Big Tech and Finance Invested $6B in Blockchain Companies This Year – Report

Google’s parent company, Alphabet, has invested $1.5 billion in projects related to the blockchain industry, a report shows. 

According to the latest Blockdata research, Alphabet has been involved in the growth of the blockchain industry, supporting several startups in their growth.

The tech giant invested $1.5 billion from Sep 2021 to June 2022 into four blockchain companies – a digital custody company Fireblocks, venture capital firm Digital Currency Group, Lightning Node infrastructure platform Voltage, and blockchain video games company Dapper Labs.

Over the period, 40 public companies made investments worth $6 billion in the blockchain industry, the report shows, including BlackRock’s $1.17 billion, Morgan Stanley’s $1.11 billion, and $972 million from Samsung, which backed as many as 13 platforms – the biggest number of startups in the report.

Blockdata’s research also shows that investors are mostly interested in companies providing blockchain services, infrastructure platforms, blockchain development companies, dApps, smart contracts, and custody solutions.

Despite the recent downfall of the crypto market and consequent falling interest toward the industry, Inc. magazine has included several companies in its Inc. 5000 2022 list, naming BlockFi the fastest growing company of the year.

According to the magazine, the crypto lender has experienced a 245,616% growth. Other companies on the list include Polygon, CoinFlip, Distributed Ledger.

Venture capital seems untroubled by the ongoing “crypto winter.” 

Total blockchain VC investment tops $17B

According to J.P. Morgan, year-to-date venture capital investment numbers in the crypto and blockchain industries are $17.9 billion year-to-date.

“While many of the ‘traditional’ sectors including software and pharma & biotech continued to represent the majority of VC investment activity in 2022, one of the most interesting trends we have observed in recent quarters has been the record pace of VC investment into startups in the crypto and blockchain industries,” J.P. Morgan said.

Along with the market prices, illicit activity in the industry has also fallen, the latest Chainalysis data shows. 

“Total scam revenue for 2022 currently sits at $1.6 billion, 65% lower than where it was through the end of July in 2021,” the report states, noting that it might have been the result of the declining prices and adding that the cumulative number of individual transfers has been the lowest in the past four years “so far.”