Code repository GitHub saw over 26,000 blockchain-related projects created on its platform last year; yet only a small percentage remain active.
According to data collected by Deloitte, it detailed in its new report ‘Evolution of Blockchain Technology: Insights from the GitHub Platform,’ that there were 26,885 blockchain-related projects in 2016 developed on GitHub. Surprisingly, despite the interest that the technology is garnering, only eight percent of projects are actively maintained. Deloitte found that projects have an average lifespan of 1.22 years.
Deloitte researchers said:
The stark reality of open-source projects is that most are abandoned or do not achieve meaningful scale. Unfortunately, blockchain is not immune to this reality.
The report adds that about 90 percent of projects developed on GitHub become idle, with the highest mortality rate occurring within the first six months of a project beginning.
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The researchers give an insight into the geographical areas where the distributed ledger is being developed so far. It noted that San Francisco is home to the most projects being developed on the blockchain, with 1,279 users and 101 organisations. London comes in at second place with 858 users and 61 organisations. New York is third with 725 users and 49 organisations.
The report goes on to say:
We found that projects coming from San Francisco are diverse; they include solutions for exchanges, wallets for cryptocurrencies, interfaces for different blockchains (for example, Ripple, Hyperledger, and Ethereum), and payment tools for cryptocurrencies, to name a few.
Adding that:
It is also worth noting the high level of activity in China, specifically, Shanghai and Beijing. In both of these cities, most of the projects pertain to cryptocurrencies and cryptocurrency exchanges, with an emphasis on scalability.
The blockchain has been creating a huge buzz within the financial world of late, as banks work at improving their services. For many they are already experimenting with the technology to produce faster settlement times between customers and organisations.
In July, two of Australia’s four ‘big banks‘ successfully completed a blockchain trial in digitising the bank guarantee process for commercial property leasing with technology giant IBM. Whereas, James Disney, Credit Suisse’s global head of software investment banking, has said the ‘sky’s the limit‘ for the distributed ledger. To close and settle private equity transactions it takes 20 to 30 days, but with the blockchain this can be reduced to minutes, he said last month.