Regulatory complexity is the biggest barrier to the widespread adoption of blockchain technology, according to 61% of respondents who took part in a poll conducted by EY.
Respondents found integration with legacy technology (51%) and a lack of general understanding of the capabilities of blockchain technology (49%) to be other prominent reasons for its lack of widespread adoption.
‘Changes to regulation’ was named as a primary driver for the integration of blockchain technology into the ‘broader enterprise ecosystem’ by37% of respondents.
EY global innovation leader, blockchain technology, Paul Brody said: “As blockchain platforms become more mainstream, putting a robust governance model in place will be key.
“This coupled with establishing best practices for reviewing the integrity of cryptocurrencies and their applications can help build trust in the company’s underlying assets, ensuring stakeholder voices are heard and ultimately instilling greater investor confidence.”
Other motives for integrating blockchain into financial industries included the adoption of blockchain as a digital currency by top companies (23%) and acceptance of the technology among central banks (18%).
Brody said that there will be four key blockchain transitions on the horizon: “As blockchain adoption ramps up, we see four transitions driving the technology’s maturity.
“These are, one, transitioning from private to public networks to create an open system for all users; two, shifting from synchronisation to tokenisation to improve accuracy and reduce risk; three, moving from cryptocurrency to tokenised fiat currency to transfer value on public networks; and four, shifting from parallel separate systems to integration with laws and regulation from central banks and governments.
“With these developments blockchain could become fully operationalised into enterprises, leading to a surge in applications across industries.”
