The consulting firm Deloitte, which employs more than a quarter million people and is the fourth largest private company in the United States, recently undertook a survey of “more than 1,000 blockchain-savvy executives.” The results of the survey were surprisingly positive and indicate that in the coming years blockchain technology is going to be heavily integrated into the global business market. Summarized below are the report’s most noteworthy findings although the document can be read in its entirety here.

Blockchain Investment in the Coming Year (2019)

When asked how much their companies plan to invest into blockchain technology in the coming year, only five percent of the executives who responded said they had no investment plans. On the other hand, sixteen percent said that their companies planned to invest $10 million or more, twenty-three percent from $5 to $10 million and twenty-six percent from $1 to $5 million.

When asked about the advantages of blockchain over existing systems, thirty-two percent of respondents cited increased speed as a deciding factor. Twenty-eight percent responded that blockchain represented “new business models and revenue sources” and twenty-one percent expected blockchain to provide greater security. Only two percent of the executives polled believed that blockchain failed to offer any advantages over legacy systems.

Mainstream Adoption of Blockchain in Business

Although many commentators delight in exposing the shortcomings of existing blockchain projects, the executives polled took a more optimistic view. Eighty-four percent said that they agreed with the statement that “blockchain technology is broadly scalable and will eventually achieve mainstream adoption.” A further seventy-four percent agreed that their “executive team believes there is a compelling business case for use of blockchain technology.”

Surprisingly, when asked which sectors would be most disrupted by blockchain technology, seventy-three percent of respondents believed that blockchain would disrupt the automotive industry and seventy-two percent agreed that the oil and gas industry would be disrupted. Only sixty-four percent of those polled thought that financial service companies would be disrupted. Replying to a question about which blockchain use cases they were focusing on, the three most popular answers were supply chain, internet of things and digital identity.

The Greatest Barrier to Entry

According to the executives the greatest barrier to entry is regulation, or lack thereof. Presumably companies are hesitant to invest millions of dollars into a technology that could be declared illegal or heavy regulated in the future. While it is unfortunate that delayed regulation is holding the industry back, it is also encouraging to know that once a clear regulatory framework is in place the largest hurdle to investment will be gone.

Deloitte’s report clearly shows that companies are interested in blockchain technology and are investing millions of dollars into it. This is happening even in the depths of a bear market which proves that innovation and development are taking place irrespective of price. In the coming years it’s all but guaranteed we will see various offerings from household name companies who have chosen to embrace the blockchain revolution.

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