Blockchain is an early-stage emerging technology, and its impact on the Canadian economy and labour market is just beginning to take shape. Building Canadian Consensus undertakes an examination of the Canadian blockchain ecosystem today, documenting its current status and trends for its future. Through in-depth discussions with industry consultants and a wide array of data collection, the Information and Communications Technology Council (ICTC) presents an overview of blockchain technology, the industries it is present in, its applications, and differences across Canada before turning to the labour market and opportunities for studying and working in blockchain. Finally, the report turns to trends over time, examining intellectual property and other data that provides a hint at blockchain’s future in Canada and around the world. Overall, Building Canadian Consensus concludes that the Canadian blockchain ecosystem has survived the period commonly known as “crypto-winter,” following the dramatical fall in the price of Bitcoin, and now shows signs of maturing through a wide variety of indicators.
Unlike some technologies, an introduction to blockchain as a technology is key to understanding its potential uses and labour market implications. In this paper’s first section, ICTC’s blockchain backgrounder covers blockchain’s history, public and private blockchains, essential terminology, and ends with a commonly used checklist for assessing when blockchain is or is not the right technology for a particular use case.
Although blockchain has a vibrant history in Canada, industry consultants suggest that Canada may be at risk of losing some of this ground due to a conservative investment climate and regulatory uncertainty. In the second section of Building Canadian Consensus, ICTC examines the wide variety of blockchain activity in Canada, primarily through an examination of data on blockchain and cryptocurrency-related companies with Canadian employees. This study finds that the Canadian blockchain ecosystem is comprised of over 280 companies, employing over 1600 workers with blockchain developers, a broad category encompassing many job titles, as well as solutions architects, being the most in-demand blockchain jobs.
Blockchain companies in Canada are predominantly found in finance, fintech, and information and communications technology (ICT). Including cryptocurrency, these sectors represent 56% of all blockchain companies in Canada; however, other sectors, like consulting, along with several emerging sectors—such as the cultural industry and education—are on the rise.
Different regions of Canada also show some distinct patterns with regard to blockchain, particularly in terms of the proportion of blockchain technology versus cryptocurrency activity in each province, but overall data reveals that Toronto and Vancouver comprise the core of the blockchain economy in Canada, responsible for 60% of companies and 65% of total workers. Supporting the growth of this emerging economy, Canada offers a growing array of blockchain education programs, something that sheds light into the overall labour market demand that these programs are teaching to.
Finally, Building Canadian Consensus examines time series data showcasing a visible pattern in blockchain-related patents and higher proportions of intellectual property. Combined with the growing average age of start-ups over time, public interest in blockchain, and insights on shifting gender and role composition of the blockchain ecosystem, trends point towards an industry no longer characterized by initial coin offerings (ICOs), but moving slowly and surely towards real value propositions.
While Canada’s footprint on the global stage with regard to blockchain may still be relatively small at this point, the country’s ecosystem is cautiously finding its feet and beginning the journey from proof-of-concept to production-readiness. Industries such as financial services and fintech may reach this stage first, but a rapidly diversifying set of use cases, combined with increasing familiarity with blockchain on the part of developers, educators, and employers, will see a vibrant ecosystem in years to come.
