International Data Corp., Framingham, Massachusetts, forecasts worldwide spending on blockchain solutions to reach $2.1 billion in 2018, which would compare with $945 million spent in 2017. A forecast compound annual growth rate of 81% from 2016 to 2021 would push the total spending to $9.2 billion in 2021.

Bill Fearnley, research director for Worldwide Blockchain Strategies

“Many technology vendors and service providers are collaborating and working with consortiums such as Enterprise Ethereum Alliance and the Hyperledger Projects 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,” said Bill Fearnley, research director for Worldwide Blockchain Strategies, an advisory service of IDC. “Also, multiple regulators and central banks have made positive comments about blockchain and DLT (distributed ledger technology), and this will help to accelerate demand in regulated industries such as financial services and health care.”

The United States is forecast to deliver 40 percent of worldwide spending in blockchain through the five-year period. Following the United States will be Western Europe, China and Asia Pacific. Latin America is projected to have a CAGR of 153% in blockchain spending from 2016 to 2021, and Japan is projected to have a CAGR of 127 percent.

“2017 was the year of experimentation as enterprises realized both the benefits and challenges of blockchain,” said Stacey Soohoo, research manager, Custom Insights & Analysis, for IDC. “2018 will be a crucial stage for enterprises as they make a huge leap from proof-of-concept projects to full blockchain deployments.”