IDC has published its semi-annual blockchain spending guide. It’s forecasting spending on blockchain solutions to reach $15.9 billion by 2023. For this year it expects spending to be $2.7 billion, up from $1.5 billion in 2018. However, the 2019 forecast is slightly down on six months ago when it put the figure at $2.9 billion.
“Behind the sometimes heated public discussions and debates over blockchain, enterprise adoption of the technology has quietly reached a tipping point across multiple use cases,” said James Wester, IDC’s research director, Worldwide Blockchain Strategies. He highlighted adoption in finance, identity and trade.
Over the period from 2018 to 2023, the banking sector is expected to account for 30% of the spend. IDC identified international payments and trade finance/post-trade payments as the two most significant use cases for banking.
Manufacturing ranks second in spending and is expected to account for 20%. In particular, process manufacturing is expected to have the fastest growth of all sectors. Other fast-growing industries are predicted as discrete manufacturing, professional services, retail and utilities. In some cases, those will be led by spending on provenance applications and asset management.
Of the blockchain budget, IT services and business services will take a 70% slice. But blockchain platform software is expected to grow quickly.
The top three markets for 2019 are predicted to be the United States ($1.1 billion), Western Europe ($661 million) and China ($304 million).
“It’s not a matter of whether blockchain is here to stay but rather the scope of blockchain’s adoption,” said research manager Stacey Soohoo. “Sharing data between institutions, simplifying outdated processes, and bringing transparency to business processes while also encouraging collaboration and partnerships – these are the tangible benefits that blockchain brings to the table.”
Other recent IDC blockchain forecasts and surveys include:
- IDC: 44% of European health providers never heard of blockchain (June 2019)
- Thales, IDC research reveals extensive US government blockchain adoption (May 2019)
- IDC: Trade finance took biggest slice of 2018 APAC blockchain spending (April 2019)
- IDC forecasts rapid enterprise blockchain spending growth (March 2019)
- IDC predicts huge blockchain impact on digital transformation by 2021 (Nov 2018)
- IDC blockchain spending predictions overshadowed by startups (July 2018)
Other recent blockchain surveys:
Accenture: blockchain for aerospace
Boston Consulting Group: blockchain for transport and logistics
Cap Gemini blockchain survey
Deloitte 2019 blockchain survey
Deloitte 2018 blockchain survey
EY blockchain (finance and tech professionals) survey
EY fintech adoption survey
EY APAC blockchain survey
IDC semi-annual enterprise blockchain forecast
IHS Markit survey
KPMG technology industry innovation survey
PwC blockchain survey
PwC China blockchain survey
World Energy Council / PwC blockchain survey
SAP blockchain survey
TD Bank payments industry survey
BNY Mellon payments survey
Friss insurance survey
Juniper enterprise blockchain survey
BIS Central Bank Digital Currency survey
IBM / OMFIF Central Bank Digital Currency survey
ING general population cryptocurrency attitudes
