# January 2026
Construction Blockchain Newsletter
Welcome to the CBC Newsletter and the first edition of 2026, opening the year with a clear signal that blockchain is settling into its role as critical digital infrastructure rather than speculative novelty. This issue highlights an emerging convergence between traditional finance and blockchain platforms, as regulated institutions quietly adopt distributed ledger technologies while blockchains adapt to compliance, governance, and enterprise demands.
In Europe, the regulatory environment tightens as UK crypto users are now required to disclose account details to HMRC, marking a decisive shift towards tax enforcement and institutional oversight. Asia showcases industrial-scale innovation, with Fujitsu launching a blockchain-based pilot to trace green steel value flows across complex supply chains, aligning sustainability goals with verifiable data. North America reflects political uncertainty, as tensions between the White House and Coinbase threaten momentum behind crypto market legislation. Africa offers a more constructive trajectory, with Ghana legalising crypto through its VASP bill and signalling ambitions for a transparent and innovation-friendly digital asset ecosystem.
Research features underline blockchain’s growing maturity in construction, spanning governance, ESG reporting, and adaptive smart-contract automation. Upcoming highlights include the Digital Assets Forum in London and Consensus 2026 in Hong Kong.
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Construction Blockchain
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World & Blockchain
Worldwide
The new foundation of global finance: a dialogue between banks and blockchains
A convergence in the financial system is taking shape. It’s quieter than the hype cycles and far more durable: banks are adopting blockchain infrastructure, and blockchains are evolving to the needs of regulated institutions and global enterprises. The result isn’t a replacement for the old system or a wild leap into a new one – it’s a convergence.
Europe
Crypto users forced to share account details with tax officials
People buying cryptocurrency in the UK now need to share their account details or face penalties, in changes that came into effect on 1 January. The move by the UK's tax body is designed to ensure they pay all relevant tax on buying and selling crypto, including capital gains tax. HMRC will begin automatically collecting information on all users of cryptocurrency exchanges - which are effectively the industry's banks - in a bid to start collecting tens of millions in unpaid tax.
Asia
Fujitsu announced that it has commanced a demonstration experiment into the value flow of green steel [1] in the steel industry starting in December 2025. This project was previously selected by Japan's Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI) as part of its FY2025 Industrial Research Project under the theme Survey Project on the Transmission of Green Steel Information Linked to Steel Materials Across Supply Chains in November 2025.
North America
White House threatens to pull support for crypto bill after Coinbase standoff
The White House is considering withdrawing its support for crypto market structure bill following a similar move from crypto exchange Coinbase, according to Fox Business reporter Eleanor Terrett, citing a source close to the Trump administration. In a Sunday post on X, Terrett reported that the White House is furious over Coinbase’s decision to pull its backing for the Digital Asset Market Clarity Act, describing the move as a “unilateral” action that blindsided administration officials.
Africa
Ghana Legalizes Crypto While Ghanaian Village Shows Bitcoin’s Potential
Ghana’s parliament made headlines at the end of last year as it passed the Virtual Asset Service Providers (VASP) bill, which establishes a legal framework for regulating bitcoin and crypto assets as well as crypto service providers. According to a press release from the Bank of Ghana, the Bank in conjunction with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) will issue regulatory instruments and directives in the coming months as part of their mission to “create a safe, transparent, and innovative virtual asset ecosystem.”
Research & Development Digest
This monthly Research Digest features some notable papers produced or suggested by our academic and industry Members and Partners that we hope will be of interest.
Blockchain & Integrate Project Delivery (IPD)
Integrated project delivery with blockchain: An automated financial system
Elghaish F; Abrishami S; Hosseini M R, 2020.
This paper proposes a blockchain-enabled financial platform to address a persistent barrier to Integrated Project Delivery (IPD): transparent, tamper-resistant administration of reimbursable costs, profit, and shared savings, where profit is typically deferred until project completion. The authors develop a framework that encodes the three core IPD financial transactions as smart-contract functions, aiming to reduce ambiguity, prevent unauthorised changes, and give all parties a common, auditable view of entitlements. A proof of concept is implemented and validated using an IPD case project on a Hyperledger Fabric environment (IBM Blockchain Cloud), and the study reports on practicality, usability, and the completeness of required blockchain components. The contribution is positioned as moving beyond conceptual discussion towards empirical feasibility, while recognising that deeper BIM data integration and fully operational prototypes remain future work.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.autcon.2020.103182
Construction Payment Automation Through Scan-to-BIM and Blockchain-Enabled Smart Contract
Elsharkawi H; Elbeltagi E; Eid M S; Alattyih W; Wefki H, 2025
This study develops and tests a payment automation workflow that links verifiable site progress to automatic payment execution. It integrates scan-to-BIM (reality capture to produce near-real-time as-built information) with blockchain-enabled smart contracts, using a “chain-link” mechanism to securely relay off-chain progress data on-chain. The goal is to reduce payment delays and disputes that arise from manual measurement, documentation, and approval cycles. The approach is implemented on a real case study using periodic site scans captured with a 360° photogrammetry/3D scanning camera, converted into BIM outputs (e.g., Revit), and then translated into quantities and completion states that trigger contract conditions in an Ethereum-based smart contract. The authors argue that tying payments to independently verifiable progress provides a more transparent basis for valuation, improves trust, and accelerates release of funds, while also enabling granular progress tracking.
https://doi.org/10.3390/buildings15020213
Idrissi Gartoumi K, 2024
This review maps how blockchain technology (BCT) research has developed in construction management from 2017 to 2023, treating the field as relatively young but fast-expanding. Using a mixed-methods approach, it analyses 237 documents through scientometric techniques (to characterise publication trends, influence, and diffusion) and thematic analysis (to classify application themes and track their evolution). The results organise construction-related blockchain applications into eight thematic categories, and the paper highlights recurring implementation challenges alongside “critical success factors” and related enabling technologies. A key emphasis is that many proposed applications focus on automation and dispute-related problems (including the handling of claims and trust deficits), yet deployment barriers remain substantial. The review is mainly valuable as a structured research map: it consolidates what has been studied, where the concentration of effort sits, and which gaps—technical, organisational, and governance—still constrain practical adoption.
Events Agenda
Crypto Expo Europe 2026
1–2 March 2026 (Bucharest, Romania)
A large Eastern European crypto and blockchain expo-style conference aimed at practitioners, startups, investors, and service providers. The programme typically mixes market commentary, product showcases, and partner networking rather than deep technical workshops. The organisers position it as a regional hub event, with a substantial exhibition floor and a broad “Web3” scope (trading, exchanges, infrastructure, and applications). If your objective is business development in CEE, lead generation, or surveying vendors, it is plausibly useful; if you want rigorous research content, you should expect a lighter academic footprint and more commercial signalling than peer-reviewed substance
London Blockchain Finance Summit: Payments & Digital Currencies
12 March 2026 (London, UK)
A finance-led, one-day summit focused on the real deployment of digital money: stablecoins, CBDCs, tokenised cash, treasury and settlement, and the regulatory perimeter around these instruments. It is pitched at the intersection of banks, fintech/PSPs, enterprise users, and regulators, so the framing is more “market structure and compliance” than “ideology”. Expect sessions on how tokenised liabilities and stablecoins affect payment rails, liquidity management, and operational risk, with an emphasis on what is implementable under current rules rather than speculative roadmaps. For enterprise architects, it can be useful for understanding integration patterns and governance constraints.
Digital Asset Summit (Blockworks) — New York 2026
24–26 March 2026 (New York City, USA)
Blockworks’ flagship institutional event targets allocators, market infrastructure, and policy—think ETFs, custody, trading venues, stablecoins, and how legislation or agency positions shape investability. The event is explicitly framed around “public market activity” and institutional adoption rather than grassroots crypto culture. In practice, you should expect senior buy-side and sell-side voices, plus compliance and legal perspectives, alongside large industry sponsors. It is typically strong for mapping narratives (what institutions claim they are doing) and for networking, but you should be cautious about mistaking panel confidence for empirical evidence of adoption at scale.
Knowledge Upgrade
Oxford Fintech Programme (Saïd Business School)
Online: 4 February 2026 (online). A 7-week executive programme that includes digital assets/tokenisation within the broader fintech landscape (payments, market structure, strategy). It’s not a “hands-on Solidity” course, but it’s credible if you want institutional/strategic grounding.
