The blockchain sector, encompassing everything from business-level implementation of distributed ledger technology (“DLT”) to cryptocurrency trading and mining, has passed the stage of fighting for legitimacy. Now fully established and globally recognized, its expansion and development tour is underway.

The industry’s participation pool has drastically shifted since its earlier days when essentially only CypherPunks and political idealists believed in the disruptive space. Now, market participants include Microsoft and IBM, Main Street investors, hedge funds and R&D firms to name a few. With the industry on the rise in so many respects, an abundance of implications are emerging.

Even though Bitcoin introduced the world to blockchain technology nearly a decade ago, its mainstream appeal and subsequent implantation are still relatively recent developments. While Bitcoin was launched largely to disrupt the traditional banking and financial systems of the world, a much broader range of separate industries and applications are now being touched by DLT.

In fact, leading blockchain technology and cryptocurrency news platform CoinDesk recently published its State of Blockchain – Q4 2017 report which exhibits some insightful findings about the burgeoning industry. From the standpoint of public interest, global Google searches on major blockchain topics have skyrocketed over the past half-decade.

Perhaps unsurprisingly so, as public blockchain-based digital assets put to shame the gains of other traditional investments via their 2017 performances. 

Perhaps the biggest, most notable advancements in the blockchain industry, however, are stemming from the enterprise end. Microsoft Azure, the software giant’s blockchain initiative, is making waves in the sector. According to the company’s website, “Microsoft is bringing blockchain to the enterprise, working with customers, partners, and the blockchain community to continually advance its enterprise readiness. Our mission is to help companies thrive in this new era of secure multiparty collaboration by delivering platforms and services that any company—including ledger startups, retailers, health providers, and global banks—can use to improved shared business processes.”

Microsoft is now in association with R3, a leading DLT R&D company that leads a consortium of more than 100 members, also including Accenture, EY, KPMG, Intel, and more.

Sound promising? Analysis by independent research firm Tractica estimates that annual revenue generated by global enterprise blockchain activity will increase with a 26.2%. compound annual growth rate over the coming years. Such an occurrence would mean a jump from approximately $2.5 billion in 2016 to a staggering $19.9 billion by 2025.

The impact that blockchain technology is having on the business world is beyond question. From marketing initiatives and financial reporting to commerce on the largest levels, DLT is helping streamline transactions and optimize commercial efforts. For example, the current lifecycle of asset trading includes many, many steps – DLT will likely be able to significantly cut down the process.

Current issues with regards to ownership rights for property, art, and more are also likely be rectified through blockchain projects. A Grant Thornton article explains, “Blockchain technology can play a crucial role to mitigate this situation by providing clarity to copyright authors, owners and users. By registering their works via blockchain, authors could end up with tamper-proof evidence of ownership. This is because a blockchain transaction is immutable, so once a work has been registered to a blockchain, that information can never (or it would be overwhelmingly difficult for same to) be lost or changed.”

Taking a moment to peel back all the disruptive applications, blockchain at its core is truly about the optimization of data storage and management. The trust and efficiency that DLT is offering to institutions and individuals alike in how they interact with their data is what truly makes the technology so groundbreaking.

“Blockchain technology is introducing an unprecedented ability to create synergy between data system, data security and the data itself,” said Serge Beck, CEO and Founder of Optherium Labs, a blockchain-based financial security company. “As people start to utilize and value their data in increased amounts, the breakthrough of distributed systems will prove invaluable to how personal and institutional information is managed.”

Optherium Labs was one of many blockchain-focused entities to attend the Global Blockchain Foundation's recent summit in February and will also appear at a number of Hyperledger conferences later this year. Other notable upcoming industry events in 2018 include the Dubai-based World Blockchain Forum in April, New York City-based Consensus in May and BlockShow Asia which will take place in Singapore later this year.

2018 looks to follow up last year’s continued outbreak for the budding sector. As more institutions, applications, capital investments and public interest flow into the industry, expect the market for all-things-blockchain to continue generating innovation and headlines around the world.