Blockchain: Opportunities for Private Enterprises in Emerging Markets

For this report, IFC worked with key influencers and experts in the world of blockchain, distributed ledgers, and digital finance to create a series of six in-depth chapters examining the potential and perils of blockchain. These documents collectively examine the general contours and technology underlying blockchain, its growing impact in the financial services sector, and its implications for emerging markets.

The research provides an overview of the technology and its unfolding applications in emerging markets. It examines whether blockchain can be used to mitigate de-risking by financial institutions and looks more closely at the financial services sector. It includes an overview of how blockchain plays into the wider spectrum of financial technology (fintech) innovations and the resulting provision of financial services, and an analysis of blockchain’s contribution to reaching the unbanked and underbanked in various emerging markets, including in Latin America, Asia and countries in Sub-Saharan Africa. Finally, the paper looks “beyond fintech” and explores how developments in applied blockchain technology can impact agribusiness, drug safety and more generally provide enforcement tools to promote the reach of sustainable and inclusive business.