tems which are broken.
donors, recipients, and the public can
track where money is going and how As we look into new ways of doing
it is spent, providing an unprecedent- things, it is essential that we tap into
ed level of transparency in the funding the new communities of innovators
and NGO space. and problem solvers in the tech and
crypto spaces, keeping us connected,
By distributing funding in cryptocur-
modern, and agile.
rency, UNICEF, donors, recipients, and
the public can track where the money
The team sees blockchain technology
is going and how it is being spent,
as having benefits in three main ways:
providing an unprecedented level of
1) leveraging innovative financing
transparency in the funding and NGO
models to distribute resources; 2) in-
space. This is due to blockchain tech-
creasing the efficiency and transpar-
nology, the tool powering cryptocur-
ency of processes, and;
rency.
3) incentivising and encouraging the
It also allows UNICEF to benefit from creation and maintenance of open-
the efficiency that distributed ledger source digital public goods. The ap-
technology provides; allowing the proach to achieving this is by re-
transfer of assets around the world in searching and prototyping with both
under a few minutes for under a few internally and with partners.
dollars. The CryptoFund allows
UNICEF to explore what it means to
operate in a digitally financed future.
UNICEF is exploring three layers of
blockchain technology. Our work
could be conceptualized as a set of ti-
ers: more resources, more incremental
change, more disruptive
change. Each tier has its own ques-
tion: can we focus more resources on
problems that affect the world, can we
create greater efficiencies within pub-
lic sector bureaucracies, and can
 35 Blockchain powers ESG initiatives

How UNICEF leverages blockchain

Could you talk about the different Which themes did you focus on with
blockchain initiatives that have been your Crypto Fund?
launched by UNICEF?
The CryptoFund makes crypto-
In our work with digital assets, our denominated disbursements to com-
team thinks about "keeping crypto as panies that are developing software
crypto." The approaches that we see and data-driven solutions, or research
as most valuable would allow us to re- underlying these solutions, to address
ceive (for example) Bitcoin, but then to the most pressing challenges facing
invest those tokens in the same form – children and young people.
without converting them to a fiat or
sovereign currency. The startups receiving investment de-
nominated in crypto must use the
The way that UNICEF has setup cryptocurrency in cryptocurrency. This
the CryptoFund takes into account the allows UNICEF and our donors to bet-
possible volatility of cryptocurrency ter understand where the investment
and has tried to account for that in is being spent.
how we’ve set things up. As an exam-
ple, having a situation where assets The most recent cohort of invest-
are received in, stored in, and distrib- ments are focused on building path-
uted in the same form allows us to ways to financial inclusion and/or solv-
keep that volatility firewalled from tra- ing cross-cutting challenges that pro-
ditional organizational re- gramme divisions have identified
sources. Keeping crypto in its original (including increasing access to re-
financial form also allows us to make sources, accountability, participation,
investments that benefit the ecosys- efficiency of funding flows).
tem of those developing and using
new blockchain-based approaches for The idea was to invest in companies
social good. And, by not converting because of their “core” features that
the crypto we are able to benefit from they were developing that might be of
the transparency and efficiency that interest to building foundational tech-
blockchain provides. nology that other startups could then
leverage in crypto/DeFi space.
 36 Blockchain powers ESG initiatives

ESG Start-ups examples

Impact
Fleur Heyns, Co-founder

“Proof of Impact empowers the transition to a trans-

parent and purposeful world as claims of impact and
ESG washing are rife. Proof of Impact is a data intelli-
Stage: Serie A
gence platform that collects, verifies and analyses
Founded: 2019
ESG and Impact data real time. Its customers are pri-
Employees: 16
Backers: CVVC, Ausum marily companies in Series A-D stage and their corre-
Ventures, Pangea sponding VC and PE investors. The technology stack
Blockchain, Blufol.io, embeds a blockchain layer into the data intelligence
Franklin Templeton In- platform to allow for the protection of the integrity of
vestments, Working data shared across the capital stack as well as offering
Capital Fund and Altera the possibility to securitise these verified environ-
Private mental and social data sets in the future.

Energy
Simone Accornero, Co-founder & CEO
“FlexiDAO helps companies move towards 24/7 car-
bon-free energy sourcing by providing cutting-edge
energy traceability software solutions. The software is
based on blockchain, which acts as a real-time digital
notary that records the generated electricity,
timestamps its origin, and transforms it into a digital Stage: Series A
asset that is automatically transferred to companies Founded: 2017
based on their consumption. It gives secure access to Employees: 20+
auditors and avoids double counting errors, ensuring Backers: SET Ventures,
the highest form of credibility and authenticity of in- InnoEnergy, Rockstart
formation shared with stakeholders.”

Healthcare

Everardo Barojas, Co-founder

Prescrypto is developing RxChain, an open plat-

Stage: Seed form that allows patients and doctors to track
Founded: 2019
medical prescriptions in a consolidated and secure
Employees: <10
Backers: UNICEF
data repository, track medical prescriptions in a
consolidated and secure data repository.
 37 Blockchain powers ESG initiatives

Gender and ethnic diversity remain limited

An improving gender imbalance

Investigating gender bias we saw some improvement but most founders
remain predominantly men. However, woman and mixed founding
teams of blockchain start-ups captured a bigger share of total capital
raised than in European Tech start-ups. Blockchain, due to its decentral-
ised nature, is empowering women and reducing gender inequalities.

Share of capital raised by founder gender Blockchain vs. European Tech

100%
90.8%
90%
80%
70% 64.5%
60%
50%
40% 32.2%
30%
20%
7.5%
10% 3.3% 1.7%
0%
Man Woman Mixed

Blockchain start-up European tech avg

Source: Dealroom, LeadBlock Partners

But an ethnic diversity gap still exists...

It appears that minority founders are better represented in blockchain
start-ups than in European Tech start-ups. Nonetheless, an important di-
versity gap still exists between white and minority founders as minority
founders are raising on average 38% less capital, despite often having
more professional experiences prior to launching their businesses.

Share of capital raised by founder ethnicity Blockchain vs. European Tech

Prefer not to say

White

Middle Eastern/North African

Mixed

Hispanic/Latinx

Black/African/Caribbean

Asian

0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90%

European tech avg Blockchain start-up

Source: Dealroom, LeadBlock Partners
Outcome 6
Top sectors &
use cases
Fintechs continue to dominate the enterprise blockchain land-
scape. Transparency pressures by governments and consumers is
driving adoption in Energy & Natural Resources space and Food &
Agriculture making up the top 3. In parallel this year has seen a
huge rise in the use of NFTs where a lot of opportunities remain.
We also dig into novel use cases for blockchain in the film industry,
online advertising and NFTs.
 39 Top sectors & use cases

Blockchain applied across sectors lead by Fintech

Fintech maintains a steady lead for blockchain use cases

As seen last year fintechs continue to dominate the enterprise blockchain
landscape. This trend should continue as financial institutions their regu-
lators and central banks have warmed up to the idea of using blockchain
technology for a wide range of use cases including replacing cash and re-
vamping age old infrastructure. Central Bank Digital Currencies although
years away in western countries could become a game changer for many
start-ups which today create their own tokens or don’t yet go full circle
with payment automation.

Top three sectors are Financial Services, Energy & Natural Resources

Source: LeadBlock Partners

Transparency pressures drive adoption in others sectors

The main changes we see this year is growth in the Energy & Natural Re-
sources space and Food & Agriculture. This trend is driven by increased
pressure on suppliers by clients, end consumers and governments to of-
fer more transparency, adhere to ESG standards and reduce CO2 emis-
sions.
 40 Top sectors & use cases

Navigating blockchain in international trade

A conversation with Emmanuelle

Ganne, Senior Analyst and block-
chain expert at the World Trade Or-
ganization (WTO)
Could you quantify the digitalisation
need in international trade?
tions, including trade finance. In short,
International trade remains very labour it can make trade more transparent,
and paper intensive. Shipping roses efficient and inclusive.
from Kenya to Rotterdam involves
In which verticals do you see the
around 30 actors and more than 100
most traction?
people. It generates a pile of paper that
is 25 cm high, and the cost of handling There are a lot of projects related to
it can be higher than the cost of mov- supply chain transparency, be it to en-
ing the container. Unfortunately, de- hance efficiency, assert certain claims,
spite more than two decades of digiti- such as provenance, build consumer's
zation efforts, only 0.1% of bills of lading trust, track tainted products, or fight
are issued electronically so there is still counterfeits. There is also a lot of activi-
a lot of unfilled potential. Going digital ty and traction in areas like trade fi-
could generate substantial savings in nance and transportation and logistics.
trade. The Digital Container Shipping
How does the WTO support block-
Association recently estimated that if
chain initiatives in the space?
50% of bills of lading were digitalized, it
would lead to $4bn of potential annual Technology is only a tool. It requires an
savings. enabling legal framework to be used to
its full potential. This is particularly true
Where do you see blockchain playing
when it comes to trade. For Blockchain
a part?
to have an impact on cross-border
Blockchain presents many different trade, there needs to be legislation in
opportunities for international trade, place to recognize e-signatures and e-
from greater transparency into how documents on a global scale, for exam-
goods are being produced, to more ef- ple. The WTO is a rules-based organiza-
ficient processes thanks to peer-to- tion. It develops rules for trade and can
peer interactions and automation therefore help to foster the right regu-
through smart contracts. It can curb latory environment to allow blockchain
fraud by making it impossible to use for trade to be deployed on a wide
trade documents to secure double- scale. The ongoing negotiations on
financing as has been the case in Asia ecommerce touch upon a number of
causing massive fraud scandals. It can issues that are critical to support trade
make access to finance, including digitalization. A large part of my work
trade finance, easier through deep tier also consists in raising awareness and
financing, for example, or by allowing educating government officials and
companies, in particular small ones, to other stakeholders about the potential
build a credit history. It can cut the of digital technologies, and of block-
time needed to process trade opera chain in particular, to facilitate trade.
 41 Top sectors & use cases

Exploring Zero Knowledge Proofs with ING

A conversation with Scott King, Initiative Lead, ING, ZKFlow

Within ING’s Blockchain team, we see privacy is a key

challenge to overcome for Distributed Ledger Tech-
nology. It’s for this reason that we first started looking
into the use of Zero Knowledge Proofs in 2017, as a
means of realising the benefits of distributed applica-
tion, whilst still achieving customer privacy.

Our first release (Range Proofs) was an open source solution built for use
on Ethereum, which allowed for proving that a number sat within a set
range, without releasing the number itself. In subsequent years we fol-
lowed up this work with further iterations, offering Zero Knowledge Set
Membership (proof of association with a category or class) and Bullet-
proofs (a more efficient ZKP implementation), again offered to aid devel-
opment of the wider DLT community.

Fast forward to today and we are now leveraging this experience within
our new offering ZKFlow. The product, which is specifically built for R3’s
Corda platform, will allow for transactions & transaction history to be vali-
dated using Zero Knowledge Proof cryptography. Transaction history (or
backchain) can be an issue for applications where assets are traded multi-
ple times, with details of previous transactions (such as price paid) sup-
plied to the new asset owner. With ZKFlow, historical transactions are re-
placed with a proof of valid transaction history, meaning sensitive details
aren’t passed on to others.

The accelerated use of privacy enhancing technologies such as ZKP will

allow initiatives to deliver on the promise of Distributed Ledger Technolo-
gy, whilst also protecting customer’s privacy. The best of both worlds.
Provenance and immutability, but with privacy guaranteed.
 42 Top sectors & use cases

NFT use case top of mind in 2021

Surging interest in NFTs

It would have been hard to go through 2021 without having heard of NFTs
or read news about new record-breaking sales price. As such, NFTs pro-
jects have attracted many high-profile investors leading to very attractive
valuations. However, despite growing sales, NonFungible.com, the largest
NFT data resource, estimated that the number of active wallets trading
NFTs on the Ethereum blockchain at 421,578 for Q3 2021. While NFTs are
now part of the common knowledge, the trade of such digital assets has
not yet reached the general population and there is still room for sub-
stantial growth in this sector.

Quarterly NFTs sales value across multiple blockchains, in $bn

12
10.7

10

2 1.2 1.3
0.03 0.05
0
Q3 Q4 Q1 Q2 Q3
2020 2021

Source: DappRadar
 43 Top sectors & use cases

NFTs: What next?

More use cases to discover for NFTs

Today, NFTs are mostly used to record the ownership of digital items such
as images, videos, collectibles, and metaverse (i.e. land in virtual worlds).
While current projects seem very promising, we believe there a still a lot
of use-cases to discover to fully benefit from this technology!

Last 30 days NFT sales by type on Ethereum

160 900
793
140 135 800

700
120
600
100
500
80
400
60
300
40 29
25 148 200
16
20 100
8 39 43
8
0 0
Collectible Metaverse Game Art Utility

Number of NFTs sold ('000) Values (in $Mn)

Source: NonFungible

Remaster’s mission is to improve the way people collaborate and transact.

We are leveraging the blockchain to create legally enforceable, multi-
stakeholder NFTs. Authorization and utility are at the heart of every transac-
tion, yet physical assets are unaware of the contracts that govern
them. Digitizing physical art is a great proof of concept for Remaster’s pro-
tocol. Our focus is to enable all stakeholders to safely and securely collabo-
rate in order to generate new revenue streams and provide dynamic utility
for the Web3 economy. Today we are focusing on digitizing physical mas-
terworks into NFT Collectibles, as we believe it represents a $3B market op-
portunity. For context, Artblocks.io is expected to surpass $1.5B in total sales
this year. For more information please contact: [email protected]
 44 Top sectors & use cases

Food for thought blockchain use cases

Media
Maria Tanjala & Irina Albita, Co-Founders
In a £267B market, 30% of revenues in film&TV go un-
derreported, payments are delayed, or may never reach
owners. FilmChain fixes this with a fintech infrastructure
that pays stakeholders in near real-time for independ-
Stage: Seed ents and operates a royalties management for enterpris-
Founded: 2018 es. FilmChain ensures transparent payments by main-
Employees: 10 taining transactions on a private Ethereum blockchain
Backers: Hearst, SFC ledger and distributing monies ($,€, £) to stakeholders'
Capital, Strategic An- digital wallets. FilmChain also replicates the ownership
gels of stakeholders' proportion of revenues using ERC721 to-
kens (NFTs).

Advertising
Tim Brown, Co-founder & CEO (prev. SAP, Abakus,
Yahoo, Blue Lithium, 24/7 Real Media)
“Digital advertising is a large market of which $200B
is traded over exchanges, generating billions of trans-
actions every day, with a supply chain that remains
complex, fragmented and opaque. As such, it pro-
vides a perfect use case for DLT with challenges that Stage: Series A
Fiducia has been addressing. After a successful 2-year Founded: 2018
cross-industry pilot – supported by trade associations, Employees: 12
global brands, agencies, tech vendors and publishers Backers: R3, Angels
– the initiative is now going live with the launch of
TAG TrustNet as a global industry initiative.”

Food & Beverage

Nimantha Siriwardana, Co-Founder at Metacask

“Metacask aims to be the premier marketplace for

spirits backed NFTs, working with brands to execute
Stage: Pre-seed NFT strategies which augment their existing direct
Founded: 2021
to consumer channels enabling active engagement.
Employees: 8
Backers: Bill Lee, Vinny
We hope to bring liquidity by increasing transparen-
Lingham, Sunny cy and reducing friction in trading of these liquids
Madhra, Jonathan through digital ownership and provenance.”
Smith, Foris Capital
Limited (crypto.com)
 Acknowledgements

We would like to thank all of the start-ups which completed our survey and
the following organisations for their support to disseminate it:

Special thanks to all of the following individuals and organisations for partici-
pation the Enterprise Blockchain 2021 Report through interviews and quotes:

John Sun Emmanuelle Ganne Todd McDonald Zenani Orengo

Ivan de Lastours Scott King Roland Cortivo Arnold Verbeek

Maria Lundqvist

Maria Tanjala Joshua Barraclough

Nimantha Siriwardana Tim Brown
Irina Albita

Fleur Heyns Zac Prince Simone Christopher May

Accornero

Dr Sabrina Tachdjian Hadrien Zerah Yichen Wu Mathew Keeley

Authors

Jean-Marc Puel David Chreng- Baptiste Cota

Founding Partner Messembourg Founding Partner
Founding Partner

Carla Puel Marion Denis Alicia Azema

Associate Analyst Analyst

42 Berkeley Square
W1J 5AW London leadblockpartners.com
United Kingdom