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Blockchain Statistics: Where Will It Be in 10 Years?
Blockchain was created by a group of developers operating under the pseudonym Satoshi Nakamoto in 2009. However, what many blockchain statistics won’t state is that discussions about similar technologies date back to the early nineties. As early as 1991, computer scientists were outlining the idea of a cryptographically secure chain of blocks, and in 1998, the first decentralized digital currency was created.
It hasn’t been until recently, however, that the blockchain industry really took off. In recent years, central banks have started experimenting with the idea of “stablecoins,” or blockchain currency backed by fiat money and other real-world assets. Enterprise companies are minting their own coins, and almost 70 million people worldwide have cryptocurrency wallets.
Let’s look at some more fascinating statistics about this complex technology.
Top 10 Blockchain Statistics & Facts: Editor’s Choice
The blockchain market is anticipated to be worth over $1 trillion by 2030.
In 2021, spending on blockchain solutions was estimated to reach over $6.6 billion.
Blockchain startup activity is shifting away from the US and into China.
By 2025, 745 million cross-border B2B blockchain transactions are expected to happen in Asia alone.
In 2021, the payments segment accounted for more than 44% of the blockchain market.
IBM is expected to be the biggest player in the blockchain market between now and 2030.
Payments and financial instruments on the blockchain could boost global GDP by $433 billion by 2030.
The top use case for the blockchain in the next ten years will be provenance.
In April 2023, the number of blockchain wallet users worldwide was over 82 million.
The blockchain market experienced growth due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
Blockchain Market Statistics
The blockchain market is expected to grow very quickly in the next five years. In 2021, the market size was estimated to be around $5 billion. By 2026, it is forecast that the blockchain market will be valued at over $67.4 billion. The compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of the market during this time is expected to be about 68%.
The blockchain market is anticipated to be worth over $1 trillion by 2030.
The market is expected to grow at a CAGR of 85.9% from 2023 to 2030. The Covid-19 pandemic is expected to contribute to market growth as demand for ecommerce continues to grow. US government agencies are also demanding blockchain-based technologies for various applications as the blockchain provides enhanced data security.
(Grand View Research)
In 2021, spending on blockchain solutions was estimated to reach over $6.6 billion.
Since 2017, spending on blockchain solutions has risen dramatically as the blockchain market size has increased. Forecasts project that spending could increase to as much as $19 billion by 2024. The distribution of this spending leaned heavily toward the banking industry, which has the largest market share.
(Statista)
The banking industry has about 30% of the total blockchain market share.
The market sector that makes up the largest portion of blockchain spending is the banking industry, with about 30% of the total market share. This is not surprising, considering that payments make up the largest percentage of activity on the blockchain, according to blockchain transaction statistics. The next largest economic sector on the blockchain is process manufacturing, which has about 11.4% of the market.
(Statista)
The size of the global blockchain market in manufacturing is expected to reach $778 million in 2026.
The global blockchain market in manufacturing grew 73% in 2021, primarily due to companies stabilizing output after demand increased during the pandemic. In 2023, the blockchain market in the manufacturing sector is worth $85.64 million, up from $49.5 million in 2021. It’s expected to grow at a CAGR of 73.6% between 2023 and 2026.
(Globe News Wire)
Blockchain Usage Statistics
Blockchain technology is useful for more than just cryptocurrency. Although cryptocurrency and banking transactions are a major use case now, other uses like determining the provenance for company supply chains and proving credentials will become more widespread. Identity and contracts and dispute resolution will also be supported by blockchain technology.
Cross-border payments are the top use case for blockchain technology worldwide.
One of the little-known blockchain facts is that even central banks use it to make international payments. Cross-border payments are the process of countries submitting payments or remittances to each other. It has historically been an expensive and difficult process due to bank transfer fees and currency conversions. With more banks using blockchain technology, however, cross-border payments have become cheaper via cryptocurrency.
Currently, cross-border payments account for about 16% of the blockchain tech market. The next-largest use-case by market share is lot lineage and provenance, capturing about 10.7% of the market.
(Statista)
The top use case for the blockchain in the next ten years will be provenance.
Blockchain metrics indicate that the top five uses of the blockchain in the next ten years will be provenance, payments and financial instruments, identity, contracts and dispute resolution, and customer engagement. The provenance of the blockchain is expected to boost the global GDP by $962 billion by 2030.
(PwC)
By 2025, approximately 745 million cross-border B2B transactions are expected to happen on the blockchain in Asia alone.
B2B cross-border transactions that are finalized on the blockchain are expected to rise in the coming years. Although blockchain adoption has been highest in the United States, adoption by B2B companies in Asia is on the rise. Currently, the Asian market controls about one-third of B2B cross-border transactions and is expected to see 745 million transactions by 2025. The next-largest market for B2B cross-border transactions is Europe, which is expected to see 466 million transactions in 2025.
(Statista)
In 2021, the payments segment accounted for more than 44% of the blockchain market.
The payments segment controls the largest portion of the blockchain usage market, at 44% of global revenue. While this segment is expected to grow between now and 2030, the digital identity sector is expected to grow at a faster CAGR. This growth will be fueled by partnerships between blockchain technology companies like Ontology and digital identity companies like Spherity GmbH.
(Grand View Research)
IBM is expected to be the biggest player in the blockchain market between now and 2030.
The biggest blockchain companies in the next decade are anticipated to be IBM, Microsoft, The Linux Foundation, and BTL. The leading technology types that will be supported by blockchain technology are expected to be public and private clouds.
(Grand View Research)
The blockchain market experienced growth due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
One of the unexpected trends that rose out of the pandemic was that Covid-19 fueled the growth of blockchain. This growth is expected to continue in the coming decade. Blockchain technologies are being used by hospitals to track the application of the Covid-19 vaccine. Others are using blockchain technologies to monitor the temperature-sensitive storage of vaccines.
(Grand View Research)
Blockchain Adoption Statistics
Adoption levels for blockchain are highest among people involved in the financial services industry—and particularly among “FSI pioneers.” FSI pioneers are people who work at companies that are already implementing blockchain solutions, and who generally have a favorable outlook on blockchain tech or who view it as crucial to the future of the financial industry.
More than 300 million people either owned or used cryptocurrency in 2021.
The demand for cryptocurrency is increasing because of the enhanced security and ease of transaction offered by the blockchain. The use of the blockchain technology market is on the rise, and blockchain demand is expected to continue to rise through 2030, with cryptocurrency and blockchain-supported ticketing systems driving the market growth.
(Grand View Research)
Payment systems and financial instruments on the blockchain are expected to boost global GDP by $433 billion by 2030.
Worldwide, central banks are exploring how the blockchain can improve payment infrastructure through central bank-issued digital currencies (CBDCs.) Blockchain growth in several areas, including payment systems and provenance, is expected to significantly boost global GDP by 2030. Central banks are also experimenting with “stablecoins” which are cryptocurrencies backed by fiat money or other real-world assets.
(PwC)
Cybersecurity is the biggest barrier to the worldwide adoption of blockchain technologies.
The top barriers to widespread blockchain use, according to the blockchain statistics from the financial services industry, are cybersecurity, regulatory barriers, and financial infrastructure. FSI pioneers believe that regulatory barriers are the biggest hurdle, while the rest of the FSI believes that cybersecurity is a bigger obstacle.
(Deloitte)
Financial services industry (FSI) pioneers are most likely to have strong convictions about the importance of blockchain technology.
About 96% of FSI pioneers believe that blockchain is broadly scalable and has achieved mainstream adoption, compared to 84% of the FSI overall, and just 81% of the general population. Blockchain stats indicate that FSI pioneers are also more likely to say that their industry will see new revenue streams from the blockchain (93% of FSI pioneers believe this, compared to 80% of general FSI and 80% of the overall population.)
According to Deloitte, an FSI pioneer is a subset of people who work in the financial services industry who are on the cutting edge of blockchain technology and whose organizations have already implemented blockchain solutions.
(Deloitte)
In April 2023, the number of blockchain wallet users worldwide was over 82 million.
Blockchain wallets were introduced in 2015, with a user base of just 3.5 million people. The number of people using blockchain wallets has grown steadily since then, with 52 million people using them in 2020, and almost 70 million users at the beginning of 2021. The sheer volume of blockchain wallet users is expected to grow as mobile technologies improve accessibility.
(Statista)
About 61% of CEOs put “digital transformation” at the top of their priority list.
One of the more interesting blockchain future trends is that CEOs across the world are hoping to transform their core business processes and operations to run on blockchain technologies. Blockchain technologies can help businesses retain consumer trust by providing a secure ledger of transactions along the supply chain, as well as increased data security and protection from fraud and cybercrime.
(PwC)
Blockchain Statistics 2023
As blockchain technology experiences widespread adoption and more use cases emerge, the number of companies involved in the blockchain will continue to rise. What other emerging trends can we see in the blockchain today? Will digital assets become as important to the economy as some people think they will? Will China overtake the US as the leader in blockchain startup activity? Let’s look at some stats to find out.
The financial services industry expects to see a significant positive impact from digital assets in the coming years.
Blockchain growth statistics indicate that 53% of FSI pioneers and 43% of FSI overall believe that stablecoins and central bank digital currencies will have a significant positive impact on their industry. Additionally, 43% of FSI pioneers and 33% of FSIs overall think that enterprise-controlled coins will have a significant effect on the financial services industry in the next few years.
(Deloitte)
Blockchain startup activity is shifting away from the US and into China.
In 2015, the United States was the dominant player when it came to the number of blockchain startups. At that time, 51% of the total blockchain startup deals happened in the US while only a fraction happened in China. By 2019, however, the two countries were seeing a more balanced distribution of blockchain startup deal activity, with 31% of deals happening in the US and 22% in China.
(Statista)
As of 2023, Ant Group was the most-funded Chinese fintech startup.
Blockchain stats show that the funding of the fintech startup Ant Group reached $22 billion in 2020, making it the most highly funded fintech startup in China. The top funders were General Atlantic and Sequoia Capital. Ant Group is an innovative tech company that aims to equalize access to financial technology for all consumers and small businesses.
Another lesser-known fact about blockchain is that Alibaba, Ant Group’s parent company, holds the most blockchain patents of any company.
(Statista, Ant Group)
Exactly 100% of FSI pioneers believe that digital assets will be very important to their industry over the next two years.
Recent trends in blockchain have seen the rise in the popularity of digital assets like NFTs. All FSI pioneers believe that digital assets will play a critical role in the immediate future of their industry. Comparatively, only 79% of non-pioneer FSI workers believe this. Additionally, 94% of FSI pioneers believe that digital assets will become a viable alternative to fiat currency in the next 5 to 10 years.
(Deloitte)
The average size of a block on the blockchain is 1.06 MB.
The total blockchain size is unknown, but we do know that the size of the Bitcoin blockchain is over 400GB. The average number of transactions per block is about 2500. About 6000 payments are made per block per 24 hours, and the total number of transactions on the blockchain as of June 2023 was 740 million.
(Blockchain)
Blockchain FAQ
Is the blockchain industry growing?
Yes, the blockchain industry has seen unprecedented growth in the last two years and is predicted to continue to grow over the coming decade. The blockchain market is expected to be worth over $1 trillion by 2030. Global spending on blockchain passed $6.5 million in 2021, and the size of the blockchain market in manufacturing alone is expected to grow to $778 in 2026.
(Statista, Globe News Wire, Grand View Research)
How long has the blockchain been around?
The blockchain officially launched over ten years ago, in 2009. A group of developers working under the pseudonym Satoshi Nakamoto developed the first blockchain as the public ledger for transactions that used Bitcoin. One of the most interesting facts about blockchain is that the idea actually extends as far back as the early nineties. Stuart Haber and W Scott Stornetta first described the idea of a cryptographically secure chain of blocks in 1991. In 1998, Nick Szabo created “bit gold,” the first decentralized digital currency.
(ICAEW)
How big is the Bitcoin blockchain?
The Bitcoin blockchain size is currently 410 gigabytes. It has grown in the last year, up from 349 GB in July of 2021. This is a change of about 17.5% from a year ago. The blockchain appears to grow linearly, with incremental growth happening every day. This size includes headers and transactions, it does not include database indexes.
(YCharts)
How many blockchain companies are there?
In 2019 in the United States alone there were over 726 blockchain companies. The US is the market leader in terms of the number of blockchain companies, although China does appear to be catching up to the United States when it comes to the number of blockchain startups. The biggest blockchain companies to watch are A.P. Moller-Maersk, Ant Group, Baidu, and BHP.
(Statista, Forbes)
Where is blockchain data stored?
Blockchain is decentralized. That means there is no one location where blockchain data is stored. Blockchain data is stored across all of the computers that are connected to the network. Each computer is called a “node” and retains one copy of the entire blockchain (meaning, the transactions that have been done on the network.) When a transaction occurs, data about the transaction is broadcast across the entire network until every node has a record of it. Some of the nodes (called “miners”) validate the transaction, and at that point the data becomes immutable. This feature is the main reason why blockchain technology is here to stay.
(101 Blockchains)
Blockchain Statistics: The Takeaway
Blockchain is a complicated and frequently misunderstood technology. Many are quick to dismiss its potential, however, it’s likely that blockchain acceptance levels will continue to grow throughout the coming decade. Projections by industry experts indicate that central banks and other financial institutions will continue to explore and experiment with blockchain solutions.
According to blockchain trends, the market size is predicted to increase dramatically over the next 8-10 years, with cryptocurrency and provenance solutions being the primary drivers of market growth. Cybersecurity and regulatory barriers are the primary obstacles standing in the way of the widespread global adoption of blockchain technology.
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