Gartner, a leading research and advisory firm, sees significant potential in blockchain and distributed ledger technologies and consider it to be one of the ‘Top 10 Strategic Technology Trends for 2017’.

Speaking at Gartner Symposium/ITxpo on the Gold Coast, David Furlonger, research vice president and Gartner Fellow, said the implications of blockchain technology for our society go beyond our imagination.

“This is not about the technology, it’s about trust,” said Furlonger. “We now have a digital capability to represent any form of value that is privately issued – you can become your own banker, insurance agent or foreign exchange teller. What does that mean for how society operates today? What are the implications for governance, our tax system and our legal framework?”

With the global financial sector jumping on the blockchain bandwagon, Gartner recommends CIOs to build a list of potential blockchain use cases for their own industry to discuss with the CEO.

Gartner expects that by 2022, an innovative business built on a blockchain will be worth $10 billion. However, Furlonger believes that many of the solutions currently being developed using blockchain technology could be done using existing, tested and proven systems such as relational databases hosted in a cloud.

“Many of the examples Gartner is seeing we would class as ‘blockchain washing’ – the technology label has been stuck in front of an existing product solution or service,” he said.

Gartner predicts that through 2018, 85% of blockchain-named projects will deliver business value without using the technology.

Furthermore, Furlonger believes that the society is not yet ready for self-regulation and the potential for criminal misuse of the technology.

“We may all jump on board with cryptocurrencies and other blockchain enabled services, or we could have a backlash. Governments could step in and try to exercise some control. More likely, there will be a kind of ‘arctic slide’ where people will become used to one application of the technology and become increasingly comfortable with it.”

“I do believe that blockchain is going to fundamentally change the society in which we live. Not tomorrow but within our lifetime,” said Furlonger.