According to a forecast published by IDC Government Insights, the US government will increase its blockchain spending by more than 1000% between now and 2022.
The study, in fact, provides forecasts of the US government’s blockchain market for 2019-2022.
These forecasts say that the US government and local governments will increase spending from $4.4 million in 2017 to $48.2 million in 2022, with an overall increase in spending of more than 1,000% in four years.
Federal civilian agencies will increase from less than 20 million to more than 80 million, whereas the Department of Defense from 20 million to 40 million, also by 2022.
According to IDC, blockchain is likely to become a key technology for trade legislation and is likely
“to be implemented as a standard feature for some types of authorized international trade and also as a standard for many types of government procurement”.
Shawn P. McCarthy, director of research for IDC Government Insights, said:
“We believe asset management, identity management, and smart contracts will be the leading blockchain solutions for government. Early spending will focus on supply chain and asset management solutions, while spending in later years will expand to include more identity management and complex financial transactions”.
The hypothesis presented in the document refers to the adoption of hybrid systems, with private and public networks, which could be the most suitable for government agencies.
Indeed, while it is unlikely that government agencies will rely exclusively on public and decentralised blockchains, it is also true that these are the most innovative technological solutions in this area. Therefore, even public authorities will probably be forced to use decentralised blockchains, but perhaps they will use hybrid systems that also include centralised or permissioned tools.
