Cambridge Centre for Alternative Finance Launches First Global Blockchain Benchmarking Study

The Cambridge Centre for Alternative Finance (CCAF) at The University of Cambridge Judge Business School is launching the first Global Blockchain Benchmarking Study. The study aims to present a global empirical picture of how cryptocurrencies and blockchain technology are being used today.

According to CoinDesk data, as of September 2016 more than $1.3 billion of venture capital has been invested in blockchain and cryptocurrency start-ups. At the same time large private and public sector institutions such as banks and governments continue to show significant interest in the wider application of blockchain technology.

Robert Wardrop, CCAF Executive Director, says:

"Cryptocurrencies are good examples of financial innovation that is emerging outside of the traditional financial system. We at the CCAF believe that digital currencies as well as related crypto-based distributed systems have a critically important role in enabling the digitalisation of the broader economy. There is growing demand for an in-depth empirical study of the sector to provide a better understanding of the opportunities and risks associated with this evolution – a research gap that we are happy to help close with this study.”

Security at cryptocurrency exchanges has continued to pose a significant challenge for the industry, and this topic is the study’s first research area of focus. The CCAF kindly invites all companies that enable the purchase, sale and/or trading of cryptocurrencies to participate in a survey. All survey participants have the option to be prominently acknowledged in the benchmarking report with their logo displayed. Please note that all identifying information from organizations that complete the benchmarking surveys will be removed from the research team's analysis, and findings will only be presented in an aggregated form (e.g., by country).

Other surveys will follow in the coming weeks covering areas such as protocol development, cross-border transactions, various distributed ledger technology use cases, mining, and regulation/compliance. Findings from this research will be published by the CCAF in early 2017 and will be freely distributed to participating organizations, industry trade associations, and the media.

Dr Garrick Hileman, the CCAF principal investigator on the study, says:

“This first global benchmarking study highlights the industry’s increasing maturity. With this research we are aiming to collect useful benchmarking data while not exposing any trade secrets or security practices that could assist a competitor or adversary. We at the CCAF are very much looking forward to working with industry and our partners on this research.”