Politecnico di Milano: Adoption of the blockchain

by Arthur · January 20, 2023

The so-called crypto winter shows no signs of ending, yet Blockchain technology is gaining a foothold in Italy, thanks in part to the projects of the Politecnico di Milano.

The Bel Paese boasts 278 projects with a 13% boom this year and almost 14 million Italians who have already set foot in this world who have already bought cryptocurrencies or are about to do so.

Politecnico di Milano’s School of Management, which was founded 20 years ago, sheds new light on the state of Blockchain technology adoption in Italy and the crypto world in general in the country.

This year’s research by the Blockchain and Distributed Ledger Observatory of the Politecnico di Milano was carried out in collaboration with several companies from the Italian banking world and beyond.

Decentralized Web3 seems to be finding its way by doubling the number of projects since a year ago (111 vs. 2033 worldwide).

The Italian market is growing and reaching €42 million in investments (+50% since last year).

Despite the various debacles in the crypto world in 2022, which undermined investor confidence, IoV (Internet of Value) apps are growing, but so are stablecoins and CBDCs (100 projects or 28% of growth), as well as many NFT initiatives.

Of the investments of 42 million euros, 33% also involve the finance and insurance sector, 23% fashion, 10% the automotive industry and 7% public administration.

The research, presented during the “Blockchain & Web3: time to build” conference, was followed by a speech by the Director of the Blockchain and Distributed Ledger Observatory, Valeria Portale, who commented:

“2022 has been a year of extremes for the Blockchain world. Along with the dramatic bursting of some bubbles and a prolonged write-off of all crypto-assets, the so-called cryptointer, the consolidation of the development work begun many years ago was completed, demonstrating an unprecedented technical vitality and technical pragmatism. Today, companies are using the moment to focus on experimenting with Web3 projects, far from the media hype and more speculative mechanics. The Blockchain world is entering a new phase: the hype is over, the time to build has begun.

Francesco Bruschi from the same observatory adds:

“2022 was characterized by a remarkable development of Blockchain platforms with a focus on increasing scalability and reducing energy consumption. Ethereum has changed, which reduces the consumption in the validation process. BNB Chain, the most important Blockchain by the number of DApps and active users, has created a real operating standard based on low-fee solutions, but less decentralized, and by promoting the development of DApps often copied from other platforms, heavily funded developers. Among the most interesting applications, we note the introduction of “classic” platforms such as Instagram of tokens in their worlds and crypto-assets have become an alternative to the main instruments of financial support to Ukraine, making it possible to collect tens of millions of dollars from small donors around the world.”

Table of Contents

Internet of value

Among the most interesting aspects are certainly Internet of Value (IoV) applications, i.e. the latest solutions in value exchange (crypto, stablecoins and CBDCs).

New digital sovereign currencies are being considered by governments and central banks around the world, and Europe and Italy are no exception.

Globally, 59 central banks out of 100 are studying a CBDC project for the country, the digital euro, for example, has been under study for more than two years and will act as a driver for future regulation of the industry.

Politecnico di Milano: Blockchain for business

In this area, banks, insurance companies and investment funds are trying to recreate classic financial business processes by implementing Blockchain technology.

Companies are designing financial products by enhancing them with the security and processes that blockchain can provide.

Decentralized web

The NFT boom has also arrived in Italy, and the Politecnico di Milano confirms that it is increasingly common that these tokens are used to implement access to special services or the use of Metaverse.

In fashion and luxury, this trend is very felt and there are many phygital or digital projects that envision new successful strategies around the NFT (Non Fungible Token) world.

DApps, DAOs and distributed governance systems on Blockchain are more and more studied by Italian companies, but hardly catch on except in projects already born with this idea of participatory governance.

Politecnico di Milano: crypto and blockchain in Italy

Cryptocurrencies are becoming increasingly popular in the country with 14 million Italians already owning them and saying they want to expand to this world in the future.

The most used tools are as assumed exchange despite the recent time failure of FTX.

Italians choose trading platforms in 40% of cases, but also come into possession of crypto through ATMs in 19% of cases and through wallets for 18%.

However, half of Italians still believe that it is safer to get a foot in the crypto world through home banking services provided by traditional banks despite the fact that they often rely on existing exchanges or base their digital currency trading platforms on platforms designed in collaboration with the industry. exchange.

According to Politecnico di Milano reports, custodial wallets are still widespread in the country, the most widely used of which are Coinbase, Crypto.com and Binance.

NFTs are held by 9% of Italians according to the research, while 14% say they want to buy some in the near future, especially if they are linked to digital artwork, whether avatars or figure-style collectibles.