Enterprise Blockchain Adoption to Become Mainstream by 2026, Accelerating Market Restructuring with a Focus on Practicality
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By early 2026, the blockchain industry will have completely transitioned from its speculative nature centered around cryptocurrencies to a practical technology platform focused on enterprises. The global enterprise blockchain market size is expected to grow by 67%, from $18.9 billion in 2025 to $31.5 billion in 2026. This growth is primarily driven by the rapid adoption of solutions aimed at addressing specific business challenges, such as supply chain transparency, digital identity management, and ESG tracking systems. Notably, the adoption rate of blockchain-based tracking systems in the manufacturing and logistics sectors has increased by 156% year-over-year, demonstrating the technology’s practicality.
In South Korea, Samsung SDS is leading the Asia-Pacific enterprise blockchain market, recording a 4,200 billion won revenue in Q4 2025, an 89% increase from the previous year. The company offers supply chain transparency solutions through ‘Nexledger’ to major corporate clients like Hyundai Motor, LG Chem, and POSCO, providing component tracking, carbon footprint monitoring, and quality assurance systems. Samsung SDS plans to expand into the Japanese and Southeast Asian markets by the first half of 2026. Its blockchain platform can process 100,000 transactions per second, meeting the real-time data processing needs of large-scale manufacturers.
In the U.S. market, IBM (based in New York) and Microsoft (based in Redmond, Washington) are leading the competition in enterprise blockchain solutions. IBM’s ‘IBM Blockchain Platform’ was adopted by over 1,200 companies worldwide as of 2025, particularly utilized by global retailers like Walmart, Nestlé, and Unilever in the food safety tracking sector. Walmart reported that its blockchain-based food tracking system reduced the time to trace the cause of food safety incidents from seven days to 2.2 seconds, resulting in an annual cost-saving effect of $230 million.
Microsoft is expanding blockchain technology accessibility to small and medium-sized enterprises through its ‘Azure Blockchain Service’ based on the Azure cloud platform. As of Q4 2025, Azure blockchain service usage increased by 234% year-over-year, with high demand in digital identity verification and document integrity assurance. Microsoft plans to integrate post-quantum cryptography technology into its blockchain platform by 2026 to address quantum computer threats, securing long-term security.
Market Growth Driven by Supply Chain Transparency and ESG Tracking
The most significant growth driver for blockchain utilization in 2026 is the increased demand for transparency due to strengthened ESG (Environmental, Social, Governance) regulations. With the European Union’s Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD) and the U.S. SEC’s climate disclosure rules coming into effect, companies are required to objectively prove carbon emissions and supply chain transparency. Consequently, the blockchain-based carbon credit tracking market is expected to grow by 78%, from $2.3 billion in 2025 to $4.1 billion in 2026.
Oracle (based in Redwood City, California) is addressing this market demand through its blockchain-based supply chain management solution, ‘Oracle Blockchain Platform.’ The platform tracks the entire process from raw material procurement to final product delivery, monitoring carbon emissions, labor conditions, and environmental impacts in real-time. As of 2025, Oracle’s blockchain revenue increased by 112% year-over-year to $1.8 billion, with high adoption rates in the automotive, apparel, and electronics industries.
As a practical example, German automaker BMW uses Oracle’s blockchain platform to track the ethical sourcing of battery raw materials like cobalt and lithium. Through this system, BMW can verify child labor conditions in cobalt mining in the Democratic Republic of Congo in real-time and make supplier change decisions within 48 hours. BMW announced that securing such transparency improved its brand trust by 15% in the European market.
In the Asian market, Japan’s SoftBank is gaining attention by building a blockchain-based renewable energy trading platform. This platform records solar and wind energy generation on the blockchain, allowing companies to purchase the clean energy they need directly. As of 2025, 500 companies in Japan traded a total of 2.3 terawatt-hours of renewable energy through this platform, a 189% increase from the previous year.
Accelerating Innovation in Digital Identity and Financial Services
Another growth axis of enterprise blockchain is the innovation in digital identity management and financial services. With remote work and digital transactions becoming commonplace post-COVID-19, there is a surge in demand for secure and verifiable digital identity systems. The global digital identity market is expected to grow to $49.6 billion by 2026, with blockchain-based solutions accounting for 34% of this market.
Accenture (based in Dublin, Ireland) invested $1.2 billion in 2025 alone in developing blockchain-based digital identity solutions and is conducting related projects in 80 countries worldwide. The ‘Self-Sovereign Identity’ platform developed by the company allows individuals to manage their identity information directly while providing verifiable credentials when needed. The Singapore government is using this platform to build a national digital identity system that integrates citizens’ educational backgrounds, professional certifications, and medical records, with full implementation planned for the first half of 2026.
In the financial services sector, central bank digital currencies (CBDCs) and digital asset management are driving blockchain technology advancement. China’s digital yuan recorded a daily transaction volume of 15.4 billion yuan (approximately $2.1 billion) in 2025, becoming the most actively used CBDC globally. The European Central Bank (ECB) plans to start a pilot operation of the digital euro in the second half of 2026, investing 5 billion euros in blockchain-based payment infrastructure.
Commercial banks are also launching innovative financial services using blockchain technology. JPMorgan Chase provides real-time payment services between institutional investors through its self-developed blockchain network ‘JPM Coin,’ with a daily transaction volume exceeding $13 billion as of 2025. This has reduced payment time by 95% and fees by 60% compared to the existing SWIFT system. Goldman Sachs offers a blockchain-based digital asset trading platform that allows the tokenization and trading of real estate, artworks, and commodities, with platform trading volume reaching $28 billion in 2025.
However, significant challenges remain in blockchain technology adoption. The biggest issues are scalability and energy efficiency. Public blockchains like Bitcoin and Ethereum can still only process dozens of transactions per second, highlighting limitations in large-scale enterprise environments. Layer 2 solutions and sharding technology development are actively underway to address this, but full commercialization is expected to take another 2-3 years.
Regulatory uncertainty also remains a risk factor. In the U.S., disputes over digital asset jurisdiction between the SEC and CFTC continue, and the detailed implementation of Europe’s MiCA (Markets in Crypto-Assets) regulation has yet to be finalized. South Korea has established a relatively clear regulatory framework following the implementation of the Virtual Asset User Protection Act in 2024, but specific guidelines for enterprise blockchain solutions are still lacking. Due to this regulatory uncertainty, some companies are delaying blockchain adoption, which is constraining market growth by about 10-15% annually.
From a technical perspective, interoperability issues are emerging as a major challenge. The current market has various competing blockchain platforms like Ethereum, Hyperledger, and R3 Corda, but the lack of data compatibility among them makes it difficult for companies to use multiple platforms simultaneously. To address this, Polkadot and Cosmos are developing cross-chain solutions, but they have yet to secure enterprise-grade stability. Industry experts predict that full interoperability between major blockchain platforms will be realized around 2027.
Nevertheless, the long-term outlook for blockchain technology is very positive. Gartner predicts that the global blockchain market size will reach $1.2 trillion by 2030, with enterprise solutions accounting for more than 75% of this market. As the convergence with AI and IoT technologies accelerates, blockchain is expected to become a key infrastructure ensuring data integrity and security. From an investment perspective, global venture capital investment in blockchain-related companies reached $8.9 billion in 2025, a 67% increase from the previous year, with more than 80% focused on enterprise solution development companies, indicating market maturity. 2026 is analyzed to be a turning point where blockchain transitions from a speculative technology to an essential enterprise infrastructure, providing long-term growth momentum for related companies.
This analysis is intended for general informational purposes only and is not a solicitation or recommendation for investment. Investment decisions should be made based on individual judgment and responsibility.
