The Future Of Blockchain: Fintech 50 2020
Everledger founder and CEO Leanne Kemp is now using blockchain to track 900,000 karats of diamonds.
EVERLEDGER / HANNAH PHOTOGRAPHY
With the price of bitcoin more than doubling from $3,400 to $10,000 since last year’s Fintech 50 list, it’s perhaps no surprise to see some of the largest, and most innovative cryptocurrency companies still holding onto their place on the annual list of startups blazing new trails in financial technology. But what is notably different this year are some mind-numbingly imaginative applications of cryptocurrency that make bitcoin look like child’s play and some new applications of blockchain that don’t involve cryptocurrency at all.
Returning to the list this year after a hiatus is cryptocurrency investigation and compliance company Chainalysis, which generated $8 million in revenue in the last complete fiscal year, helping government agencies track down criminals using cryptocurrency and businesses comply with complex regulatory requirements, and in the process becoming the first cryptocurrency company to earn a spot on the Forbes Next Billion-Dollar Startups list. Also new is blockchain startup Everledger, which is now tracking 900,000 carats worth of diamonds on its blockchain, and MakerDAO, which generated $10 million in interest from loans using cryptocurrency as collateral.
Gone from the list are three notable crypto veterans. Bitcoin mining firm Bitfury fell from the list after generating $500 million of revenue in 2018, with an expected drop this year, though to help diversify, it has also expanded its non mining services for enterprises adopting blockchain. Early cryptocurrency firm Circle last year spun off the Poloniex cryptocurrency exchange it acquired for a reported $400 million, refocusing its work on so-called stablecoins that serve no purpose as speculative instruments, but can be used to make purchases (as can more traditional cryptocurrencies), without the lengthy delays associated with cross-border transactions. Cryptocurrency exchange Gemini was also dropped from the list after declining to share information about how its core trading business is doing. Interestingly, Gemini is also getting into the stablecoin space, which may end up having long-term value, but which is currently difficult to monetize.
Veterans on the list, last year, still on in 2020 are Axoni, which just launched a new equity swaps platform with Goldman Sachs and Citigroup as early users, Coinbase, which is focusing on institutional investors, and Ripple, the payments company whose founders created the XRP cryptocurrency, now being used in 10% of Moneygram transactions from the U.S. to Mexico.