The hype around the blockchain industry isn’t showing signs of settling anytime soon. But, when one looks beyond the hype, the reality seems quite different — at least in the Asia-Pacific region.

A recent survey conducted by Ernst and Young found that almost 70 percent of the companies in this region still do not trust the emerging technology.

The survey, reported on by the South China Morning Post, evaluated 576 individual respondents from various companies across the world, excluding China. 68 percent of the companies surveyed have not yet adopted blockchain due to a lack of understanding. In addition, 66 percent of them are curious to know the risks and rewards before implementing the technology.

The growth and adoption of blockchain in China are still quite noteworthy. The country stands third in terms of investments in the industry behind the U.S. and Western Europe. China is expected to spend close to $319 million investing in the technology this year, while the United States and Europe are anticipating a combined total of nearly $2 billion.

Blockchain Education is the Way Forward

A decade doesn’t seem like a long time for the world to grasp the complexity of these protocols. While it is true that it could solve a variety of problems across various industries all over the world, a vast majority are still unable to comprehend the benefits.

One of the major reasons for that confusion is that blockchain technology is still seen under the light of its first use case, Bitcoin (BTC). It’s very clear that the negativity that revolves around BTC and other cryptocurrencies is enough to make industry players, who are still new to the concept, skeptical of the technology.

Adam Gerrard, E&Y’s blockchain assurance leader, put it best:

“A large part of building trust is understanding what blockchain does, and more importantly, what it does not do, and then implementing mechanisms to provide that trust.”

Investments Up 88 Percent

Not all countries are as skeptical of blockchain technology as those in the Asia-Pacific region. Though lawmakers in the U.S. are cracking down on cryptocurrencies, the underlying technology is gaining ground every day.

China is on the same route as the U.S. The country is doing its best to innovate many types of industries with blockchain technology while still being highly cautious with cryptocurrencies.

Singapore, Australia, and Malta are also on the list of countries leveraging the technology to its fullest potential. Moreover, investments are consistently increasing across these countries. We expect this to spike the total worldwide investment total in blockchain technology in 2019 by a whopping 88.7 percent.

How long do you think it will take blockchain to turn mainstream? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below.