Organizations will enhance their spending on blockchain solutions by more than 50 percent to nearly $6.6 billion this year, according to IDC.
Blockchain spending will continue to see strong growth throughout the 2020-2024 forecast period with a five-year compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 48.0 percent.
The leading use case for blockchain in 2021 and throughout the forecast is Cross-Border Payments & Settlements, which uses distributed ledger technology to track, trace, and manage payments and settlements.
The second largest blockchain use case is Lot Lineage/Provenance, which is used to verify the origin and authenticity of a product as it moves throughout the value chain.
Other leading use cases include Trade Finance & Post Trade/Transaction Settlements, Asset/Goods Management, and Identity Management.
Banking leads the way in blockchain spending, accounting for nearly 30 percent of the worldwide total in 2021. Banking will remain the top industry for blockchain spending though its share of spending will diminish slightly by 2024. The use cases for blockchain within the banking industry are Cross-Border Payments & Settlements and Trade Finance & Post Trade/Transaction Settlements.
The next largest industries for blockchain spending are process manufacturing and discrete manufacturing, which together account for more than 20 percent of all spending worldwide. The leading use case in both industries is Lot Lineage/Provenance.
Following the manufacturing industries are professional services, retail, and insurance, which rely on blockchain to trace the movement of payments and products.
The industries that will see the fastest growth in blockchain spending over the forecast period are professional services (56.0 percent CAGR), state/local government (53.3 percent CAGR), and healthcare (52.7 percent CAGR).
Spending on blockchain solutions in the United States will be nearly $2.6 billion this year, making it the largest geographic market, followed by Western Europe ($1.6 billion) and China ($777 million).
All nine regions covered in the Spending Guide will see exceptional spending growth over the forecast period led by China with five-year CAGR of 54.6 percent and Central and Eastern Europe (50.0 percent CAGR).
