The Growth & Evolution of the Blockchain Landscape — Q2 2019 Edition

Since the initial release of my blockchain landscape in Q4 2018, the market has seen a considerable amount of evolution as we close out the first half of 2019. Thus an indication that we’re now more than ever in a pivotal time for the future growth of blockchain’s adoption.

Today, I’m releasing the most recent edition (Q2 2019) of the blockchain for infrastructure landscape, where we’ve now identified 569 companies globally who are apart of the industry. These startups and enterprises within the landscape, have collectively created more than 29,000 new jobs, raised over $18 Billion in new capital, out of which $15 billion has been invested since 2017 alone.

The technology’s impact continues to affect the entire economy we’re seeing new opportunity areas being created throughout the consumer (top left), enterprise (top right), infrastructure (bottom), and the industry’s supporting ecosystem (far right). Each sector showcasing a variety of different use cases and evolving business models.

For example, within the Enterprise, applications are emerging in Governance, Storage, Digital Assets, Logistics, Advertising, Connected Cars, Real Estate, and more. As for the Consumer sector, blockchain is gaining leverage in Device & Wallets, Payments & Banking or for Predictive Markets, Media, Web Browsers, Social Networks, Digital Collectibles, Gaming & Gambling, Health, Education, and more.

As part of the overarching blockchain landscape, we’ve again included a landscape view of the supporting ecosystem. This part of the landscape includes venture capital and crowdfunding applications, including the accelerators, incubators, and recently added industry-specific consortia.

2019 Q1 and Q2 Trends

One of the most significant changes during 2019 around blockchain has been its perspective in the market as a viable technology solution by more enterprise companies, startups, entrepreneurs, and investors. That has converted into more investment being poured into blockchain based companies than ever before with venture capital keeping pace with the increased activity (including many new funds established).

Governments are also becoming increasingly more active in supporting their local ecosystems and even going beyond to integrate blockchain technology into government-specific applications.

Enterprises may be the most talked about and active in the space during 2019. As they are migrating from collaborations with other companies to actual blockchain adoption. This includes an increase in patent filings, real-world & pilot products, and development or supporting services. The growth in blockchain has also led to the creation of new business models that now leverage the technology specifically. Thanks to this evolution within the enterprise, the infrastructure sector is continuing to improve rapidly with a new wave of decentralized apps (DApps), getting much closer to viable use cases.

A few of the notable enterprises now using blockchain include a host of recognizable brands across numerous industries. These include Accenture, Apple, Bank of America, EY, JPMorgan Chase, HTC, Mastercard, Samsung, SoFi, Tiffany’s, Visa and Walmart. Others coming on board or expanding their footprint include Starbucks, State Farm, Oracle, Microsoft, Intel, and Facebook.

Future Outlook

According to Deloitte’s latest Global Blockchain Survey, 2018 to 2019, the interest in blockchain is swiftly on the rise among enterprises. In 2018, 43% of executives surveyed noted that blockchain is in their top five strategic priorities. In 2019, this has jumped to 53%.

Across all statements, reflect attitudes on blockchain and distributed ledger technology (DLT) with positive responses have continued to increase from 2018 to 2019. The survey also states that executives feel that blockchain technology is now becoming broadly scalable and will eventually achieve mainstream adoption or that there now is a compelling business case for blockchain (83% in 2019 versus 74% in 2018).

Heading into the second half of 2019, we’re expecting to see growth in trends around blockchain becoming a core aspect of the enterprise technology stack, including more applications for Retail, Digital Assets & Collectibles. Additionally, due to internal and external pressures, ethical supply chains are poised to become the norm rather than a suggestion. We’ll also begin to see more one-click to deploy environments thanks to new Blockchain-as-a-Service (BaaS) offerings further pushing the rate of adoption.

Opportunities and Blockers

Areas of opportunity within the landscape are growing on a global scale. These include Commodities and Raw Materials, like diamonds and cobalt. Other areas of growth include Retail, Food (delivery, sourcing, and supply chain applications), Data and Data Rights Management, Gaming, IoT and the Internet of Trusted Things, and Logistics and Shipping.

Even with these signs of growth, indications of mass adoption, mainstream applications, positive enterprise attitudes, and blockers to further blockchain’s expansion still exist. These blockers include a required change of mindset of executives and the business team alike, along with the technical complexity of blockchain today. Other barriers include scalability, performance, education, and governance issues all of which must and are being addressed.

Sign Up Now!

These opportunities and blockers will be discussed in the next blockchain update Webinar later this year. Until then, please join the ReadWrite Labs team along with enterprise blockchain pilots at the Enterprise Blockchain Summit in Boston on June 10th through June 13th. As part of the LiveWorx 2019, a global digital conference, this summit brings together many of the great minds in blockchain to discuss how to integrate blockchain technology into more industries and applications.

Reach Out!

I’m already working on the next version update for Q3/Q4 2019. Please reach out if you have a company or are investing in the space. Would like to hear/read about it.

References:

• Blockchain Landscape Q2 2019 Webinar
• Deloitte Global Blockchain Survey 2019