USA: the Fortune 500 companies are adopting blockchain

Coinbase has recently published its report “The State of Crypto” for the second quarter of 2024, dedicated in particular to businesses that fall within the Fortune 500 list and to the blockchain.

The report, which is not by chance titled “The Fortune 500 Moving Onchain”, concludes that the Fortune 500 companies in the USA are adopting blockchain technology, even if the country is lagging behind, for example, in regulation.

Fortune 500 companies and the growing use of blockchain

Fortune 500 is the list of the 500 largest U.S. companies by revenue compiled and published every year by the famous magazine Fortune.

It should be emphasized that the ranking is compiled by revenue, and not by market capitalization, so in the first place there is Walmart, followed by Amazon, then by ExxonMobil with Apple only in fourth place.

At the end of 2023, when this ranking was compiled, the largest company in the world by market capitalization was Apple, because even though it was only fourth in revenue, it still ranked first in profits.

For example, Microsoft, which to date is first in market capitalization, at the end of 2023 in the USA was only thirteenth in revenue.

If in the first place there is Walmart, with almost 650 billion dollars in revenue in a single year, in the five hundredth place there is O-I Glass with 7 billion. Therefore, the revenue gap between the first and the last company of the Fortune 500 is almost one hundred times as much. 

This is why sometimes a distinction is made between the list of the top 500 and that of the top 100, as the latter list ends with a company, Best Buy, which has a revenue of 85 billion dollars, or more than ten times the five hundredth. 

The blockchain report by Coinbase on Fortune 500 enterprises

The report “The Fortune 500 Moving Onchain”, conducted for Coinbase by The Block, reveals that 56% of Fortune 500 companies claim to have ongoing blockchain-based projects.

It is about more than half of the companies, which in turn means that the majority of the 500 largest US companies by revenue are currently already working on blockchain projects, in any phase ranging from ideation to development. 

However, this percentage drops to 39% if the increase in blockchain projects of Fortune 100 companies in 2023 compared to 2022 is taken into consideration. 

Furthermore, 53% of small businesses that have some knowledge of criptovalute, 53% would be looking for crypto-friendly candidates for financial, legal, or technological roles. 

Although it is difficult to draw definitive conclusions from this data, the picture that emerges is one of a generalized interest of companies towards the crypto and blockchain sector, even if perhaps the greatest interest is found among smaller companies. 

Despite this, Coinbase states that the main American public companies are still more committed than ever in the onchain field. 

Furthermore, it points out that the increase in interest observed also raises the urgency for clear rules for cryptocurrencies in the USA, to help keep developers and other talents within the national territory. 

The political intent

It should not be forgotten that Coinbase, which is the main US crypto company listed on the stock exchange, has long been engaging in political lobbying pro-crypto with its initiative Stand with Crypto. 

This report “The State of Crypto” seems precisely aimed at supporting this campaign, as it highlights how there are many important companies in the USA that are trying to innovate in the blockchain field, and that are being hindered or even obstructed by the absence of clear and specific regulation. 

In the EU, for example, this year a clear and specific crypto regulation (the so-called MiCA) was introduced, and in 2025 this could become a competitive advantage compared to the USA. 

The objective of Coinbase is obviously to discourage the United States from falling behind, something that is made evident within the same report by stating that clear and specific regulation could help the USA maintain leadership in the crypto sector globally. 

The future prospects

The report, however, also states that in reality the biggest obstacle to the adoption of blockchain for US companies is the shortage of talent, rather than the lack of regulation. 

This necessarily implies that the USA as a whole should return to favoring innovation from the school paths, and in particular the university ones. 

The only way to promote from above the spread of a professional interest in the crypto and blockchain sector is to encourage the multiplication of specialized degree courses in crypto technologies and innovative financial services, and this dynamic can only come from political choices. 

The companies are certainly already doing their part, but now it would be necessary for politics to do its part as well. 

At this point, the political intent behind Coinbase’s initiatives is even more evident, which not only aims to favor, as is obvious, its own business, but ultimately also the evolution of the US industrial fabric. 

What Google has done in the last 25 years, Coinbase might try to do in the next 25.