The number of blockchain-based startups in the Asia Pacific (APAC) region has increased. About a quarter of the actively growing companies in the area are related to non-fungible tokens (NFT) and decentralized finance (DeFi).
A report by Big Four accountant KPMG and international banking giant HSBC showed an increase in the number of new technology startups in the Asia Pacific region, a quarter of which are related to distributed ledger technology (DLT).
The study is based on data from 6,472 Asian Pacific startups that managed to raise venture funding of $500 million or less. NFT and DeFi startups topped the top 20 fastest-growing companies in the region. According to the data, 17.5% of these companies are associated with NFTs and 10% with the DeFi sector. Also, this list includes startups related to real estate in the metaverse (2.5%) and decentralized autonomous organizations (2%).
Despite the global leadership in numbers, new blockchain companies still failed to attract more venture capital to their startups than other large regional businesses. For example, only Hong Kong-based P2E platform Catheon Gaming could make the APAC’s top 10 “emerging giants,” ranking eighth.
The study by KPMG covered 12 countries in the region. Among the startups studied, 32.8% were located in Mainland China, with the top 10 companies collectively valued at $5 billion. India is not far behind (30.1%) — the country’s top 10 companies are valued at $4.6 billion. Japan (12.7%) and Australia (8.7%) are also in the top five.
KPMG analysts attribute China’s dominance to the active development of the central bank digital currency (CBDC) and the integration of e-CNY in the country’s financial sector. Recall that more than 4.5 million merchants already accept the digital yuan as a payment option. And India’s “national blockchain” initiatives or the launch of blockchain-based security and a covenant monitoring platform are pushing the country’s technology companies forward.
