As the blockchain hype cools, industry focus shifts to moving projects into production. This report gives an overview of the evolving enterprise blockchain market – including state of adoption, popular protocols, notable vendors and industry consortia, M&A activity, and business and technology challenges.
Executive Summary:
Blockchain was born 10 years ago as the underlying technology for creating and trading the Bitcoin virtual currency (also known as cryptocurrency). In our eyes, cryptocurrency is the technology’s first ‘killer app’ – perhaps what email is to the internet. Since the appearance of Bitcoin, the technology has evolved immensely and found increasing interest and excitement in the business world for a wide variety of use cases beyond payments.
The enterprise blockchain market has seen tremendous activity in 2018; however, production use of the technology is still in the single digits. This should not come as a surprise, given that mainstream use of blockchain technology will need more than just running successful proofs of concept or pilot projects – it requires a mindset shift in terms of how we do business and the understanding of how it fits within the broader digital transformation landscape.
The good news is that as the hype dies down, the important things come to the fore – e.g., the actual usability of the technology that both large IT firms and small blockchain technology startups are working on improving. Also, as more projects move into production and positive experiences – including real metrics and insights into value gained – are revealed and shared, the closer the industry will get to mainstream adoption.
In this report, we take a closer look at key developments occurring in the enterprise blockchain space.
This Technology & Business Insight report on the blockchain market is based on a combination of insights and data gathered through direct interviews with each of the vendors mentioned in the report (with a few exceptions) spanning a wide variety of vertical applications and our analysts' deep experience in the enterprise blockchain space. The full report includes:
- An analysis of the current state of blockchain adoption
- An examination of blockchain protocols and industry consortia
- A look into blockchain M&A activity