Report: Middle East and Africa’s Blockchain Spending to Surge 400% by 2023

Published at: Feb. 14, 2020

As global blockchain adoption is accelerating, countries in the Middle East and Africa (MEA) are forecasted to massively increase their spending on the tech in the next few years.

According to a new report by United States-based market research firm International Data Corporation (IDC), governments across MEA will see a 400% surge in their investment to blockchain-based solutions in four years.

MEA to increase blockchain spending from $21 million in 2019 to $105 million by 2023

Issued on Feb. 12, the IDC report outlines that blockchain tech is increasingly growing its share in digital transformation initiatives in the MEA region. Specifically, MEA countries are predicted to increase its blockchain spending from $21 million in 2019 to as much as $105 million by 2023, with a compound annual growth rate of nearly 50%.

According to the report, the authorities in the MEA region are actively developing blockchain-enabled solutions to reduce fraud, increase security and improve public administration.

Jyoti Lalchandani, vice president and regional managing director at the IDC's division for the Middle East, Turkey, and Africa, emphasized that governments in the MEA region are facing a challenge to learn a whole new set of technologies like blockchain. Lalchandani also noted that many governmental structures are not prepared for digital transformation:

"Governments across the region are under mounting pressure to become both more efficient and more effective. However, this is proving to be a troublesome task as many government organizations are simply not prepared for digital redesign. Whether it's finding ways to integrate 5G, AI, and blockchain or protect against intrusions on digital trust, government agencies have a whole new set of IT skills to learn.”

Blockchain’s share in total digital transformation spending is small

Despite blockchain being increasingly explored in MEA countries, blockchain spending still accounts for a small part of the total digital transformation initiatives. According to the IDC, MEA countries spent a combined $12.8 billion in 2019 on digital transformation as a whole, and is expected to cross the $15 billion mark by 2023.

The IDC has been continuously updating blockchain spending predictions as the sector develops. The research company had previously predicted that global blockchain spending would amount to nearly $3 billion in 2019, with a 89% surge from 2018. The IDC also forecasted that this figure would hit almost $16 billion in 2023. 

While the MEA region is expected to see a significant surge in its blockchain spending, other regions like Asia/Pacific excluding Japan (APEJ) are projected to spend far more than $105 million in the coming years. According to another IDC prediction, the APEJ will be spending as much as $2.4 billion on blockchain by 2022.

Tags
Adoption
Technology
Blockchain
Government
Research
Africa
Mainstream
Middle East
Related Posts
Australian government awards $4M in grants to two blockchain startups
Australia’s Minister for Industry, Science and Technology announced 5.6 million Australian dollars ($4.2 million) in grants to two blockchain-focused companies, including traceability firm Everledger and technology consulting startup Convergence.tech. Everledger, a company focused on building a global registry for diamonds, has received 3 million AUD ($2.2 million) to investigate blockchain technology’s use cases for creating digital certifications for critical minerals through the extraction and movement phases. As previously reported, the firm was deploying blockchain technology by software giant IBM for a transparency platform for the diamond industry. Covergence.tech received $2.6 million AUD ($2 million) to apply blockchain technology for automatic …
Adoption / July 13, 2021
Online Sentiment Toward Crypto Market in 2019 — Attitudes Are Positive
Despite all of the bad press that the digital asset industry continues to receive on an almost daily basis, it appears as though the overall sentiment of the online communities in regard to this burgeoning domain is still pretty positive. For example, Comparitech — a research firm that provides its consumers with a host of specialized data that allows one to make more informed decisions — recently used a machine learning-based analysis tool to study more than 48K Reddit posts to determine which cryptocurrencies were viewed most favorably by the masses. Not only that, the study also took into consideration …
Adoption / Aug. 7, 2019
Here’s what’s happening in Web3 across Africa
Whatever you prefer to call it — crypto, blockchain or Web3 — this new segment of the digital economy is booming across Africa. If you’ve been sleeping on the sector, now’s a good time to wake up. Why? Well for one, according to analytics firm Chainalysis, Africa’s crypto market increased in value by more than 1,200% between July 2020 and June 2021. Led by especially high adoption rates in Kenya, South Africa, Nigeria and Tanzania, Africa had the third-fastest growing cryptocurrency economy worldwide during that period. And that’s not all. Chainalysis also found that Africa leads the world in the …
Decentralization / April 10, 2022
Argentina’s Dep. Finance Minister: Crypto Adoption Could Reduce Demand for US Dollar
Huobi Group CEO Leon Li met with senior Argentinian finance officials this week to discuss the role of blockchain and crypto in the country’s economy, according to a press release shared with Cointelegraph on March 29. In a meeting in Beijing, Argentina’s Deputy Minister of Finance, Felix Martin Soto, claimed that the government should address crypto and blockchain tech as a way to promote Argentina’s financial inclusion and reduce state costs. Soto, who leads Argentina’s international financial relations, explained that half of the country’s population does not have bank accounts and operate cash transactions by converting their savings to United …
Adoption / March 29, 2019
US State of Connecticut Introduces Bill to Authorize Smart Contract Use in Commerce
A committee of the Connecticut state legislature has proposed to authorize the use of smart contracts in commerce in the state, according to official documentation introduced on March 7. The Commerce Committee of the Connecticut General Assembly (CGA) has introduced House Bill 7310, suggesting that blockchain-powered smart contracts may be used in commerce conducted or initiated in the United States state of Connecticut. The committee elaborated that any cryptographic signature or a record secured through distributed ledger technology (DLT) should be considered to be in an electronic form and an electronic record. The CGA Commerce Committee emphasized that no smart …
Adoption / March 8, 2019