Gartner identifies the four phases of the Blockchain spectrum

Blockchain is forecast to generate $3.1 trillion in new business value worldwide by 2030, half of it by 2025 with applications designed for operational improvement, according to Gartner. “Beyond operational improvements and increased efficiency, fully mature Blockchain complete solutions will allow organizations to re-engineer business relationships, monetize illiquid assets and redistribute data and value flows to more successfully engage with the digital world. That is the real business of Blockchain,” said David Furlonger, distinguished research vice-president and Gartner Fellow. “To unlock this potential, CIOs should use a framework to help their organizations better understand the timing of investments and the value proposition for Blockchain usage based on different solution archetypes.”

The Blockchain Spectrum is made up of four evolutionary phases that segment solution offerings and characteristics, some of which won’t fully develop for years, but will have critical implications for the future of business and society.

Blockchain-Enabling Technologies

These technologies provide the foundation upon which existing future Blockchain solutions can be created and business modeled. This foundation can also be used as part of nonblockchain solutions; for example, to improve the operational efficiency

Blockchain-Inspired

In 2012, business leaders, primarily in financial services, started exploring Blockchain through proofs of concepts and pilots. This phase will last through the early 2020s. Blockchain-inspired solutions leverage the foundational technologies but use only three of the five elements of Blockchain — distribution, encryption and immutability.

Blockchain-Complete

Blockchain-complete solutions deliver the full value proposition of Blockchain using all five elements — distribution, encryption, immutability, tokenization and decentralization. Blockchain-complete solutions will feature tokenization enabled by smart contracts and decentralization, two components Blockchain-inspired solutions lack.

Enhanced Blockchain

After 2025, complementary technologies such as the Internet of Things (IoT), artificial intelligence (AI) and decentralized self-sovereign identity (SSI) solutions will converge and become more integrated with Blockchain networks. The resulting enhanced Blockchain solutions will expand the types of customer and the value that can be tokenized and exchanged and will enable a large number of smaller transactions to occur that would not be possible with traditional mechanisms.