C-Suite Briefing 5 Blockchain Trends for 2020 - Deloitte

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C-Suite Briefing 5 Blockchain Trends for 2020 - Deloitte
C-Suite Briefing | Contents

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C-Suite Briefing
5 Blockchain Trends for 2020
March 2020

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C-Suite Briefing 5 Blockchain Trends for 2020 - Deloitte
5 Blockchain Trends for 2020 | Contents

Contents

A glance back…                             2
The Hype is Over                           3
Evolving platforms                         4
Adoption Rates across Industries           6
Governance is Critical                     9
The Rise of Tokens                        13

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C-Suite Briefing 5 Blockchain Trends for 2020 - Deloitte
5 Blockchain Trends for 2020 | A glance back…

A glance back…
Now that we’ve settled into 2020 and the beginning of a new decade,
we have the opportunity to look back at how far we’ve come, and how
far we have to go.

Moving forward in 2020                          of industry players into conversation
                                                                                        “This is the beginning of
Now eleven years on from the mining             on blockchain, moving away from the
of the genesis block on the bitcoin             FSI focus that we had years ago         the decade of
network, Blockchain technology’s                predicted.
                                                                                        Blockchain and I think
popularity has seen a historic rise
and a significant fall. 2020 brings             True, the adoption of the technology    in 2020, we’ll start to
with it an opportunity for the                  has not occurred with the ferocity
technology to move further away                 which the crypto hype of 2017
                                                                                        see the global
from experimental PoCs and pursue               indicated to many. Rather, we have      recognition of crypto
more significant investment for real            seen the slow and challenging growth
business-ready solutions.                       of ecosystem consortia highlighting
                                                                                        assets in the FS
                                                that companies are waking up to the     industry.”
Where did 2019 leave us?                        idea that to go far, they ought to go
Like a small child, the early years of          together. 1                           Antonio Senatore, EMEA Blockchain
a nascent technology bring dramatic                                                     Lead
growth spurts coupled with a                    Blockchain is here to stay. And 2020
changing personality and growing                is the start of her decade.
pains. This rings especially true for
young adolescent Blockchain, who                          Top 5 Trends
turned 11 only weeks ago. Despite
her youth, her tenth year was full of
moments which will define the                            The Hype is Over
coming years.
                                                         Evolving Platforms
2019 saw the proposition of
Facebook’s Libra and the People’s
Bank of China’s announcement that                        Adoption rates across
they would soon launch a sovereign                       industries
digital yuan. These bold reveals,
which bring the potential of a global                    Governance is critical
digital currency ever closer, caused
ripples across the global financial
services sector.                                         The Rise of Tokens

Across the board, we saw greater
participation from government and
central banks in discussions
regarding the regulatory environment
that this disruptive technology should
exist in. And in the growing
blockchain community, we observed
a move away from ‘get-rich-schemes’
grabbing the headlines in the
Blockchain space and more viable
solutions and consortia taking their
place. 2019 brought a broader range

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    World Economic Forum

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C-Suite Briefing 5 Blockchain Trends for 2020 - Deloitte
5 Blockchain Trends for 2020 | The Hype is Over

The Hype is Over
The Deloitte 2019 Blockchain Survey showed that blockchain adoption
has shifted. As the technology matures, we have seen a move away
from experiments toward the development of robust enterprise ready
solutions.

The corporate blockchain hype                this trend and a greater focus  Additional signs of blockchain’s
cycle is slowing                             developing on utilising the     maturation could be seen in the
In recent years, Blockchain has been         technology to solve real business
                                                                             diverse—and sometimes discordant
heralded as a major disrupter on             issues and deliver value.       responses of surveyed `CEOs; the
track to rattle almost every industry                                        barriers to entry that they faced
from agriculture and manufacturing   2019 revealed the emerging shared       varied, as did the perceived
to FS and insurance. While in many   belief that blockchain is real and that advantages of blockchain which they
cases, the technology’s promise can  it can serve as a pragmatic solution    identified. Such diversity of thought
be clearly seen, faith in Blockchain to business problems. Even leaders,     can be viewed as a mark of
has fallen victim to “the massive    initially wary of tech-based solutions, maturation because it reflects an
hype and irrational exuberance in theappeared to see potential in the        enhanced sense of seriousness in
past, driven largely over a Bitcoin- technology. Specific supporting         consideration of the technology’s
buying frenzy.” 2                    indications from our 2019 Global        possibilities and limitations.
                                     Blockchain Survey include the
In the wake of the hype, a tendency increasing perception of blockchain      Now, in 2020, we can see that the
toward Blockchain tourism developed as a top-five strategic priority, the    prevailing question among executives
– where we would see intrigued       sustained levels of blockchain          is no longer, “Will the technology
companies come to gawk at the        investment, and the improved            work?” but rather, “How can we
technology, kick it around for a few sentiments measured across an array make technology work for us?”
weeks before deciding they were      of attitude statements, including the
more comfortable where they          share of respondents who agree that
currently were. But as we moved      blockchain offers compelling use
through 2019, we saw a fall away in cases.

Learnings for the year ahead

2
    Forbes

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C-Suite Briefing 5 Blockchain Trends for 2020 - Deloitte
5 Blockchain Trends for 2020 | Evolving platforms

Evolving platforms
The leading platforms at the end of 2020 will be those that can offer a
unique combination of features to players and consortia building
enterprise level solutions.
2018 saw a much needed clean up of The Blockchain Trilemma                            The balance of these three
the Blockchain ecosystem as                                                           characteristics is thus a major
overhyped projects failed and shady                                                   consideration for any blockchain
                                     How do the different networks
get-rich-quick schemes were weeded                                                    network provider, as well as for their
                                               measure up?
out; 2019 brought the rise of                                                         customers who choose to build their
Blockchain’s viable platforms and       Corda     Ethereum     VeChain                solutions on the network
more pragmatic developers such as
VeChain, Corda, Hyperledger, and              Decentralisation                        In 2019, we saw a diversification in
Ethereum; Now in 2020, the leaders                                                    the industries investing in blockchain
will emerge based on the unique                                                       with a particular rise in players from
combination of features that they                                                     supply chain, life sciences and TMT.
offer to companies and consortia                                                      Their needs differ from the needs of
building production level solutions.                                                  the initial forerunner, FSI, and thus
                                                                                      the network that appeals the most,
                                                                                      also differs.
            Decentralisation
                                                    Security         Scalability

                                              What has often been coined as ‘the
                                              blockchain trilemma’, refers to the
                                              trade off in any network between
                                              scalability, decentralization and
                                              security. Any two will succeed at the
                                              expense of the third.
    Scalability              Security

                                 /Futile

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C-Suite Briefing 5 Blockchain Trends for 2020 - Deloitte
5 Blockchain Trends for 2020 | Evolving platforms

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C-Suite Briefing 5 Blockchain Trends for 2020 - Deloitte
5 Blockchain Trends for 2020 | Adoption Rates across Industries

Adoption Rates across Industries
2019 brought a greater diversification to the pool of players and
ecosystems investing in Blockchain technology – We anticipate that
diverse adoption will continue throughout 2020.
Adoption across industries is not             Industries where we are seeing          The possibility of utilising blockchain
even                                          rapid adoption and potential for        technology in clinical trials and
                                              2020                                    pharmaceutical supply chains have
Deloitte’s 2019 Global Blockchain
                                                                                      been at the centre of much
Survey revealed that blockchain is            As new industries explore blockchain
                                                                                      experimentation in the past 12
going through a path of diffusion             applications they do so in ways that
across industries far beyond its initial      reflects their own respective           months. While few have reached
fintech applications. More                    operational and strategic needs.        production, we envisage that there
organizations in more sectors—such            Regulatory issues emerged as a          will be a wave of solutions which will
as technology, media,                         central concern of respondents in the go live once regulatory concerns
telecommunications, life sciences,            2019 survey which may shed light on have been abated.
health care, and government—are               why some industries, more that
expanding and diversifying their              others, have found it more difficult to Another area of interest, is that of
blockchain initiatives.                       identify opportunities to implement     digitising health records, a
                                              blockchain solutions in their           particularly challenging
With leaders across industries looking        business. We have seen particular       transformation that appears
at potential applications, many may           interest emerge from the Life Science inextricably linked to the emergence
wonder; How are different industries          & Healthcare sector as well as          of self-sovereign identification. The
adopting and leveraging blockchain            Farming and Supply Chain. FSI have WEF and the World Bank have
technology? Why might companies in            expanded their suite of use-cases       acknowledged the need for this
one industry—but not others—be                and also promise to be a sector in      development to realise a more
highly concerned about a particular           which we will see further Blockchain    inclusive and patient-led healthcare
kind of barrier to adoption? Do               growth in 2020.                         experience and we look forward to
blockchain attitudes and investments                                                  significant developments in the
vary by industry because of                   Life Sciences and Healthcare            coming year.
something inherent about the
technology? Or is it something about                                                    Farming and Supply Chain
different industries’ individual
cultures?

Figure 1, confirms that Blockchain
investment across industries is
varied. TMT leads with 49% of
respondents confirming that their
company is planning a spend of at
least US$5 million in the coming
year. This industry also leads the
adoption charge with 32% of                   There may be nowhere that
respondents saying that they have             blockchain can have a more
already implemented blockchain in             immediate and meaningful impact
some area of their business.                  than in life sciences and health
Interestingly, TMT’s intention to                                                       The supply chain is at the heart of
                                              care—an industry in which data
invest has increased by 4% over the                                                     every manufacturing organization; it
                                              transparency, speed of access,
2018 figure, indicating a steady                                                        is the channel through which
                                              immutability, traceability, and
increase in belief in the technology.                                                   information, materials, services, and
                                              trustworthiness can provide the
                                                                                        financial resources flow from idea to
                                              information necessary for life-altering
                                                                                        end-use delivery in a life cycle of
                                              decisions.
                                                                                        value-added transactions.

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C-Suite Briefing 5 Blockchain Trends for 2020 - Deloitte
5 Blockchain Trends for 2020 | Adoption Rates across Industries

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5 Blockchain Trends for 2020 | Adoption Rates across Industries

Blockchain is a technology which              Financial Services                   Although investment in Blockchain
enables scrutiny and optimisation of                                               projects and ICOs was down in 2019
                                              Financial services was the sector
processes in a supply chain that                                                   over 2018, we can expect a steady
                                              tipped to see both the most
traditionally fall outside of enterprise                                           increase in this figure throughout
                                              disruption and most significant
solutions. We anticipate that its rise                                             2020. Interest remains high,
                                              investment in Blockchain technology.
could lead to an evolution of supply                                               particularly with governments joining
                                              Although other sectors now look like
chain management and logistics in                                                  the conversation to provide financial
                                              they may rival it, the previous
the not so distant future. The IBM                                                 institutions with regulatory clarity
                                              statement remains largely true. The
Foodtrust platform established itself                                              around the technology.
                                              news in 2019 was dominated by
as a meaningful provider in the Track
                                              projects like Libra, Calibra, J.P
and Trace space in 2019, working
                                              Morgan’s stable coin and the
with Walmart, Carrefour and Nestle.
                                              Interbank Information Network as
Undoubtedly, there is room for other
                                              well as Central Bank Digital
players here and we would expect to
                                              Currencies (CDBCs) from the
see an increase in interest
                                              European Central Bank and The
throughout 2020.
                                              People’s Bank of China. Financial
                                              sector players big and small have
                                              entered the blockchain game.

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5 Blockchain Trends for 2020 | Governance is Critical

Governance is Critical
As the technology matures, we can see that the core challenge in the
path of Blockchain’s large-scale adoption is stakeholder management and
bringing competitors and unlikely collaborators together to solve shared
problems.
2019 made clear that technology                Core Challenges in developing           driving a shared objective. A working
barriers are not holding blockchain            blockchain consortia                    group does not operate as a legal
back – but rather human barriers.                                                      entity – each participant owns and
With our clients, we have discovered             1      Allying with competitors       operates their own node.
that many of the core benefits of
blockchain technology are only
realized through collaborating with
other parties in the ecosystem or                2      Agreeing on participants
indeed forging new cross-industry
partnerships. In short, a solution’s
value is often directly linked to the                   Reaching consensus on
                                                 3                                     Private Sector Entity
value of the network it serves.                         shared goals                   A separate and autonomous legal
                                                                                       entity is created in order to establish
McKinsey has suggested that
                                                                                       a private sector entity governance
Blockchain is still three to five years
                                                 4      Defining a funding structure   structure. The platform is typically
away from feasibility at scale,
                                                                                       offered as a utility for participants
primarily because of the difficulty of
                                                                                       who operate their individual nodes.
resolving the “coopetition” paradox
                                                        Sharing both risks and         The project tends to be jointly funded
to establish common standards.                   5
                                                        successes                      by founding members as core
Gartner’s senior VP for technology,
                                                                                       stakeholders in the Steering
Peter Sondergaard echoed this,
                                                                                       Committee.
‘there are still technical things that         Consortia Governance Models
you need to solve and scale and
there are still counter-aspects –              Three major governance options are
business model wise – that aren’t              emerging for blockchain consortia;
necessarily fully clear.’

Emerging Governance Models
                                                                                       Hybrid
Centralized governance has allowed
                                                                                       A hybrid governance model can
business leaders to experiment with
                                                                                       typically involve a shared
the technology while sidestepping
                                               Working Group                           infrastructure operator as a key
controversial questions around
                                               As in a traditional working group, this facilitator to create an organization
security, consensus, identity and
                                               governance models works on the          jointly owned in the industry.
anonymity, among others. Yet the
                                               basis of equal power and                Members follow the organisation’s
centralized model also creates new
                                               contribution. Decisions are made        directives and contribute in order to
risks around how the technology,
                                               through consensus and members           drive a common objective.
economics and governance of the
                                               contribute resources in the pursuit of
blockchain are controlled.

The core benefits of Blockchain technology are realized through
collaborating with others parties in an ecosystem and establishing a
consortia.

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5 Blockchain Trends for 2020 | Governance is Critical

Blockchain Consortia
Blockchain Consortia
Strategic Considerations

       Goals of collaboration

Which goals do the involved parties
want to achieve? How will success be
measured?

       Responsibilities of involved
       parties

What is expected of each involved
party? What are the major
responsibilities and how are they
divided?

       Contribution

How high should the financial
contribution be for each involved party?
Should it be possible to contribute
partially or fully in FTE?

       Intellectual Property

Should the intellectual property lie with
all involved parties or only with those
who took part in the technical
development?

       Technology Considerations

Which Blockchain technology or
platforms should be used? Will it be
possible to change the technology
depending on the project progress?

       Confidentiality Agreement

In which cases will it be allowed to
share information about the project?
Will involved parties be restricted from
independent projects?

       Legal Entity

Is it planned to found a legal entity for
the project? What are the strategic
considerations and which parties would
take part?

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5 Blockchain Trends for 2020 | Governance is Critical

The human challenges that arise in the building of a blockchain solution require personal collaborations to be remedied

What have we learned from Blockchain solutions so far?

        Adoption is the measure of success                            Do not underestimate the human factor

    The key to a successful consortium is industry wide          Collaboration is hard
     adoption
                                                                  Understanding the individual and company interest for
    Consortium needs to be established in such a manner           participation
     that will entice others to participate
                                                                  Buy-in from decision makers is needed; Participants
    In an industry consortia, one company should not have         must be willing to commit time and resources to
     the position to have more power than the rest of the          support the initiative
     participants
                                                                  Building a community platform in addition to the
                                                                   technical platform is key for stakeholder engagement

        Decision making should be based on level of
                                                                      A strong business case for all participants
        participation

    Equal participation can slow down decision making            Start with an efficiency case as the business case is
                                                                   much easier to assess
    Votes should reflect investment and sub committees
     should reflect interests                                     The platform needs to bring some form of value to all
                                                                   participants.

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5 Blockchain Trends for 2020 | Governance is Critical

“Coopetition”
—a willingness to work
with your competitors
and others in your
industrial ecosystem
toward some common
purpose.

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5 Blockchain Trends for 2020 | The Rise of Tokens

The Rise of Tokens
From art to property, the way we invest in assets is on the verge of
fundamental change. Tokens are becoming more sophisticated and
aren’t as far away from mainstream adoption as we might think.
Digital technologies have in recent          Non-fungible tokens (NFTs) have         Ready to Play?
years made possible a new class of           seen a rise in the past 18 months,      Considerations for Financial
assets called “digital assets.” We           carving out a niche in the Ethereum     Institutions entering the token
define a digital asset as “something         ecosystem in which they are             economy
represented in a digital form that has       governed. The most common non
an intrinsic or acquire value.” There        fungible token standard, ERC-721,
is no practical limit as to what can be      saw dramatic growth of 350% in                 Platform Integration
characterized digitally and therefore        2019 largely driven by decentralised
be considered a digital asset.               gaming. Although this is a niche area   Platform selection should be guided by
Examples of digital assets include           of the market, this rise and the new    regulatory requirements, service
land, goods, certificates, identity,         ERC1155 standard suggests that we       offering, product strategy and size
                                                                                     and scale of community.
works of art and literature, rewards,        will see increased numbers of
and even currency, among many                mainstream players in this arena by
others.                                      the end of 2020.                               Business Model

A new token economy could make               It goes without saying that obstacles   Where to play is a core question to be
the financial industry more                  continue to stand in the way of         answered. The choice may vary from
accessible, cheaper, faster and              widespread adoption, principally in     advisor to token exchange broker
easier, thereby possibly unlocking           the form of regulation. The bold        depending on the institutions business
                                                                                     model.
trillions of euros in currently illiquid     suggestion from industry in 2019 of
assets, and vastly increasing the            an imminent digital currency will
volume of trade.                             push governments to provide                    Cybersecurity
                                             guidelines on this unchartered
Tokens have been broadly sorted              territory sooner than they may have     Sufficient security measures need to
into two categories; Fungible and            envisaged paving the way for the rise   be ensured to secure the entire value
Non-fungible.                                of tokens to mainstream society. We     chain when interacting with a
                                                                                     blockchain platform. SECaaS (Security
                                             can remain confident that only
Fungible Token; Fungibility refers                                                   as a Service) could be an additional
                                             institutions that engage with the       revenue stream.
to the ability of a good or asset to
                                             technology, plan for the future and
be interchanged for another good
                                             adapt to the realities will thrive.
or asset for like kind. Therefore a                                                         Jurisdiction
fungible token is one which might
represent currency, crude oil,                                                       Ensuring a token’s compliance across
shares, bonds. Each token, or                                                        jurisdictions will bring new
fraction of a token, is equivalent to                                                complexities which require
                                                                                     consideration.
the next.

Non-fungible Tokens; a non-                                                                 Compliance
fungible token represents an asset
or commodity which is not                                                            MiFID, AML and KYC regulation still
interchangeable. NFTs are designed                                                   applies to the token economy. Tax
to be special or unique. Two tokens                                                  considerations should not be left
representing different cars are not                                                  behind either with a move into the
                                                                                     digital economy.
interchangeable as the underlying
asset is different and unlikely to be
valued equally.

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5 Blockchain Trends for 2020 | The Rise of Tokens

Deloitte Blockchain at Deloitte                             Bibliography

Our people collaborate globally with clients, regulators,   https://channels.theinnovationenterprise.com/articles/w
and policy makers on how blockchain and digital assets      hy-blockchain-hype-must-end
are changing the face of business and government
today. New ecosystems are developing blockchain-            https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbestechcouncil/2019/0
based infrastructure and solutions to create innovative     8/23/blockchain-still-shows-great-promise-after-the-
business models and disrupt traditional ones. This is       hype/#7cde540f4ecb
occurring in every industry and in most jurisdictions
globally. Our deep business acumen and global,              https://hbr.org/2019/10/the-5-kinds-of-blockchain-
industry-leading audit and assurance, consulting, tax,      projects-and-which-to-watch-out-for
and risk and advisory services help organizations across
industries achieve their varying blockchain aspirations.    https://www.mckinsey.com/business-
Reach out to our leaders to discuss the evolving            functions/mckinsey-digital/our-insights/blockchain-
momentum of blockchain and digital assets, begin            beyond-the-hype-what-is-the-strategic-business-value
prioritizing initiatives, and understand how to manage
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                                                            https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2020/01/blockchain-
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                                                            https://www2.deloitte.com/content/dam/Deloitte/lu/Doc
                                                            uments/financial-services/lu-tokenization-of-assets-
                                                            disrupting-financial-industry.pdf

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To find out more, contact:

                  David Dalton
                  Partner | Head of EMEA Blockchain Lab
                  Deloitte Ireland
                  ddalton@deloitte.ie

                  Antonio Senatore
                  Director | Global Blockchain CTO & EMEA Blockchain Lab Lead
                  Deloitte Ireland
                  asenatore@deloitte.ie

                   Amy Pugh
                   Manager | EMEA Blockchain Lab
                   Deloitte Ireland
                   apugh@deloitte.ie

                   Hannah Lynch
                   Analyst | EMEA Blockchain Lab
                   Deloitte Ireland
                   hlynch@deloitte.ie

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