Coinbase research found that Fortune 500 companies invest increasingly more in virtual assets, including cryptocurrencies and NFTs.
Fortune 500 companies love to invest in crypto, a Coinbase analysis finds. Tech companies and large banks are increasing their virtual assets despite the overall lack of regulation in the United States.
According to the document, Fortune 500 companies have invested over $8 billion in 80 different crypto blockchains since 2017. Two-thirds of the Fortune 500 executives surveyed believed investing in virtual assets is crucial to stay above the competition.
Unsurprisingly, four of the world’s biggest tech companies are also some of crypto’s biggest investors. IBM, Alphabet, Microsoft, and Amazon all figure in the top 10 Fortune 500 brands in the amount of web3 initiatives.
However, the list also includes less predictable names like Nike and Coca-Cola. It also includes four of the world’s biggest banks: Citigroup, JP Morgan Chase, Goldman Sachs, and Bank of America.
In particular, Citibank, Google, Microsoft, and Goldman Sachs collectively spent more on cryptocurrencies than all other Fortune 500 brands combined.
Nike also appeared to own 14 Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs), more than any other company in the list.
According to the Coinbase document, lack of regulation is what’s keeping crypto investments by brands from growing. "A lack of clear rules for crypto, blockchain, and web3 tech is not only a top barrier to investment and adoption, but a perceived challenge to US leadership of the global financial system," the document reads.
Crackdown on crypto
The Coinbase document was released amid a nationwide crypto exchange crackdown.
Binance and Coinbase, the author of the document, are both under investigation by the US government. The Securities and Exchange Commission believes these crypto exchanges are acting as unregulated brokers.
Binance is the world’s largest crypto exchange, operating mainly outside of the United States, while Coinbase is America’s most popular trading platform for cryptocurrencies. Binance is also under federal investigation in Brazil.
It is therefore clear that Coinbase’s analysis wants to show the importance of crypto in the modern corporate world.
The SEC and the US federal government are increasingly skeptical about cryptocurrencies, especially after last year’s collapse and bankruptcy of FTX. At the time, FTX was the world’s second-largest crypto exchange.
But in other parts of the world, namely Hong Kong and the United Arab Emirates, new legislation is being drafted that welcomes crypto exchanges and traders.
American crypto investors fear that exchanges and traders alike will flee the United States in search of safer havens. The crypto market is worth $1 trillion, and there is still time to prevent a panic-flee outside of the US.
