BLOCKCHAIN – Near Term Consulting Bonanza

It has become clear to us that 2016 will go down as the year the blockchain officially became a strategic priority for many companies to better understand. Not surprisingly, as a strategic advisor and investment bank, we are witnessing first-hand the collective interest in and desire to acquire expertise in this new technology/platform/business process. Large Global enterprises, well beyond financial institutions, and private equity investors alike are all trying to figure out this new paradigm and grapple with its near-limitless applications. Blockchain, the distributed ledger technology behind the world’s most accepted crypto currency, Bitcoin, is now being used as the foundation for numerous advancements in transaction technology. From executing smart contracts to remitting payments abroad to automating compliance processes, the blockchain is expected to disrupt an extensive list of industries.

Our team recently attended the 2016 Blockchains and Digital Currencies conference in NYC where we met with some of the biggest investors and entrepreneurs focused on the blockchain. The energy at the conference was electric – every one had a unique take, not only on how this technology can best be applied, but also at the most basic, how to understand and describe this technology. The latter theme was a common one, mostly associated with a demand for services around the blockchain. We expect this demand will continue to grow and will ultimately result in multiple waves of activity – beginning with capital raises for the rapidly growing players, then converting to M&A for those that have achieved scale. What is not yet clear is the time table. This is a very young industry that has to mature and there is no telling where the investments in this space will actually lead. Nevertheless, based on the demand we are seeing, one thing has become crystal clear to our Clearsight team – the forecast of over $1 billion to be spent in the next 24 months on the “blockchain revolution” will disproportionately be allocated to high level consulting organizations that can assist their clients with both understanding the opportunity and strategically planning how best to deploy blockchain solutions to enhance business processes globally.