Winter Has Come To The U.K. Crypto Industry

[Ozark]

Over 340 crypto- and blockchain-related UK companies were closed in 2018.

The world's crypto community will definitely not miss the outgoing year given Bitcoin’s dramatic plunge.

Now, when the crypto markets are counting their losses, the U.K. media outlet Sky News has reported that in 2018, over 340 British companies involved with cryptos or blockchain had to shut down.

Sky News analyzed the data compiled by OpenCorporates, the official government registrar of all UK companies, and Companies House, the online open database of corporate entities. The findings revealed that as of the end of November 2018, 342 companies related to crypto or blockchain had been dissolved or liquidated in the United Kingdom. This is a 144% increase over 2017.

Moreover, "60% of the 340 companies dissolved in 2018 ceased operations between June and November," which corresponds to the Bitcoin's downward price action, according to Sky.

The outlet also adds that 2018 was the first time that the number of newly-registered crypto businesses was growing more slowly than the number of dissolved companies.

Meanwhile, another interesting finding was the fact that companies still staying in business prefer to change their names in order to remove any references to Bitcoin, blockchain, or cryptocurrencies. Sky News detected over 50 such cases.

The results of the Sky analysis also show that the bear crypto market of 2018 took its toll primarily on the newcomers that just wanted to jump on the bandwagon and make easy money. In fact, as the data shows, more than 200 of the 340 closed companies "were incorporated with Companies House during 2017," that is, at the height of crypto mania.

However, some crypto enthusiasts believe that such mass shutdowns might help to clean out the industry keeping out free riders, opportunists, scammers and inexperienced investors. Anyway, along with the increase in the number of closed businesses, the year of 2018 also recorded a steady upward trend reflecting the growing number of newly-registered blockchain and crypto companies in the UK. As of November, 817 companies had registered despite the downturn.

SOURCE