Dive Brief:

• Blockchain technology could evolve from relative obscurity to become more mainstream in 2017, bolstered by a swell of anti-establishment sentiment that resulted in outcomes like Brexit in the U.K. and the election of Donald Trump in the U.S., Reuters reports. 

• Though the financial industry has dominated the use of blockchain so far, experts predict significant growth in the use of blockchain in others areas in 2017. President-elect Trump recently appointed Congressman Mick Mulvaney, a strong supporter of blockchain, as budget director.

• Experts also warn that use of the tech won’t happen overnight, as blockchain technology is still in need of significant development. But Eric Piscini, a principal with Deloitte Consulting LLP, said in a blog he believes blockchain must prove at least some concrete worth this year or risk "enterprise fatigue." Piscini said there are currently too many blockchain proofs-of-concepts and not enough live implementations.

Dive Insight:

Blockchain may be best known in the financial industry, but one of the key appeals of blockchain is that transmissions and movements can be audited through log data, so the technology has potential for a wide range of uses as well.

Last year, several banks and corporations began testing blockchain to reduce costs and condense processing times. However, industries outside of banking are now expected to grow their use of the technology more than the financial services sector in 2017 driven by, among other things, the desire to find ways to accomplish tasks in unconventional ways.

According to a survey released by Deloitte in December, executives in the technology, consumer products and manufacturing, and media and telecommunications industries plan to spend the most on blockchain technology this year.