Zhang Yu

JeniZhang13@163.com

LOGISTICS, government and medical industries stand to benefit most from adopting blockchain technology, said a report jointly released by accounting firm PwC and blockchain platform VeChain.

The report is based on a market survey for non-financial application of blockchain in China. The respondents are mainly PwC’s and VeChain’s clients from nearly 20 industries, and the research team received more than 130 questionnaires.

According to the report, a total of 85.7 percent of respondents state that blockchain is featured by tamper-resistance. More than half of respondents believe that blockchain will have a significant impact on the business community.

Also of note, respondents’ understanding of blockchain appears to have a substantial impact on attitudes towards the technology.

Altogether, 84.2 percent who are working in the industry hold an optimistic attitude, while 48.4 percent of respondents who have a basic understanding share the same sentiment.

In terms of industry, logistics is viewed as the industry most intrinsically predisposed to utilizing blockchain outside of finance. Government and medical industries follow as the second and third-most suitable arenas for putting the technology to use.

Security traceability outshines other fields in terms of blockchain application, followed by distributed data storage and identity authentication.

Although concerns from various industries differ, standard policy is recognized by respondents from all fields as the most pressing challenge standing in the way of continued development of the technology.

“A great many more enterprises will begin using blockchain when the technology is supported by comprehensive policy,” said Cheung Chun-yin, partner of PwC’s risk assurance division.

China is home to the world’s second-largest number of blockchain-based enterprises after the United States, according to the China Blockchain Technology and Application Development White Paper published in April last year.