FRAMINGHAM, Mass.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–lt;a href=”https://twitter.com/hashtag/DLT?src=hash” target=”_blank”gt;#DLTlt;/agt;–Worldwide spending on blockchain solutions is forecast to be nearly $2.9
billion in 2019, an increase of 88.7% from the $1.5 billion spent in
2018, according to a newly updated Worldwide
Semiannual Blockchain Spending Guide from International Data
Corporation (IDC).
IDC expects blockchain spending to grow at a robust pace over the
2018-2022 forecast period with a five-year compound annual growth rate
(CAGR) of 76.0% and total spending of $12.4 billion in 2022.

“Blockchain is maturing rapidly, and we have reached an inflection point
where implementations are moving quickly beyond the pilot and proof of
concept phase. That is why data on the actual spend on the technology is
so vital: it provides the context in which blockchain is evolving.
Understanding how and where enterprises are investing their money gives
vendors a better sense of where they need to deliver products and
services as well as offering technology buyers insight into how their
peers are adopting blockchain. It also provides a snapshot of where we
can expect to see this new technology disrupt the way enterprise
software is delivered,” said James
Wester, research director, Worldwide
Blockchain Strategies.

Global blockchain spending will be led by the financial sector, where
the banking, securities and investment services, and insurance
industries will invest more than $1.1 billion (combined in blockchain
solutions this year. The manufacturing and resources sector, driven by
the discrete and process manufacturing industries, and the distribution
and services sector, led by the retail and professional services
industries, are forecast to see blockchain spending of $653 million and
$642 million respectively this year. The manufacturing and resources
sector will see the fastest growth in blockchain spending over the
2018-2022 forecast with a five-year CAGR of 77.6%, followed closely by
the distribution and services sector with a CAGR of 77.1%.

Cross border payments & settlements and trade finance &
post-trade/transaction settlements are the two blockchain use cases that
will receive the most investment ($453 million and $285 million,
respectively) in 2019. The banking industry will be the largest investor
in both use cases. Manufacturing will focus much of its blockchain
investment in lot lineage/provenance use cases and asset/good management
use cases while identity management use cases will receive significant
investments from the banking, government, and healthcare provider
industries.

“The use cases that comprise the blockchain opportunity are developing
as swiftly as the technologies enabling it. While spending for more
developed use cases in the financial sector like trade finance and
cross-border payments is still healthy and growing strong, relative to
six months ago we’ve seen an acceleration in spending across a variety
of other areas, such as energy settlements and warranty claims. We are
continuing to monitor and measure these developments on a regular basis
and are inspired by the various forms of innovation blockchain
delivers,” said Jessica
Goepfert, program vice president, Customer
Insights & Analysis.

From a technology perspective, IT services and business services
(combined) will account for nearly 70% of all blockchain spending in
2019 with IT services receiving additional new investment over the
forecast period. Blockchain platform software will be the largest
segment of spending outside of the services category and the second
fastest growing category overall with a five-year CAGR of 81.2%,
following IT services with a CAGR of 82.8%.

The United States will be the geographic region that will see the
largest blockchain spending in 2019 ($1.1 billion), followed by Western
Europe ($674 million) and China ($319 million). All nine regions covered
in the spending guide will see phenomenal spending growth over the
2018-2022 forecast period led by Japan and Canada with five-year CAGRs
of 110% and 90%, respectively.

“The blockchain space has seen considerable hype, but blockchain has
proven to remove a layer of uncertainty from a multifaceted ecosystem
built on trust. In many use cases, incorporating blockchain into the mix
has been better than the status quo. With enterprises trying to find a
balance between decentralizing their business processes while bringing
common standards to the blockchain space, the future state of the
blockchain world relies on collaboration and building bridges between
organizations and communities. With a number of breakthroughs in 2018,
ranging from mainstream acceptance by large enterprises to regulators
recognizing their governance role in the blockchain world, blockchain
has come a long way since 2017, the year of blockchain experimentation
and awareness. 2019 will be a year of mainstream adoption, but will rely
heavily on reshaping the ideology of a blockchain revolution,” said Stacey
Soohoo, research manager, Customer
Insights & Analysis.

The Worldwide
Semiannual Blockchain Spending Guide quantifies the emerging
blockchain market by providing spending data for ten technologies across
19 industries and 15 use cases in nine geographic regions. IDC defines
blockchain as a digital, distributed ledger of transactions or records.
The ledger, which stores the information or data, exists across multiple
participants in a peer-to-peer network. There is no single, central
repository that stores the ledger. Distributed ledgers technology (DLT)
allows new transactions to be added to an existing chain of transactions
using a secure, digital or cryptographic signature. Spending associated
with various cryptocurrencies that utilize blockchain and distributed
ledgers technology, such as Bitcoin, is not included in the spending
guide. Unlike any other research in the industry, the comprehensive
spending guide was designed to help IT decision makers to clearly
understand the industry-specific scope and direction of blockchain
spending today and over the next five years.

About IDC Spending Guides
IDC’s Spending Guides provide a
granular view of key technology markets from a regional, vertical
industry, use case, buyer, and technology perspective. The spending
guides are delivered via pivot table format or custom query tool,
allowing the user to easily extract meaningful information about each
market by viewing data trends and relationships.

For more information about IDC’s Spending Guides, please contact Monika
Kumar at [email protected].

About IDC
International Data Corporation (IDC) is the
premier global provider of market intelligence, advisory services, and
events for the information technology, telecommunications, and consumer
technology markets. With more than 1,100 analysts worldwide, IDC offers
global, regional, and local expertise on technology and industry
opportunities and trends in over 110 countries. IDC’s analysis and
insight helps IT professionals, business executives, and the investment
community to make fact-based technology decisions and to achieve their
key business objectives. Founded in 1964, IDC is a wholly-owned
subsidiary of International Data Group (IDG),
the world’s leading media, data and marketing services company that
activates and engages the most influential technology buyers. To learn
more about IDC, please visit www.idc.com.
Follow IDC on Twitter at @IDC
and LinkedIn.

Contacts

Jessica Goepfert
[email protected]
508-988-6944

Stacey Soohoo
[email protected]
508-935-4050

Michael Shirer
[email protected]
508-935-4200