RESEARCH REPORT 

NOTE: This document is a free excerpt of a larger

research report. If you are interested in purchasing the full
report, please contact Tractica at [email protected].

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY  
Blockchain for Enterprise Applications  
Distributed Ledger Technology for Payments, 
Processing & Settlement, Microtransactions, Asset 
Management, Identity & Access Management, 
Automated Compliance, and Prediction Markets: 
Global Market Analysis and Forecasts  
 
Published 3Q 2018 

JOE HOFFMAN 
Principal Analyst 
 
ADITYA KAUL 
Research Director 
  
Blockchain for Enterprise Applications 

SECTION 1 
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY 

1.1 INTRODUCTION 
In the past year, blockchain has become a controversial global phenomenon, with the
technology perceived as either a solution for whatever ails society or “rat poison squared”
as Warren Buffet describes Bitcoin. In 2018, we are witnessing the launch of blockchains
carrying commercial traffic and moving beyond proof-of-concept (PoC) demonstrations,
though the selected applications have yet to demonstrate the capacity and scale of credit
card networks. Blockchain-powered international trade finance coming online is just one
example.

Fragmentation in the blockchain vendor space is more pronounced as the Bitcoin

phenomenon fuels global interest in tokenization as measures of value for blockchain
transfers. The increase of Bitcoin valuation (in 2010, 10,000 bitcoins could buy two pizzas,
which appreciated to about $200 million at its peak in 2017) has investors clamoring to buy
a stake in the next big token. This investment frenzy drives the blockchain development
startups to tokenize everything, as coinmarketcap.com reports that 1,644 cryptocurrencies
currently exist and AngelList identifies more than 2,000 blockchain startups. This
fragmentation discourages many enterprises from moving forward with blockchain as they
wait for the inevitable rationalization and consolidation of the market. IBM applies (but did
not invent) the term “minimum viable ecosystem” (MVE) to emphasize the shift in enterprise
cultures to embrace blockchain ecosystems.

Examples of investment frenzy and the most recent blockchain unicorns (achieving a
valuation more than $1 billion) are Telegram (encrypted text messaging), which raised $1.7
billion in a private ICO sale and, subsequently, canceled its public offering, and the Cayman
Islands-based Block.one, which claims receiving $4 billion for its ICO token, EOS, in return
for rival currency from Ethereum. The Financial Times notes a curious disclaimer on the
Block.one frequently asked questions (FAQs) webpage (though this statement has
apparently been removed):

The EOS tokens do not have any rights, uses, purpose, attributes, functionalities
or features, express or implied, including, without limitation, any uses, purpose,
attributes, functionalities or features on the EOS Platform.

The rush to raise capital represented by ICOs have eclipsed the venture capital (VC) firms
with more than $11 billion pouring into startups between January 2017 and May 2018, not
even counting the Block.one claim of $4 billion.

The ICO market, with interest prompted by the Bitcoin price surge (see Figure 1.1) is risky,
with more than a few bad actors perpetuating a fraud on unsophisticated investors.
Investigative reporting by the Wall Street Journal reveals that nearly 20% of crypto ICO
offerings raise serious red flags. Caveat emptor (buyer beware)!

How this ICO works out for investors remains to be seen, but The U.S. Securities and
Exchange Commission (SEC) is actively investigating ICOs and has commented that they
are subject to securities regulations. The SEC is currently prosecuting some of the shady
dealers and has even put up an “educational” website to help educate hapless investors on
recognizing the scams.

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On the standards front, several organizations are working on blockchain, including the
International Organization for Standardization (ISO) and the International
Telecommunication Union (ITU). Government regulators are taking action, even with outright
bans, when the economic order is threatened by cryptocurrencies, creating a cryptocurrency
to skirt international sanctions, and prodding state and local government to facilitate
permissioned blockchains. As the success stories become apparent, more firms will move
beyond their investments in exploration and into commercial deployments, even if they are
limited in scale.

Intellectual property (IP) claims on blockchain now exceed 3,000 patents that have been
filed since 2013. According to the World Intellectual Property Organization (as cited in the
Financial Times), China has become the biggest home to blockchain patents, with more than
50% of the 406 global blockchain patent applications in 2017, not including cryptocurrency
applications.

The blockchain community of developers continues to find new applications and potential
markets. Borrowing from Hewlett Packard Enterprise’s (HPE) taxonomy, the evolution of the
technology currently stands at Blockchain 2.0; HPE’s taxonomy further describes the
evolution of blockchain as:

 Blockchain 1.0: People transacting with people; Bitcoin & Ether on public networks
 Blockchain 2.0: Enterprise transacting with enterprise; private/permissioned networks
with transaction privacy and mission-criticality
 Blockchain 3.0: Things transacting with everything; the intersection of blockchain, AI,
and the intelligent edge

Figure 1.1 Bitcoin Frenzy Drives Google Searches for Initial Coin Offerings and Blockchain

(Source: Google Trends)

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Blockchain for Enterprise Applications 

Blockchain spans a wide spectrum of interests and applications. Financial technology

(FinTech) is an obvious driver, as financial products are entirely digital, and legacy processes
and stakeholders are ripe for disruption, largely because of the distributed nature that
generates trust in the process, and automation that eliminated large swaths of middlemen
expense. Applications that involve transactions with many players touching the processes
(such as loan processing and inter-bank settlement) are defining characteristics for
blockchain applications.

Tractica discovered additional applications of blockchain technology that would ordinarily be

served by a typical database management system employing secure cryptography. An
example is a government using a blockchain database for identity management of refugees
and homeless indigents, where a variety of records are brought together and managed
securely, while maintaining trust in the system. Connecting the cryptographically secure
records based on biometric identity markers enables access to records with self-sovereign
management.

Tractica’s continued research into enterprise applications of blockchain technology affirms

the 30 broad use case categories outlined in our previous report. While the application of
blockchain and use case identification seems boundless, we have yet to see another broad
use case category arise and most new use cases will fit into one of Tractica’s categories.
The continued growth and development also confirm our enterprise spending profiles, both
external spending and internal to the firm. Early on in this life cycle of blockchain evolution,
much of the spending is related to investigation and prototypes (“kicking the tires”), while the
technology evolves and matures. In the mid- to late-term, beyond 2025, we will see spending
on blockchain follow patterns of investment as it moves from custom-built solutions to
inevitably becoming commoditized and standardized solutions, destined to become a
general-purpose technology.

1.2 MARKET DRIVERS 
There are two main drivers behind the application of blockchain technology, and a third that
is somewhat cynical:

1. Cost reduction by removing trust-assuring intermediaries from business transactions

and replacing them with the trust-generating blockchain processes.
2. The creation of new business models due to the ability of blockchain to disintermediate
existing processes, create new processes, and make transactions economically viable
with the automation of blockchain processes.
3. Tokenization with the goal of dominating a significant enterprise use case (or market)
and hoping for a significant appreciation in both the founders’ and investors’ tokens.
According to The World Bank, the 2017 global gross domestic product (GDP) is about $75
trillion, representing a huge amount of goods and services in circulation. In almost all of these
transactions, some means of generating trust exists, including audits, verification, and
documentation of employees, millions of people, and their firms. Many of these processes
are still manual and paper oriented (such as medical and government records), even as the
move to digitization gains momentum.

Blockchain technology provides a new means to generate the trust these transactions
require, and automation provides the cost savings. These same two factors also make
feasible business models, such as those based on micro-transactions. The blockchain can
do this because of its distributed nature, which removes the control and validation from
untrusted entities and makes the transaction records secure and immutable to the point that

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Blockchain for Enterprise Applications 

it becomes unfeasible to corrupt a blockchain system without running afoul of the entire
ecosystem.

Distributing protocol-based trust across a network offers significant potential to drive greater
visibility, efficiencies, security, cost savings in processes, and reduction of corruption. At the
computing and network levels, blockchain systems are not as efficient as existing information
technology (IT) database and network systems, but the automation of manual business
processes and the creation of new business provide the automation cost savings, including:

 Increasing the velocity of money and reducing the amounts held as working capital by
decreasing the time required for settlement and reconciliation of transactions
 Automating Internet of Things (IoT) and machine-to-machine (M2M) device transaction
 More easily detecting and preventing fraud and anti-counterfeiting
 European Union (EU) Global Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), consent, regulatory,
and privacy compliance adherence
 Enhancing security and integrity of data and software downloads and updates
 Streamlining know your customer (KYC) and anti-money laundering (AML) identity
controls, integrity, and protections
 Connecting disparate data silos as in medical records and government applications
 Simplifying database management for startup distributed applications
These examples of benefits are delivered by a blockchain-encrypted and distributed
database architecture. As the blockchain ecosystem matures and coalesces toward
standardized solutions, these benefits will become table stakes for numerous industries. Add
in savings from infrastructure, headcount, systems maintenance, integration, compliance,
and liquidity, and the benefits grow immeasurably.

1.3 MARKET BARRIERS 
As with any newly emerging technology, blockchain adoption is somewhat hindered from
rapid enterprise-wide adoption. Significant barriers include:

 Ecosystem maturity and the inevitable consolidation

 Fragmentation brought on by the startup community
 Standards in progress, but not yet final
 Fear of lock-in from choice of blockchain service
 Blockchain fatigue leading to wait-and-see
 Ecosystem building and cooperation with competitors
 Cross-border regulations and policies
 Lack of mature frameworks and governance structures
 Sunk costs amounting to billions of dollars in legacy solutions that are working well
 Corporate cultural barriers to disassociating assets and processes from central control
 Vested interests in maintaining the existing frictions and rent-seeking

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otherwise by accessed or used, without the express written permission of Tractica.

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Blockchain for Enterprise Applications 

An enterprise blockchain network that can handle billions (trillions in the age of the IoT) of
transactions securely requires a collaborative ecosystem of parties with a mutual interest to
keep it operating. These are companies that are otherwise fierce competitors but are bound
together by their mutual interest, often operating through consortia, such as with banks.
Getting these multi-party organizations is often facilitated by a third party, often a platform
provider like IBM or an independent firm like R3. The collaboration power of the consortia
provides needed direction to the industry, despite the tensions that otherwise arise.

1.4 TECHNOLOGY ISSUES 
This report provides a high-level examination of blockchain architecture and discusses the
range of public and private blockchain structures. Within these structures, Tractica explores
several technical questions that have yet to be fully resolved:

 Appropriateness of blockchain application

 Blockchain as a bundle versus à la carte
 Blockchain software tooling and development platforms
 Security and pseudonymous privacy implications
 Scalability, throughput, and transaction times
 Lack of formal contracts
 Storage constraints
 Blockchain network attacks, including Sybil, Denial of Service (DoS), and 51% cartel
attacks
 Blockchain wallet hacking
 Loss of private keys
 Software bugs and little software engineering
 Unstainable consensus mechanisms
In the current market environment and ICO frenzy, almost anything that can be tokenized
and put on a blockchain will have a development effort, regardless of whether it should be.

Widespread blockchain adoption is further hindered by the established status quo versus
the cost of blockchain integration into or overlaid with legacy backend systems.
Interoperability is needed for business operations as those processes will not cease simply
because blockchain is adopted. Interoperability among blockchains is also an issue with the
current state of standards, hence the concern of portability and fear of lock-in. Some
blockchain development companies have adopted intermediate layers in their offerings to
provide this transportability across different blockchain platforms. However, even with this,
Tractica’s findings indicate that repurposing a blockchain application is straight-forward
when compared to getting all the individual user wallets converted to a different blockchain.

Data privacy concerns are increasing with the arrival of the EU GDPR with requirements like
the right-to-be-forgotten bearing on the information architectures implemented on the
blockchain, as well as what information to record. One solution is to put a cryptographic hash
of a document onto the chain, so the integrity of a document at hand can be assured when
a generated hash matches that on a blockchain.

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5 
  
Blockchain for Enterprise Applications 

Related problems concerning what is put on the chain concern the potential data storage
requirements, bandwidth, energy usage, and the long-term scalability of blockchain. For
example, the Bitcoin blockchain requires 179 Gigabytes for storage, and hit a peak of over
400,000 transactions per day at the peak of the Bitcoin frenzy, as reported by
blockchain.info. This is just under 5 transactions per second (tps) but is orders of magnitude
less than the Visa credit card network, which can reach 56,000 tps.

1.5 ENTERPRISE USE CASES FOR BLOCKCHAIN 
The FinTech companies are the first movers to develop and adopt blockchain, as there are
many players and their assets are all digital, and the time and cost savings are easily
understood. Tokenization and a secure means of quantifying and identifying physical assets
open the way for enterprise supply chains, logistics management, and the entire asset
management market. Tractica’s research documents 6 broad use case categories, which
consist of more than 30 sub-categories.

 Payments, transaction processing, and settlement

 Microtransactions
 Asset management
 Identity & access management
 Automated compliance
 Prediction markets
Almost all specific use cases fit into one of these categories and Tractica’s forecasts allows
for unanticipated use cases. We believe these broad categories represent most of the
blockchain investment and outlook. Countless sector-specific variations exist within each
use case. As with most technological innovations, different industries will adopt pieces of
this technology at varying paces. But unlike other recent technological advancements,
network effects leading to a MVE compound blockchain’s potency, utility, and efficiency. As
blockchain matures, standardizes, and eventually commoditizes, its utility as a general-
purpose technology will spread thoroughout the global economy with even greater impact.

1.6 MARKET FORECAST 
Tractica forecasts that annual revenue (including that which enterprise spends internally) for
enterprise applications of blockchain will increase from roughly $3.4 billion worldwide in 2017
to $20.3 billion in 2025, representing a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 24.8%.
While a relatively lower CAGR than other emerging technology markets, Tractica forecasts
the blockchain market’s growth will remain conservative for some time as the technology life
cycle evolves from one-off special projects, though mass-market acceptance, to eventual
commodity status as a general-purpose technology. Although the blockchain market has
seen significant investment over the last 3 years, areas of growth will remain fragmented
and contingent upon numerous macro forces far beyond the control of any single country,
government, enterprise, or technology.

The forecast developed for this research segments the market by 5 world regions, 19
different industry verticals, and approximately 29 unique use case categories. Priority use
cases in the forecast have been identified, as they represent the greatest potential for cost
savings and/or business model disruption and opportunity. Readers of this report will also
find additional use cases and sub-categories in the qualitative assessment in Section 4.

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otherwise by accessed or used, without the express written permission of Tractica.

6 
  
Blockchain for Enterprise Applications 

Some of these use cases include IoT/M2M communications, device interactions, digital
advertising management, online gaming, and patient records management, among many
others. Tractica’s forecast model also assesses the revenue opportunity for blockchain
across implementation categories, such as software, database, hardware, maintenance,
consulting, and more. Finally, Tractica forecasts the opportunity for cost savings versus
blockchain services (net new) revenue. Detailed market sizing, segmentation, and
forecasting tables are included in the Excel Databook that accompanies this report.

Alongside the market forecasts, this research presents a comprehensive exploration and
analysis of the market drivers, obstacles, technologies, vendors, businesses, and societal
implications essential to assessing the market opportunities and challenges for enterprise
blockchain deployment.

Chart 1.1 Blockchain Revenue by Region, World Markets: 2017-2025

$25,000
North America

Europe
$20,000
Asia Pacific

Latin America
($ Millions)

$15,000
Middle East & Africa

$10,000

$5,000

$-
2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023 2024 2025

(Source: Tractica)

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Blockchain for Enterprise Applications 

SECTION 11 
TABLE OF CONTENTS 
SECTION 1 ...................................................................................................................................................... 1 
Executive Summary .................................................................................................................................... 1 
1.1  Introduction.................................................................................................................................... 1 
1.2  Market Drivers ............................................................................................................................... 3 
1.3  Market Barriers .............................................................................................................................. 4 
1.4  Technology Issues ........................................................................................................................ 5 
1.5  Enterprise Use Cases for Blockchain ........................................................................................... 6 
1.6  Market Forecast ............................................................................................................................ 6 
SECTION 2 ...................................................................................................................................................... 8 
Market Issues .............................................................................................................................................. 8 
2.1  Blockchain Definition and Overview .............................................................................................. 8 
2.2  Market Drivers ............................................................................................................................... 9 
2.2.1  The Integration of Financial Transaction and Operational Execution ..................................... 9 
2.2.2  Blockchain Enables Visibility without Legacy Trust Agents .................................................. 11 
2.2.3  Increased Business Process Efficiency When Blockchain Automates Transactions ........... 12 
2.3  Enhanced Security ...................................................................................................................... 14 
2.3.1  Bitcoin Security ...................................................................................................................... 14 
2.3.2  Security by Distributed and Hash-Linked Redundancy ......................................................... 15 
2.4  Cost Reductions and Business Model Impacts........................................................................... 16 
2.5  Market Barriers ............................................................................................................................ 18 
2.5.1  Reputation Hurdles in a Growing Market .............................................................................. 18 
2.5.2  Initial Coin Offering Fraud ..................................................................................................... 19 
2.5.3  Minimum Viable Ecosystem .................................................................................................. 20 
2.5.4  Significant Collaboration and Infrastructural Development Required ................................... 21 
2.5.5  Governance and Stakeholder Alignment in Distributed Ledger Technologies ..................... 21 
2.5.6  Policy, Legal, and Regulatory Precedents Require Overhaul ............................................... 22 
2.5.7  Blockchain Calls for Redefining Identity and Data Ownership .............................................. 24 
2.5.8  The Evolving Question of Privacy on the Blockchain ............................................................ 26 
2.5.9  Blockchain and the European Union’s Global Data Protection Regulation .......................... 27 
2.5.10  A Need for Simplicity ......................................................................................................... 29 
2.6  Blockchain Stakeholders ............................................................................................................. 29 
2.6.1  Developers and Engineers .................................................................................................... 30 
2.6.2  Startups and Innovators ........................................................................................................ 30 
2.6.3  Financial Institutions and Merchants ..................................................................................... 30 
2.6.4  World Governments and Regulators ..................................................................................... 31 
2.6.5  Consortia ............................................................................................................................... 31 
2.6.6  Enterprise Technology Vendors ............................................................................................ 32 
2.6.7  Public Blockchain Miners ...................................................................................................... 32 
2.6.8  Private Permissioned Authentication Nodes ......................................................................... 32 
2.6.9  Investors ................................................................................................................................ 33 
2.6.10  Consumers ........................................................................................................................ 33 
SECTION 3 .................................................................................................................................................... 34 
Technology Issues .................................................................................................................................... 34 
3.1  An Exploration of Blockchain Architecture .................................................................................. 34 
3.1.1  Public Blockchains ................................................................................................................ 36 
3.1.2  Private Blockchains ............................................................................................................... 36 
3.1.3  Semi-Private or Hybrid Blockchains ...................................................................................... 36 

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3.1.4  Blockchain as a Bundle or à la Carte .................................................................................... 37 

3.1.5  AlterChains: Blockchain Alternatives and Innovations .......................................................... 38 
3.1.6  A Chip off the Old Blockchain................................................................................................ 38 
3.1.7  Physical to Digital Provenance .............................................................................................. 39 
3.2  The Emergence of Blockchain Standards ................................................................................... 40 
3.2.1  Blockchain Customization Hinders Interoperability and Thwarts Simplicity .......................... 40 
3.2.2  Incumbent Systems: Overhaul or Integration? ...................................................................... 40 
3.3  Security Considerations .............................................................................................................. 41 
3.3.1  51% Attack ............................................................................................................................ 42 
3.3.2  Miner Collusion ...................................................................................................................... 42 
3.4  Technology Supporting Privacy .................................................................................................. 43 
3.4.1  Asymmetric Encryption .......................................................................................................... 43 
3.4.2  Zero-Knowledge Proofs......................................................................................................... 44 
3.4.3  State Channels ...................................................................................................................... 44 
3.4.4  Secure Multi-Party Computation ........................................................................................... 44 
3.4.5  Massachusetts Institute of Technology Enigma Project ....................................................... 44 
3.5  But Can Blockchain Really Scale? .............................................................................................. 45 
3.5.1  Transaction Volume and Storage .......................................................................................... 45 
3.5.2  Energy Consumption ............................................................................................................. 46 
3.5.3  Scalability of Private Blockchains .......................................................................................... 46 
3.6  Decentralized Autonomous Organizations, The DAO, and Current Implications ....................... 47 
3.6.1  The Rise and Fall of The DAO .............................................................................................. 47 
3.6.2  U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission Weighs in ......................................................... 48 
SECTION 4 .................................................................................................................................................... 49 
Enterprise Use Cases for Blockchain ..................................................................................................... 49 
4.1  Introduction.................................................................................................................................. 49 
4.2  Payments, Transaction Processing, and Settlement .................................................................. 50 
4.2.1  Payments............................................................................................................................... 50 
4.2.2  Peer-to-Peer Crowdfunding and Lending.............................................................................. 52 
4.2.3  International Currency Transfer............................................................................................. 53 
4.2.4  Trade Finance ....................................................................................................................... 54 
4.2.5  Syndicated Loans .................................................................................................................. 56 
4.2.6  Post-Trade Clearing and Settlement ..................................................................................... 57 
4.2.7  Property Title Ownership Transfer ........................................................................................ 59 
4.2.8  Property and Casualty Insurance Claims Processing ........................................................... 61 
4.2.9  Microinsurance ...................................................................................................................... 62 
4.3  Microtransactions ........................................................................................................................ 63 
4.3.1  Rewards and Loyalty-Based Microtransactions .................................................................... 63 
4.3.2  Digital Media Microtransactions and Rights Management .................................................... 64 
4.3.3  Digital Advertising Management............................................................................................ 65 
4.3.4  Online Gaming....................................................................................................................... 66 
4.3.5  Decentralized Energy Transmission and Distribution ........................................................... 67 
4.4  Asset Management ..................................................................................................................... 69 
4.4.1  The Internet of Things, Machine-to-Machine Communications, and Device Interactions..... 69 
4.4.2  Supply Chain Management ................................................................................................... 72 
4.4.3  Interorganizational Record-Keeping ...................................................................................... 75 
4.4.4  Physical Asset and Anti-Counterfeit Certification .................................................................. 76 
4.4.5  Decentralized Online Storage ............................................................................................... 78 
4.5  Identity and Access Management ............................................................................................... 79 
4.5.1  Identity Access and Endorsement Management................................................................... 79 
4.5.2  Government Services, Documentation, and e-Residency .................................................... 82 
4.5.3  Identity Anti-Counterfeit ......................................................................................................... 84 
4.5.4  Voting .................................................................................................................................... 85 

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4.5.5  Proxy Voting .......................................................................................................................... 86 

4.5.6  Patient Records Management ............................................................................................... 87 
4.5.7  Genomic Data Management ................................................................................................. 89 
4.6  Automated Compliance ............................................................................................................... 90 
4.6.1  Anti-money Laundering, Know Your Customer, and Counter-Financing of Terrorism ......... 92 
4.7  Prediction Markets ...................................................................................................................... 94 
4.7.1  Decentralized Prediction Markets.......................................................................................... 94 
4.8  Game Changing Use Cases Depend on Regional Economics ................................................... 95 
SECTION 5 .................................................................................................................................................... 96 
Key Industry Players................................................................................................................................. 96 
5.1  Applied Blockchain ...................................................................................................................... 96 
5.2  Arizona State University Blockchain Research Lab .................................................................... 97 
5.3  Barclays....................................................................................................................................... 98 
5.4  BigchainDB.................................................................................................................................. 99 
5.5  BlockArray LLC ......................................................................................................................... 100 
5.6  Blockchain Technologies Corporation ...................................................................................... 101 
5.7  CareChain AB ........................................................................................................................... 102 
5.8  Chain ......................................................................................................................................... 103 
5.9  Conjoule GmBH ........................................................................................................................ 104 
5.10  ConsenSys ................................................................................................................................ 105 
5.11  Digital Asset Holdings ............................................................................................................... 107 
5.12  Electron ..................................................................................................................................... 108 
5.13  Ericsson..................................................................................................................................... 109 
5.14  Ethereum ................................................................................................................................... 110 
5.15  Everledger ................................................................................................................................. 111 
5.16  Evernym .................................................................................................................................... 112 
5.17  Facebook................................................................................................................................... 113 
5.18  Factom ...................................................................................................................................... 114 
5.19  Filament..................................................................................................................................... 115 
5.20  Gem ........................................................................................................................................... 116 
5.21  Guardtime.................................................................................................................................. 117 
5.22  Hewlett Packard Enterprise....................................................................................................... 118 
5.23  Hyperledger Project .................................................................................................................. 119 
5.24  IBM ............................................................................................................................................ 120 
5.25  Job.Com .................................................................................................................................... 122 
5.26  Leap .......................................................................................................................................... 122 
5.27  Mavenir Systems ....................................................................................................................... 123 
5.28  Microsoft .................................................................................................................................... 124 
5.29  Mobivity ..................................................................................................................................... 125 
5.30  Nokia ......................................................................................................................................... 126 
5.31  Omega Grid ............................................................................................................................... 127 
5.32  OpenPort ................................................................................................................................... 127 
5.33  Overstock.com .......................................................................................................................... 128 
5.34  R3 .............................................................................................................................................. 129 
5.35  Ripple ........................................................................................................................................ 130 
5.36  Slock.it ....................................................................................................................................... 131 
5.37  Sweetbridge, Inc. ...................................................................................................................... 132 
5.38  Visa ........................................................................................................................................... 133 
5.39  World Economic Forum ............................................................................................................. 134 
5.40  Additional Industry Participants ................................................................................................. 136

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SECTION 6 .................................................................................................................................................. 138 

Market Forecasts..................................................................................................................................... 138 
6.1  Forecast Methodology ............................................................................................................... 138 
6.2  Global Market Forecasts ........................................................................................................... 139 
6.3  Enterprise Blockchain Revenue by Industry ............................................................................. 140 
6.4  Blockchain Revenue by Use Case ............................................................................................ 144 
6.5  Blockchain Revenue by Implementation Category ................................................................... 146 
6.6  Blockchain Revenue by Region ................................................................................................ 147 
6.6.1  North America...................................................................................................................... 147 
6.6.2  Europe ................................................................................................................................. 148 
6.6.3  Asia Pacific .......................................................................................................................... 149 
6.6.4  Latin America....................................................................................................................... 150 
6.6.5  Middle East & Africa ............................................................................................................ 151 
6.7  Blockchain’s Cost Savings and Service Revenue .................................................................... 151 
SECTION 7 .................................................................................................................................................. 154 
Key Findings, Recommendations, and Conclusions .......................................................................... 154 
7.1  Key Findings.............................................................................................................................. 154 
7.2  Recommendations .................................................................................................................... 155 
7.3  Conclusions ............................................................................................................................... 156 
SECTION 8 .................................................................................................................................................. 157 
Company Directory ................................................................................................................................. 157 
SECTION 9 .................................................................................................................................................. 161 
Glossary ................................................................................................................................................... 161 
SECTION 10 ................................................................................................................................................ 165 
Acronym and Abbreviation List ............................................................................................................. 165 
SECTION 11 ................................................................................................................................................ 172 
Table of Contents .................................................................................................................................... 172 
SECTION 12 ................................................................................................................................................ 176 
Table of Charts and Figures................................................................................................................... 176 
SECTION 13 ................................................................................................................................................ 177 
Scope of Study ........................................................................................................................................ 177 
Sources and Methodology ..................................................................................................................... 178 
Notes ........................................................................................................................................................ 179 

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SECTION 12 
TABLE OF CHARTS AND FIGURES 
Chart 1.1  Blockchain Revenue by Region, World Markets: 2017-2025.................................................. 7 
Chart 6.1  Blockchain Revenue by Region, World Markets: 2017-2025.............................................. 140 
Chart 6.2  Blockchain Revenue by Industry, World Markets: 2017-2025 ............................................ 141 
Chart 6.3  Blockchain Revenue Share by Industry, World Markets: 2017 ........................................... 142 
Chart 6.4  Blockchain Revenue Share by Industry, World Markets: 2025 ........................................... 143 
Chart 6.5  Blockchain Cumulative Revenue by Use Case, World Markets: 2017-2025 ...................... 144 
Chart 6.6  Blockchain Revenue by Use Case, World Markets: 2017-2025 ......................................... 145 
Chart 6.7  Blockchain Revenue by Implementation Category, World Markets: 2017-2025................. 146 
Chart 6.8  Blockchain Revenue by Industry, North America: 2017-2025 ............................................ 147 
Chart 6.9  Blockchain Revenue by Industry, Europe: 2017-2025 ........................................................ 148 
Chart 6.10  Blockchain Revenue by Industry, Asia Pacific: 2017-2025 ................................................. 149 
Chart 6.11  Blockchain Revenue by Industry, Latin America: 2017-2025 ............................................. 150 
Chart 6.12  Blockchain Revenue by Industry, Middle East & Africa: 2017-2025 ................................... 151 
Chart 6.13  Blockchain Cost Savings by Industry, World Markets: 2017-2025 ..................................... 152 
Chart 6.14  Blockchain-Based Services Revenue by Industry, World Markets: 2017-2025 .................. 153 
Chart 13.1  Tractica Research Methodology.......................................................................................... 179 

Figure 1.1  Bitcoin Frenzy Drives Google Searches for Initial Coin Offerings and Blockchain ................. 2 
Figure 2.1  The Value Proposition of Blockchain Technology ................................................................. 10 
Figure 2.2  Blockchain Augments the Trust Equation ............................................................................. 12 
Figure 2.3  “On the Blockchain, Nobody Knows You’re a Fridge” ........................................................... 26 
Figure 2.4  A Wide Range of Market Constituencies Influence Blockchain Development ...................... 30 
Figure 3.1  How a Blockchain Works....................................................................................................... 35 
Figure 3.2  Blockchain Appropriateness .................................................................................................. 41 
Figure 4.1  Enterprise Use Cases for Blockchain (Parent Categories) ................................................... 49 
Figure 4.2  Partial List of Companies that Accept Bitcoins as Payments................................................ 51 
Figure 4.3  Blockchain Offers the Internet of Things a Universal Digital Ledger..................................... 71 
Figure 6.1  Blockchain Forecast Model Methodology ........................................................................... 138 

Table 5.1  Additional Industry Participants ........................................................................................... 136 

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SECTION 13 
SCOPE OF STUDY 
This report examines the enterprise opportunity for blockchain. The report is distinct in its identification,
description, and categorization of more than 30 unique use cases wherein blockchain technologies may be
applied across a wide range of industries. In the Market Issues and Technology Issues sections, Tractica
explores the most important drivers, barriers, and constituencies influencing blockchain market
development. Tractica identifies the core characteristics of blockchain architecture in public
(permissionless), private (permissioned), and hybrid configurations. In addressing technology issues
surrounding the blockchain market, Tractica identifies distinct modules of blockchain configurations,
including transaction distribution, consensus, rules of validity & linkage, immutability, identity authentication
& private keys, supervisory or regulatory nodes, anti-double spend, and built-in assets or smart contracts.
Most of the market and technology issues addressed in this report apply to enterprise and/or government
and institutional applications. Although mentioned, purely citizen-to-citizen/P2P blockchain applications are
beyond the scope of this report.

The nascence of this market cannot be understated. To the best of its abilities, Tractica’s assessment of
the blockchain market seeks to convey both immaturity and limitations in market definition, consensus, and
activity, while thoroughly illustrating its radical and disruptive potential. One of the challenges of developing
a forecast in a market as ephemeral, yet innovative as blockchain is the allowance for unforeseen emerging
technologies and/or geopolitical forces that could play a significant role during the forecast period (2017 to
2025) covered in this study.

Within that scope, this report considers the potential for blockchain applications across 19 industries and
more than 30 unique use case categories. The report also assesses both qualitatively and quantitatively
the investment/implementation categories, cost-savings versus new services revenue, and overarching
business model implications of DLTs. The accompanying Excel databook forecasts revenue for blockchain
applications across world regions, industries, use cases, implementation categories, and business model
impacts during the period from 2017 through 2025.

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SOURCES AND METHODOLOGY 
Tractica is an independent market research firm that provides industry participants and stakeholders with
an objective, unbiased view of market dynamics and business opportunities within its coverage areas. The
firm’s industry analysts are dedicated to presenting clear and actionable analysis to support business
planning initiatives and go-to-market strategies, utilizing rigorous market research methodologies and
without regard for technology hype or special interests including Tractica’s own client relationships. Within
its market analysis, Tractica strives to offer conclusions and recommendations that reflect the most likely
path of industry development, even when those views may be contrarian.

The basis of Tractica’s analysis is primary research collected from a variety of sources including industry
interviews, vendor briefings, product demonstrations, and quantitative and qualitative market research
focused on consumer and business end-users. Industry analysts conduct interviews with representative
groups of executives, technology practitioners, sales and marketing professionals, industry association
personnel, government representatives, investors, consultants, and other industry stakeholders. Analysts
are diligent in pursuing interviews with representatives from every part of the value chain to gain a
comprehensive view of current market activity and future plans. Within the firm’s surveys and focus groups,
respondent samples are carefully selected to ensure that they provide the most accurate possible view of
demand dynamics within consumer and business markets, utilizing balanced and representative samples
where appropriate and careful screening and qualification criteria in cases where the research topic requires
a more targeted group of respondents.

Tractica’s primary research is supplemented by the review and analysis of all secondary information
available on the topic being studied, including company news and financial information, technology
specifications, product attributes, government and economic data, industry reports and databases from
third-party sources, case studies, and reference customers. As applicable, all secondary research sources
are appropriately cited within the firm’s publications.

Tractica’s research reports and other publications are carefully reviewed and scrutinized by the firm’s senior
management team to ensure that research methodology is sound, all information provided is accurate,
analyst assumptions are carefully documented, and conclusions are well-supported by facts. Tractica is
highly responsive to feedback from industry participants and, in the event errors in the firm’s research are
identified and verified, such errors are corrected promptly.

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Chart 13.1 Tractica Research Methodology

MARKET RESEARCH

SUPPLY SIDE DEMAND SIDE

PRIMARY Industry  Vendor  Product  End‐User  End‐User 

RESEARCH Interviews Briefings Evaluations Surveys Focus Groups

SECONDARY Company News  Technology &  Government &  Case  Reference 

RESEARCH & Financials Product Specs Economic Data Studies Customers

MARKET ANALYSIS

QUALITATIVE Company  Business  Competitive  Technology  Applications 

ANALYSIS Analysis Models Landscape Assessment & Use Cases

QUANTITATIVE Market Market  Market  Market Share  Scenario 

ANALYSIS Sizing Segmentation Forecasts Analysis Analysis

(Source: Tractica)

NOTES 
CAGR refers to compound average annual growth rate, using the formula:

CAGR = (End Year Value ÷ Start Year Value)(1/steps) – 1.

CAGRs presented in the tables are for the entire timeframe in the title. Where data for fewer years are
given, the CAGR is for the range presented. Where relevant, CAGRs for shorter timeframes may be given
as well.

Figures are based on the best estimates available at the time of calculation. Annual revenue, shipments,
and sales are based on end-of-year figures unless otherwise noted. All values are expressed in year 2018
U.S. dollars unless otherwise noted. Percentages may not add up to 100% due to rounding.

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otherwise by accessed or used, without the express written permission of Tractica.

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Published 3Q 2018 

© 2018 Tractica 
1650 38th Street, Suite 101E 
Boulder, CO 80301 
Tel: +1.303.248.3000 
Email: [email protected] 
www.tractica.com  

 
This publication is provided by Tractica. This publication may be used only as expressly permitted by license
from Tractica and may not otherwise be reproduced, recorded, photocopied, distributed, displayed,
modified, extracted, accessed, or used without the express written permission of Tractica. Notwithstanding
the foregoing, Tractica makes no claim to any Government data and other data obtained from public
sources found in this publication (whether or not the owners of such data are noted in this publication). If
you do not have a license from Tractica covering this publication, please refrain from accessing or using
this publication. Please contact Tractica to obtain a license to this publication.

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