2.1. Market Status and Issues

Due to global policies calling for a shift to eco-friendly energy in the 21st century, interest in and investment in clean energy is increasing worldwide to solve various problems such as climate change and environmental pollution.

Among them, the global hydrogen energy market size is expected to grow at a compound annual growth rate of 7.1% from 2021 to 2030, and the market size is expected to increase to $26,940,000,000 billion.

Hydrogen has been attracting attention as an eco-friendly energy source since the beginning of the 21st century, and demand has particularly increased in recent years due to climate change and environmental concerns.

Currently, hydrogen accounts for approximately 4% of the world's energy use, but this is because hydrogen's production costs are gradually decreasing and its value as clean energy that can be used effectively is increasing.

Since water is used as the main raw material for hydrogen and only water is produced as the main by-product when generating electricity with fuel cells, the impact on the environment is minimized.

Due to these characteristics, hydrogen is expected to play a central role in building future clean energy systems, and much investment and research is underway.

In addition, many countries around the world are expanding their cooperation in hydrogen production, import and export, and international hydrogen trade is actively taking place in Asia and Europe. With long-term supply contracts and partnership-type transactions taking place, hydrogen trading is active.

However, in the current hydrogen trading market, related regulations and policies vary by country and region, demands for global standardization continue, and specific methods for linking clean energy and digital finance are limited.

First of all, as the hydrogen economy develops, we need a way to track and manage hydrogen production and consumption, and the lack of digital assets and links makes it difficult to make full use of the strengths and potential of each. Questions persist as to how it can be linked to the actual economy in such a situation.