Worldwide spending on blockchain solutions will double in 2018, hitting $2.1bn, and will stretch to $9.2bn by 2021. That’s the conclusion of a new study by the International Data Corportation, which puts the annual growth rate between 2016 – 2021 at 81.2 percent. The general public has begun to perceive the technology as the backbone of cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin, but the distributed ledger system is now being considered for an enormous range of applications. This includes uses as diverse as supply chain optimization, regulated financial services and health care.
There could even be air safety and security applications, according to the World Economic Forum. It’s teaming up with Canada and the Netherlands on a pilot project in which biometric data would be allow travelers to share their biometric data without it being stored in a single location. John Moavenzadeh, a member of the WEF’s Executive Committee, says that blockchain processes could be employed to verify traveler identities while “providing secure and seamless movement throughout their journey using biometric recognition technology.”
With such a wide range of applications now being considered, investment levels in research and implementation is expected to expand rapidly, with the US likely to be responsible for 40 percent of spending on blockchain solutions, followed by Western Europe. “Interest and investment in blockchain and distributed ledger technology (DLT) is accelerating as enterprises aggregate data into secure, sequential, and immutable blockchain ledgers, transforming their businesses and operations,” said Bill Fearnley , Jr., research director, Worldwide Blockchain Strategies. “Many technology vendors and service providers are collaborating…to develop innovative solutions that improve processes such as post-trade processing, tracking and tracing shipments in the supply chain, and transaction records for auditing and compliance.”
