Source: iStock/MarioGuti

Senior-level financial executives usually hold the power over whether blockchain as a solution will be implemented or not. Their interest in investing resources into the cutting-edge new technology has got stakeholders holding their collective breath, to see whether the technology is worth applying.

The survey, conducted on around 200 senior-level financial executives by the Financial Executives Research Foundation (FERF), found that 30% of businesses expect to commit more resources to support blockchain technology within the finance area in the next 18 months, while 36% have already experimented with or piloted blockchain technologies. Interestingly, 7% of organizations have traded crypto in one way or another, and 4% have taken part in an initial coin offering.

Finance is still the most important sector for blockchain application. To the question “Who in your organization is responsible for evaluating new technology solutions, such as blockchain, and their potential application to your business?”, 46% of the respondents said that the Finance sector holds this responsibility, closely followed by the IT sector, claimed by 40%. A crypto crash would not deter 64% of them from exploring possible applications of blockchain to their business.

Meanwhile, another recent survey by Gartner, showed that out of more than 3,000 Chief Information Officers (CIOs), 34% said their business had absolutely no interest in the technology, while the others are at varying stages of adoption - even if they are only thinking about it.

USD 945 million was spent on blockchain solutions in 2017 and the spending is expected to grow on a robust rate, reaching USD 9.2 billion in total by 2021, according to the Worldwide Semiannual Blockchain Spending Guide, as reported by Cryptonews.com.

Blockchain seems increasingly on the way to mass adoption. A UK-based bank has already used blockchain for handling a letter of credit, while a German online bank uses Bitcoin rather than Swiss for lending money across the world rapidly and at low cost.