The German industry was considering itself only to be mediocre when it comes to blockchain technologies, according to a study published on Thursday by the German digital association Bitkom.
About 40 percent of the companies surveyed ranked Germany in the midfield in terms of blockchain technologies while about every second company saw the German industry among the laggards of blockchain.
In an international comparison, one in ten of the surveyed companies was even of the opinion that the German industry is already lagging far behind regarding blockchain technologies.
"We are currently in an experimental phase with blockchain," said Achim Berg, president of Bitkom. Currently, there would not be a wide range of solutions which were "really suitable for everyday use", explained Berg.
A blockchain is a database technology in which the consumer and supplier of a transaction are directly linked to each other. The data of these transactions can be managed with very high transparency and security as well as without a central control instance such as a bank.
Many so-called crypto currencies such as Bitcoin or Ethereum, the two largest crypto currencies by market capitalization, are based on such blockchain technologies.
Following the crash of Bitcoin at the end of 2017, total market capitalization of all crypto currencies plummeted by nearly 80 percent to a current total of around 170 billion U.S. dollars.
According to the Bitkom study, 2 percent of German companies with 50 or more employees are currently using blockchain technologies. While 4 percent are planning to use blockchain in the future, 2 percent are merely discussing the implementation of such technologies.
In Germany, blockchain technologies are currently used mainly by the automotive industry. 13 percent of the companies in this sector already utilize these technologies, followed by the energy sector with 9 percent as well as banks and insurance companies with 6 percent.
Some 87 percent of the companies, which already use, are planning to use or discuss blockchain technologies, regard blockchain as an opportunity to increase their company's efficiency.
"The blockchain technology offers enormous potential and can completely turn many previously common processes upside down," said Bitkom president Berg and added that companies should "absolutely" be at the forefront of research and development today.
The German government is seeking to introduce a governmental strategy for the "establishment of an appropriate regulatory framework for crypto assets at international and European level" until summer 2019.
Berg described the German government's strategy as an "important signal". Germany would have to strive for global leadership in the development of blockchain solutions, added Berg.