Contact Sales: 1-800-405-0844 Does my company subscribe? Newsletter sign-up Log in Become a Client Become a Client Get a Demo Pricing Industries Products Insights Events Pricing About

Industries Overview

Our research focuses on the five core coverage areas below. We apply our rigorous research methodology to our reports, charts, forecasts, and more to keep our clients at the forefront of key developments and trends before they hit the mainstream. Advertising & Marketing Social Media Content Marketing Email Marketing Video Browse All → Ecommerce & Retail Ecommerce Sales Mcommerce Retail Sales Social Commerce Browse All → Financial Services Banking Payments Fintech Wealth Management Browse All → Geographies Asia-Pacific Central & Eastern Europe Latin America Middle East & Africa North America Western Europe Health Value-Based Care Digital Therapeutics Telehealth Online Pharmacy Browse All → Technology Connected Devices 5G Artificial Intelligence (AI) Browse All → More Industries Real Estate Customer Experience B2B Travel Small Business (SMB) Browse All → All Topics

Latest Articles

Browse All →

Study: Midjourney is subject to manipulation for disinformation purposes

Article |   Aug 14, 2023

Ant Group redirects cross-border retail efforts inward with Alipay+ Asian Games tie-ups

Article |   Aug 14, 2023

Hollywood strikes could cause advertisers to divert video spending

Article |   Aug 14, 2023

Federal Reserve initiative sets up oversight of banks’ innovative tech-driven activities

Article |   Aug 14, 2023

Bank of America leads among US banks in Instagram engagement

Article |   Aug 14, 2023

How eBay Ads grew its retail media network 35% with new ad types, improved measurement

Article |   Aug 14, 2023

4 emerging solutions to help standardize retail media

Article |   Aug 14, 2023

How AI is changing cloud services

Article |   Aug 14, 2023

Gen Z, millennials grow their social media presence through 2027

Article |   Aug 14, 2023

Biden’s executive order targets Chinese tech investments

Article |   Aug 11, 2023

Lyft turns to in-app advertising for revenue boost

Article |   Aug 11, 2023

DOOH regains its footing after a few turbulent years

Article |   Aug 11, 2023

The digitization of the store will bring the best aspects of ecommerce into physical retail

Article |   Aug 11, 2023

Generative AI adoption climbed faster than smartphones, tablets

Article |   Aug 11, 2023

As consumers pull back on discretionary purchases, Macy’s leans into higher-margin private labels

Article |   Aug 11, 2023

5 tips from Wix on managing a marketing automation migration

Article |   Aug 11, 2023 Explore our Research →

Products

Insider Intelligence delivers leading-edge research to clients in a variety of forms, including full-length reports and data visualizations to equip you with actionable takeaways for better business decisions. Reports In-depth analysis, benchmarks and shorter spotlights on digital trends. Learn More → Forecasts Interactive projections with 10k+ metrics on market trends, & consumer behavior. Learn More → Charts Proprietary data and over 3,000 third-party sources about the most important topics. Learn More → Industry KPIs Industry benchmarks for the most important KPIs in digital marketing, advertising, retail and ecommerce. Learn More → Briefings Client-only email newsletters with analysis and takeaways from the daily news. Learn More → Analyst Access Program Exclusive time with the thought leaders who craft our research. Learn More →

About Insider Intelligence

Our goal at Insider Intelligence is to unlock digital opportunities for our clients with the world’s most trusted forecasts, analysis, and benchmarks. Spanning five core coverage areas and dozens of industries, our research on digital transformation is exhaustive . Our Story Learn more about our mission and how Insider Intelligence came to be. Learn More → Methodology Rigorous proprietary data vetting strips biases and produces superior insights. Learn More → Our People Take a look into our corporate culture and view our open roles. Join the Team → Contact Us Speak to a member of our team to learn more about Insider Intelligence. Contact Us → Newsroom See our latest press releases, news articles or download our press kit. Learn More → Advertising & Sponsorship Opportunities Reach an engaged audience of decision-makers. Learn More → Events Browse our upcoming and past webinars and other events. Learn More → Podcasts Tune in to eMarketer's daily, weekly, and monthly podcasts. Learn More → Open Menu Industries Advertising & Marketing Social Media Content Marketing Email Marketing Video Browse All → Ecommerce & Retail Ecommerce Sales Mcommerce Retail Sales Social Commerce Browse All → Financial Services Banking Payments Fintech Wealth Management Browse All → Health Value-Based Care Digital Therapeutics Telehealth Online Pharmacy Browse All → Technology Connected Devices 5G Artificial Intelligence (AI) Browse All → More Industries Real Estate Customer Experience B2B Travel Small Business (SMB) Browse All → Geographies Asia-Pacific Central & Eastern Europe Latin America Middle East & Africa North America Western Europe All Topics Products Reports

In-depth analysis, benchmarks and shorter spotlights on digital trends.

Forecasts

Interactive projections with 10k+ metrics on market trends, & consumer behavior.

Charts

Proprietary data and over 3,000 third-party sources about the most important topics.

Industry KPIs

Industry benchmarks for the most important KPIs in digital marketing, advertising, retail and ecommerce.

Briefings

Client-only email newsletters with analysis and takeaways from the daily news.

Analyst Access Program

Exclusive time with the thought leaders who craft our research.

Insights Events Latest Articles Study: Midjourney is subject to manipulation for disinformation purposes Ant Group redirects cross-border retail efforts inward with Alipay+ Asian Games tie-ups Hollywood strikes could cause advertisers to divert video spending Federal Reserve initiative sets up oversight of banks’ innovative tech-driven activities Bank of America leads among US banks in Instagram engagement Browse All → Pricing About Our Story Methodology Our People Contact Us Newsroom Log in Newsletter sign-up 1-800-405-0844 Become a Client Close Menu

The growing list of applications and use cases of blockchain technology in business and life

Share on social: Insider Intelligence | January 24, 2023

Powerful data and analysis on nearly every digital topic

Become a Client

Want more research ?

Sign up for the eMarketer Daily Newsletter

Sign Up Blockchain was first created to enable cryptocurrency but has since been widely touted for its potential to transform entire industries. Global spending on blockchain is forecast to reach nearly $19 billion in 2024, growing at a five-year compound annual growth rate of 46.4%. Do you work in the Financial Services industry ? Get business insights on the latest tech innovations, market trends, and your competitors with data-driven research .

As Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies have been picking up steam, focus has turned to blockchain – the underlying distributed ledger technology (DLT) that powers these digital currencies.

Blockchain technology is simple to understand at its roots. Basically, the tech exists as a shared database filled with entries that must be confirmed by peer-to-peer networks and encrypted.

It’s helpful to envision it as a strongly encrypted and verified shared Google Document, in which each entry in the sheet depends on a logical relationship to all its predecessors, and is agreed upon by everyone in the network.

But blockchain technology has many more potential use cases beyond other than just serving as the fuel behind Bitcoin. Below, we’ve outlined some of its emerging applications across finance, business, government, and other industries.

Blockchain Use Cases in Banking & Finance

International Payments

Blockchain provides a way to securely and efficiently create a tamper-proof log of sensitive activity. This makes it excellent for international payments and money transfers .

For example, in April 2018, Banco Santander launched the world’s first blockchain-based money transfer service . Known as “Santander One Pay FX,” the service uses Ripple’s xCurrent to enable customers to make same-day or next-day international money transfers.

By automating the entire process on the blockchain, Santander has reduced the number of intermediaries typically required in these transactions, making the process more efficient.

As a large commercial bank, Santander has numerous retail clients who would benefit from more efficient and cheaper payments, particularly in the area of international transfers. Blockchain technology can be used to decrease the cost of these transfers by reducing the need for banks to manually settle transactions.

Capital Markets

Blockchain-based systems also have the potential to improve capital markets. A McKinsey report identifies benefits that blockchain solutions offer capital markets, some of which include: 

Faster clearing and settlement  Consolidated audit trail Operational improvements

Startup Axoni was founded in 2013 and builds blockchain-based solutions specifically for capital market improvement. Most recently, Axoni announced the launch of a distributed ledger network to manage equity swap transactions – enabling both sides of an equity swap to be synchronized throughout their lifecycle, communicating changes to each other in real time.

Trade Finance

Historic methods of trade financing have been a major pain point for businesses because the slow processes often interrupt business and make liquidity hard to manage. Cross-border trade involves a large number of variables when communicating information – such as country of origin and product details – and transactions generate high volumes of documentation. 

Blockchain has the ability to streamline trade finance deals and simplify the process across borders. It enables enterprises to more easily transact with each other beyond regional or geographic boundaries. 

Regulatory Compliance and Audit

The extremely secure nature of blockchain makes it rather useful for accounting and auditing because it significantly decreases the possibility of human error and ensures the integrity of the records. On top of this, no one can alter the account records once they are locked in using blockchain tech, not even the record owners. The trade off here is that blockchain tech could ultimately eliminate the need for auditors and erase jobs.

Money Laundering Protection

Once again, the encryption that is so integral to blockchain makes it exceedingly helpful in combating money laundering. The underlying technology empowers record keeping, which supports “Know Your Customer (KYC),” the process through which a business identifies and verifies the identities of its clients.

Insurance

Arguably the greatest blockchain application for insurance is through smart contracts. These contracts allow customers and insurers to manage claims in a transparent and secure manner. All contracts and claims can be recorded on the blockchain and validated by the network, which would eliminate invalid claims, since the blockchain would reject multiple claims on the same accident. 

For example, openIDL, a network built on the IBM Blockchain Platform with the American Association of Insurance Services, is automating insurance regulatory reporting and streamlining compliance requirements.

Peer-to-Peer Transactions

P2P payment services such as Venmo are convenient, but they have limits. Some services restrict transactions based on geography. Others charge a fee for their use. And many are vulnerable to hackers, which is not appealing for customers who are putting their personal financial information out there. Blockchain technology, with all its aforementioned benefits, could fix these roadblocks.

Blockchain Applications in Business

Supply Chain Management

Blockchain’s immutable ledger makes it well suited to tasks such as real-time tracking of goods as they move and change hands throughout the supply chain. Using a blockchain opens up several options for companies transporting these goods. Entries on a blockchain can be used to queue up events with a supply chain — allocating goods newly arrived at a port to different shipping containers, for example. Blockchain provides a new and dynamic means of organizing tracking data and putting it to use. 

Healthcare

Health data that’s suitable for blockchain includes general information like age, gender, and potentially basic medical history data like immunization history or vital signs. On its own, none of this information would be able to specifically identify any particular patient, which is what allows it to be stored on a shared blockchain that could be accessed by numerous individuals without undue privacy concerns.

As specialized connected medical devices become more common and increasingly linked to a person’s health record, blockchain can connect those devices with that record. Devices will be able to store the data generated on a healthcare blockchain and append it to personal medical records. A key issue currently facing connected medical devices is the siloing of the data they generate — but blockchain could be the link that bridges those silos.

Real Estate

The average homeowner sells his or her home every five to seven years, and the average person will move nearly 12 times during their lifetime. With such frequent movement, blockchain could certainly be of use in the real estate market. It would expedite home sales by quickly verifying finances, reduce fraud thanks to its encryption, and offer transparency throughout the entire selling and purchasing process.

Media

Media companies have already started to adopt blockchain technology to eliminate fraud, reduce costs, and even protect Intellectual Property (IP) rights of content—like music records. According to MarketWatch , the global market for blockchain in media and entertainment is estimated to reach $1.54 billion by 2024.

One platform that has taken the spotlight in leveraging blockchain for media, is Eluvio, Inc. Formally launched in 2019 , Eluvio Content Fabric uses blockchain technology to enable content producers to manage and distribute premium video to consumers and business partners without content delivery networks. 

And recently, the platform has been tapped by media giant, MGM Studios for “global streaming to web, mobile, and TV everywhere audiences of ‘certain properties.'” 

Energy

Blockchain technology could be used to execute energy supply transactions, but also to further provide the basis for metering, billing, and clearing processes, according to PWC . Other potential applications include documenting ownership, asset management, origin guarantees, emission allowances, and renewable energy certificates.

Blockchain Applications in Government

Record Management

National, state, and local governments are responsible for maintaining individuals’ records such as birth and death dates, marital status, or property transfers. Yet managing this data can be difficult, and to this day some of these records only exist in paper form. And sometimes, citizens have to physically go to their local government offices to make changes, which is time-consuming, unnecessary, and frustrating. Blockchain technology could simplify this recordkeeping and make the data far more secure.

Identity Management

Proponents of blockchain tech for identity management claim that with enough information on the blockchain, people would only need to provide the bare minimum (date of birth, for example) to prove their identities.

Voting

Blockchain technology has the ability to make the voting process more easily accessible while improving security. Hackers would be no match to blockchain technology, because even if someone were to access the terminal, they wouldn’t be able to affect other nodes. Each vote would be attributed to one ID, and with the ability to create a fake ID being impossible, government officials could tally votes more efficiently and effectively. 

Like what you’re reading? Click here to learn more about Insider Intelligence’s leading Financial Services research .

Taxes

Blockchain tech could make the cumbersome process of filing taxes, which is prone to human error, much more efficient with enough information stored on the blockchain.

Non-Profit Agencies

Blockchain could solve the anti-trust problems charities are increasingly facing through greater transparency; the technology has the ability to show donors that NPOs are in fact using their money as intended. Furthermore, blockchain tech could help those NPOs tribute those funds more efficiently, manage their resources better, and enhance their tracking capabilities.

Compliance/Regulatory Oversight

The majority of regulatory oversight stems from recordkeeping, but the consequences of not maintaining records is inarguably much worse. Thus, compliance is non-negotiable for companies. Blockchain can make record updates available to regulators and businesses in real time, in turn reducing time lags and allowing red flags and inconsistencies to be spotted sooner.

Blockchain Applications in Other Industries

Financial Management and Accounting

If the blockchain is truly as secure as it has shown itself to be in the last several years, then such impenetrable security would be tantalizing for customers concerned with financial fraud.

Record Management

As stated earlier, the encryption that is central to blockchain makes it quite useful for record management because it prevents duplicates, fraudulent entries, and the like.

Cybersecurity

The biggest advantage for blockchain in cybersecurity is that it removes the risk of a single point of failure. Blockchain tech also provides end-to-end encryption and privacy.

Big Data

The immutable nature of blockchain, and the fact that every computer on the network is continually verifying the information stored on it, makes blockchain an excellent tool for storing big data.

Data Storage

The same principles for big data apply to data storage, as well.

IoT

Blockchain is poised to transform practices in a number of IoT sectors, including:

The supply chain: Tracking the location of goods as they are shipped, and ensuring that they stay within specified conditions. Asset tracking: Monitoring assets and machinery to record activity and output as an alternative to cloud solutions.

Despite these key areas where blockchain can be leveraged, the technology in the IoT is still dependent on startups.

Thank you for signing up for our newsletter!

You can read recent articles from Insider Intelligence here.

Powerful data and analysis on nearly every digital topic

Become a Client Categories: Financial Services

Editor's Picks

Financial Services | January 13, 2023

Financial Services Industry Overview in 2023: Trends, Statistics & Analysis

Financial Services | January 04, 2023

Top 10 Biggest US Banks by Assets in 2023

Financial Services | February 03, 2022

Buy Now Pay Later Report: Market trends in the ecommerce financing, consumer credit, and BNPL industry

Coverage →

Industries →

Advertising & Marketing

Social Media Content Marketing Email Marketing Video Browse All →

Health

Value-Based Care Digital Therapeutics Telehealth Online Pharmacy Browse All →

Ecommerce & Retail

Ecommerce Sales Mcommerce Retail Sales Social Commerce Browse All →

Technology

Connected Devices 5G Artificial Intelligence (AI) Browse All →

Financial Services

Banking Payments Fintech Wealth Management Browse All →

More Industries

Real Estate Customer Experience B2B Travel Small Business (SMB) Browse All →

Geographies

Asia-Pacific Central & Eastern Europe Latin America Middle East & Africa North America Western Europe

Insider Intelligence

Home Industries Forecasts About Careers Data Partnerships

Media Services

Advertising & Sponsorship Opportunities Newsroom Events

Free Content

Newsletters Articles Podcasts

Contact Us →

Worldwide HQ

11 Times Square New York, NY 10036 1-800-405-0844

Sales Inquiries

1-800-405-0844 ii-sales@insiderintelligence.com

* Copyright © 2023   Insider Intelligence Inc. All Rights Reserved. Privacy Policy Your Privacy Choices Terms of Service Sitemap
Posted 28 Comments