The International Data Corporation (IDC)’s new Worldwide Semiannual Blockchain Spending Guide is predicting that Europe will become the second-largest blockchain technologies investor.
Europe is expected to increase its spending from around $400 million in 2018 to $3.5 billion in 2022, a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 80.2%, effectively closing the gap with the biggest blockchain investor, the United States.
While blockchain is attracting some attention in Europe, as companies look to simplify, improve, and secure their businesses through blockchain, it seems that there is still some work to be done on understanding blockchain applicability and usefulness. Carla La Croce, senior research analyst, Customer Insights and Analysis, IDC explained, “The European market is less flexible than other regions, and is also more fragmented in terms of business size. Nevertheless, as IDC has already highlighted, 2018 is still the year of blockchain, and European companies are showing increasing interest, supported by growing investments. Companies recognize the importance of the technology and are starting to explore how it can be deployed in their business, going beyond pilots and identifying the best use cases.”
The financial sector, the largest and fastest-growing industry for blockchain, is expected to reach spending of 173 million USD this year (42% of the total spent). An above-average growth is expected in the insurance and banking sectors. Supply-chain-related segments, such as manufacturing or retail, are also fast-growing markets, with respectively 82.7% and 82.5% CAGR.
Big industries are traditionally more inclined to invest in blockchain, however, other sectors, e.g. utilities, professional services and government, are expected to see strong growth. These sectors will use blockchain for transactions or to track goods and assets, with supply chain quality and provenance control among the key uses of blockchain across all regions. The IDC underlines that, by 2022, the top use cases will be trade finance and post-trade/transaction settlements, identity management, regulatory compliance, cross-border payments and settlements, and asset/goods management.
IDC’s Worldwide Semiannual Blockchain Spending Guide quantifies the emerging blockchain markets by providing spending data for 10 technologies across 19 industries and 16 use cases in nine geographic regions.
