Blockchain is now an established technology solution in a wide range of industries. Its ability to verify and trace multi-step transactions is used to guarantee the transfer of assets, such as IP and legal documents, and the delivery of services, from finance to healthcare. Compared to using a centralised authority, it is a cheaper and more reliable single source of truth.

The hype surrounding blockchain was driven by its association with crypto currencies, which is one (very small) use case of the technology. But unlike crypto currency applications, industrial blockchain applications are built on stable principles, the technology is now mature, the energy consumption of processing is sustainable, and adoption is at pace in many industries – Gartner projects that the blockchain industry will grow to USD$3.1 trillion by 2030, and blockchain is now available as a service from a wide range of providers including Google, IBM, Siemens & Microsoft.

Like all enabling technology, blockchain on its own offers little return as an investment asset now that it is mature. The investment opportunities lie in the services it can enable, which will increase in number and scale with the growing adoption of smart contracts, decentralised authentication and permission-less access that lies at the heart of the next generation Web 3.0.