What are the big companies on Forbes’ Blockchain 50 doing with blockchain?

Source | Forbes

Compiled by Heimi@Baize Research Institute

Since its inception in 2018, the Forbes Blockchain 50 has documented the use of blockchain technology by approximately 114 companies around the world.

Starting in 2019, the billion-dollar companies on the annual list have moved beyond the testing phase of blockchain projects and are now relying on the “distributed ledger” technology for work such as verifying insurance claims or facilitating real estate transactions. It has also become essential for supply chains, whether checking the origin of minerals such as cobalt or tracking parts for cars.

In 2021, cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin and Ethereum have flourished and dominated almost all headlines, yet the crypto market has lost more than $1 trillion in market value since November. But in many ways, speculative cryptocurrencies are not the most attractive blockchain application. As more and more multinational companies integrate blockchain into their daily operations, unlocking efficiencies, the most lasting impact of blockchain technology on the world will also come.

This year, nearly half of the "Blockchain 50" companies are located outside the United States, with China accounting for 14%. In addition, venture capital firms were added this year, and as a whole, they invested more than $32 billion in the blockchain industry in 2021. From Sotheby's to Boeing and A16z, the list is becoming more and more diverse. It is worth noting that this year's "Blockchain 50" list has also undergone a major shift, that is, it has begun to turn to companies participating in public blockchains such as Bitcoin and Ethereum, and no longer just private, permissioned platforms like Hyperledger.

Quick Look:

-Eight companies that have been on the list three times also made the 2022 list: Block (formerly Square), China Construction Bank, Fidelity, Mastercard, Meta, Oracle, Tencent and Visa.

- Finance remains the largest category of blockchain applications, after all, the first application of blockchain, Bitcoin, is a digital currency. Technology (including hardware, software, social media, and the Internet) applications follow closely, followed by improving supply chain, manufacturing, and healthcare processes.

-Blockchain is booming in Asia.

-Two venture capital funds – Andreessen Horowitz (A16z Crypto) and Paradigm – made the list for the first time.

The following are the 50 companies on the list:

Adobe

In October 2021, Photoshop developer Adobe launched Content Attribution, allowing NFT creators to export their images directly to certain NFT exchanges: KnownOrigin, OpenSea, Rarible, and SuperRare. This feature allows artists to protect their works by irrefutably proving the provenance of artworks before "minting" them into NFTs ready for auction. The service will eventually be available to Adobe's 20 million "Creative Cloud" users.

Blockchain Platform: Ethereum

Allianz

The insurance giant uses blockchain technology to streamline cross-border car insurance claims in Europe. In the past, disparate teams and incompatible databases meant a lot of emails were needed in the process and claims could take months to resolve. Now, there is a single source record for each claim, processing time has been reduced to minutes, and costs have fallen by 10%. So far, 25 Allianz subsidiaries are using blockchain technology to resolve 850,000 claims.

Blockchain Platforms: Hyperledger Fabric, Corda

Andreessen Horowitz

Andreessen Horowitz, or A16z for short, is arguably the world’s largest crypto investor, having raised about $3.1 billion through three major blockchain funds over the past three years. In total, the firm has funded at least 60 startups focused on blockchain technology and was an early investor in Coinbase, the largest cryptocurrency exchange in the U.S. A16z also wants to shape crypto regulation, hiring former officials from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Treasury Department, and Justice Department to lobby policymakers.

Blockchain platforms: Bitcoin, Ethereum, Solana, Flow, Celo, Near, Arweave, etc.

Ant Group

Since July 2020, the company has put 10,000 developers into blockchain. They have created 30 applications and generated more than 100 million blockchain tracking records, including patents, certificates, and warehouse receipts. The most mature application on Ant Chain is Trusple, which simplifies taxes, customs, and transportation of products and components, connects international buyers with 6 million Chinese sellers, and enables banks to complete payments instantly, reducing audit costs and default risks. Nearly 20 global banks, including Citibank, BNP Paribas, DBS Bank of Singapore, and Mizuho of Japan, provide financing through the platform.

Blockchain platform: Ant Chain

Anthem

The Blue Cross Blue Shield Private Insurance Association, which has $137 billion in annual sales, is testing blockchain to speed up the process of insurance benefits coordination. In the past, the process usually required a series of faxes and phone calls that took up to three months. Now, by sharing Anthem's blockchain program for the companies in the association, they can now complete it in minutes or hours. Anthem's blockchain program handles about 3,000 to 5,000 verifications per month.

Blockchain platform: Hyperledger Fabric

Aon

Unexpected policy cancellations are a big problem for insurers, and usually occur when customers underpay or forget to pay their premiums. In 2021, insurance broker Aon (with annual sales of $12 billion) moved its invoices to a blockchain, which has already contributed to a double-digit reduction in the number of unexpected policy cancellations. Aon hopes to add 10 counterparties to its blockchain this year.

Blockchain Platform: Corda

AP Moller—Maersk (Maersk)

The world’s second-largest container shipper, with sales of $54.5 billion in the last 12 months, now uses its proprietary TradeLens blockchain to manage 250 ports and 20 ocean carriers, reducing the time and paperwork spent tracking containers as they pass through seaports around the world. TradeLens, which Maersk co-developed with IBM in 2018, has tracked more than 55 million container shipments and is currently being used by other shipping giants such as Germany’s Hapag-Lloyd and Singapore’s Ocean Network Express.

Blockchain platforms: TradeLens, Hyperledger Fabric

Baidu

Baidu, China's fourth-largest tech company, has 20,000 developers building financial applications on its open-source blockchain. Last year, they generated $47 million in revenue, a drop in the bucket for a company with annual sales of $15.5 billion, but the outlook is bright. In September, Baidu signed a $25 million contract with the Tongxiang government of Jiaxing to develop a supply chain for tracking textiles and clothing. Baidu estimates that blockchain has helped reduce energy consumption in the supply chain by 17%, saving nearly 15,000 tons of carbon dioxide emissions each year.

Blockchain Platform: Baidu Superchain

BHP

In 2020, BHP, a British-Australian multinational mining company with annual sales of $61 billion, sold the first batch of Australian iron ore to China in a "paperless" transaction, with all documents, analysis and emissions data stored on its MineHub blockchain platform. BHP has since adopted blockchain-based traceability to ensure that the nickel it sells to Tesla's battery plant is not "diluted." BHP is currently in talks with suppliers to use blockchain to guarantee that the rubber in the 6,000 truck tires it uses each year was produced without illegal deforestation.

Block (formerly Square)

Block, another company of Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey, generated $42 million in revenue from its Cash App's Bitcoin trading business in the third quarter of 2021 alone. Dorsey left Twitter in November, and as a staunch supporter of Bitcoin, Block is expected to continue on this path. In July, Block created a subsidiary called TBD, which focuses on building a decentralized Bitcoin exchange and is looking to build an energy-efficient Bitcoin mining system.

Blockchain Platform: Bitcoin

Bank of New York Mellon

The 238-year-old bank is fully embracing the future, hoping to become the king of crypto ETF service providers. The company already has a 90% market share in Canada, which means it provides tax and administrative services for most of the 17 crypto ETFs currently traded in Canada. In October, it announced another large ETF applicant, Grayscale's $23 billion Bitcoin Trust. Fireblocks, which provides crypto custody services, is a new investment of Bank of New York Mellon, valued at $8 billion.

Blockchain platforms: Bitcoin, Ethereum

Boeing

Boeing is working with Canada-based digital aviation record developer TrustFlight and software developer RaceRocks to build a digital aircraft record system to help airlines streamline required maintenance processes. This expands Boeing's earlier blockchain initiatives, which saw the company work with aviation systems developer Honeywell to develop the GoDirect Trade platform, which securely sold $1 billion worth of Boeing aircraft parts in 2020.

Blockchain platforms: Go Direct, Hyperledger Fabric, Hyperledger Indy

Breitling

The Swiss-based luxury watchmaker is tracking 320,000 watches on the blockchain, giving customers access to detailed product histories and certificates of authenticity. Breitling is also using it to tap into the resale market. Want to sell a decade-old watch? You can get an instant appraisal through your digital wallet. Want to buy one? You can easily view the watch's certificate of authenticity and repair history. The program is currently being tested in Switzerland.

Blockchain Platform: Ethereum

China Construction Bank

The world’s second-largest bank, which manages $4.7 trillion in assets, has so far processed $141 billion worth of transactions on a private blockchain, covering everything from supply chain financing to cross-border payments. One of its latest products is EasyPay, which aims to make it easier for businesses to send high-volume, intensive transactions, reduce errors and reduce the need for audits. If a company in Guangxi wants to buy palm oil from Malaysia, counterparties can load their trade contracts, receipts and waybills onto the blockchain. The local CCB branch can then process them in parallel, rather than sequentially. The result is that total settlement time has been reduced from two days to about ten minutes.

Blockchain platform: Tianshu Chain Baas, CCB Chain, BC Trade 2.0

Chicago Mercantile Exchange

In October, the Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME)'s cryptocurrency futures trading volume reached $4.7 billion per day, temporarily making CME the world's largest crypto derivatives exchange. In the same month, the U.S. SEC approved the first Bitcoin futures ETF, the Proshares Bitcoin Strategy ETF (BITO). Subsequently, CME launched Ethereum futures, as well as "micro" Bitcoin and "micro" Ethereum futures, tailored for small investors.

Blockchain platforms: Bitcoin, Ethereum

Coinbase

Coinbase, the largest cryptocurrency exchange in the United States, went public in April 2021, and its market value soared to $94 billion, recently closing at $40 billion. In the third quarter of 2021, Coinbase's revenue ($1.3 billion) and net profit ($406 million) exceeded the whole of 2020, while its customers increased from 43 million to 73 million. Coinbase's next step is diversification: it announced the launch of an NFT marketplace to compete with OpenSea in October. A month later, CEO Brian Armstrong said the Coinbase NFT marketplace could become "as big or even bigger" than its cryptocurrency trading business.

Blockchain Platforms: Bitcoin, Ethereum, and More

De Beers

The $5.1 billion diamond producer has recorded more than 400,000 stones, valued at about $2 billion, on its Tracr blockchain, a 50% increase since January 2021. The platform records a diamond’s cut, color, clarity and carat, then tracks it. Customers can instantly verify a diamond’s origin and authenticity with a simple scan, eliminating the need for costly and time-consuming mail-in verification. Tracr now has more than 30 industry participants, including Zales, Jared and Kay Jewelers.

Blockchain Platforms: Tracr, Ethereum

DTCC

If you bought or sold securities in the U.S. last year, chances are clearing and settlement services were provided by the DTCC, which processed $2.3 trillion in transactions in 2020 and successfully completed a six-month test of a blockchain program that will reduce errors and shorten settlement times from two days to within a day.

Blockchain platform: ION, DSM, Hyperledger Fabric

Digital Currency Group

Think of DCG as a crypto conglomerate. The company owns five major crypto companies: exchange Genesis, news site Coindesk, digital asset wallet Luno, bitcoin mining company Foundry, and Grayscale, the world's largest digital asset manager, with $39.6 billion in assets under management. DCG's newest company, Foundry, has created the world's largest bitcoin mining pool, providing 19% of the network's total processing power.

Blockchain platforms: Bitcoin, Ethereum, etc.

Fidelity

Fidelity began getting involved in Bitcoin in 2015, when Bitcoin was trading below $500, making the asset management company, which manages $11.1 trillion, one of the first traditional institutions to get involved in cryptocurrencies. But true to its conservative nature, the asset management giant steered its retail clients away from directly owning cryptocurrencies. Its main crypto business today is not retail-oriented, but rather provides custody services and research to institutional clients through its digital assets division. The number of these large clients doubled in 2021 to nearly 200. Fidelity's next step in overseas expansion: Last year, Fidelity launched a Bitcoin ETF in Canada and obtained a permanent crypto license from the UK financial regulator.

Blockchain Platform: Bitcoin

FTX

Led by 29-year-old Sam Bankman-Fried, FTX has come to dominate the cryptocurrency trading space. It processes 10% of the $3.4 trillion in derivatives traded by crypto investors each month. In addition, the company received a record $1.5 billion in private funding last year, and its valuation soared from $1.2 billion to $25 billion. FTX is eager to become a household name, spending hundreds of millions of dollars on marketing and signing a host of celebrities including Tom Brady, David Ortiz and Kevin O'Leary as its brand ambassadors.

Blockchain platforms: Bitcoin, Ethereum, Solana, etc.

Fujitsu

The $32 billion computer hardware company operates a blockchain innovation lab with more than 40 clients, who use the lab to test new ideas with the help of Fujitsu’s technology. Last November, for example, water purification company Botanical Water Technologies began using Fujitsu’s internal blockchain to build a trading platform that will enable sugar mills, breweries and cola manufacturers to sell or reuse water they discard during production. The platform, which launched in April, will track the purification, sale and delivery of water and give companies the option of donating some of the purified water to communities in need.

Blockchain platforms: Hyperledger Fabric, Besu, Cactus, and Ethereum

Industrial and Commercial Bank of China

The world’s largest bank ($5.6 trillion in assets) has 40 blockchain applications and processed more than $48 billion worth of transactions last year for industries including local governments, construction and transportation.

Blockchain platform: ICBC XiChain

JPMorgan Chase

JPMorgan Chase's Onyx digital asset network is making waves in the repo market. By using smart contracts and JPM Coin (a digital version of the dollar), Onyx repo transactions can be settled in real time rather than overnight, reducing settlement risk and manual processing. To date, the repo application has facilitated $230 billion in trade flows and completed about $1 billion in transactions per day. In June, Goldman Sachs also began using Onyx.

Blockchain Platform: ConsenSys Quorum

Kakao

KakaoTalk, South Korea's main mobile messaging app, is used by nearly 90% of the country's users. In May 2021, it launched an NFT marketplace called KrafterSpace, fully integrated with OpenSea. On KrafterSpace, users can purchase NFTs directly through Kakao's Klip Drops digital wallet. Both KrafterSpace and Klip Drops are built on Kakao's own blockchain, Klaytn, which has more than 800,000 active users. Separately, in August, Kakao launched the $515 million Klaytn Growth Fund to support developers willing to contribute to its blockchain ecosystem.

Blockchain Platform: Klaytn

LINE

Z Holdings is a $36 billion Japanese internet conglomerate that owns LINE, the country’s largest chat app with 300 million users. The company has developed a proprietary blockchain, also called LINE, and its services include a cryptocurrency exchange, NFT marketplace, and digital wallet with more than 254,000 registered accounts.

Blockchain platform: LINE Blockchain

Marathon

Five years ago, Marathon was widely known as a "patent troll" for filing numerous lawsuits (most of which were settled out of court) against giant companies such as Apple, Amazon, Dell, Yahoo, Pinterest and Twitter. The company began actively turning to Bitcoin mining in 2017 and currently holds at least 8,133 Bitcoins, worth $300 million. The company intends to invest in an additional 70,000 mining machines by early 2022, increasing the number of mining machines used for mining to 199,000, accounting for about 1.2% of the total global Bitcoin mining activity.

Blockchain Platform: Bitcoin

MasterCard

Mastercard has launched 24 crypto cards including Gemini, Uphold, CoinJar and BitPay, allowing customers to pay with digital assets at 80 million vendors worldwide. Mastercard also operates a blockchain incubator called "Start Path", which has helped 12 crypto startups so far, giving them direct access to the company's products, customers, workshops and guidance.

Blockchain platforms: Terra, Rootstock, Monero, BCH, Bitcoin, Ethereum, Avalanche

Meta

Facebook’s decision to rename itself Meta and go all-in on the “Metaverse” could be a boon for Facebook’s 2.9 billion-member global community. After all, immersive, all-encompassing virtual worlds are the natural environment for cryptocurrencies, custom avatars, NFTs, blockchain games, digital wallets. Let’s hope Facebook has more success with the Metaverse than Libra did, though so far little is known about the technology behind Facebook’s Metaverse.

Blockchain Platform: Unknown

MicroStrategy

Software provider MicroStrategy and its CEO Michael Saylor are the largest Bitcoin holders among American companies. The company, which nominally makes back-office business software, has transformed itself into a loyal fan of Bitcoin in the past two years. MicroStrategy now holds 124,391 Bitcoins, worth about $4.6 billion, and has made nearly $846 million in crypto trading profits since August 2020.

Blockchain Platform: Bitcoin

National Basketball Association (NBA)

The NBA’s Top Shot platform has transformed the sports memorabilia business, bringing NFTs to everyday fans. Powered by Dapper Labs’ “Flow” blockchain, users can buy, sell, and collect “Player Moments,” similar to digital trading cards, such as the “LeBron James Dunk,” which recently sold for a record $230,023. Since November 2020, 1.3 million people have created Top Shot accounts, and total sales have soared from $2.5 million to $992 million. Top Shot’s runaway success has sparked a broader curiosity about cryptocurrency within the NBA. The NBA formed a blockchain subcommittee to evaluate future opportunities, launched a WNBA version of Top Shot, and entered into a multi-year partnership with cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase.

Blockchain Platform: Flow

NCR

The 141-year-old cash register and ATM maker wants to create a massive global network of 1.5 million locations where passersby can buy Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies. In January, it acquired Bitcoin ATM company LibertyX, which has 30,000 crypto ATMs in the U.S. In June, NCR spent $2.5 billion to acquire Cardtronics, which has 285,000 crypto ATMs in the U.S. and nine other countries.

Blockchain Platform: Bitcoin

Nornickel

Nornickel, the world's largest producer of palladium and refined nickel, has issued $1.3 billion worth of tokenized contracts for its precious and base metals, including gold, silver, platinum, palladium, and copper. These contracts, stored on the Atomyze blockchain, help industrial companies such as Umicore, Traxys, and Glencore track the origin and authenticity of their metals and more easily adjust inventory levels.

Blockchain platform: Hyperledger Fabric

Oracle

It is expected that by 2030, about 40% of new cars worldwide will be electric. The demand for cobalt used in electric vehicle batteries is soaring. Nearly two-thirds of the world's cobalt supply is in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Oracle and raw material supply chain tracking company Circulor have partnered to build a blockchain platform to track the origin of raw materials such as cobalt in high-risk, conflict-affected regions. Many electric vehicle manufacturers, including Volvo, Mercedes-Benz and Polestar, have already used the service.

Blockchain platform: Hyperledger Fabric

Paradigm

Founded in 2018 by Coinbase co-founder Fred Ehrsam and former Sequoia Capital partner Matt Huang, Paradigm has become one of the most prominent crypto venture capital firms. Investments range from $1 million to over $100 million, including FTX, Coinbase, Chainalysis, Uniswap, and Sky Mavis. 16 of them have been valued at over $1 billion. In November, Paradigm announced a new $2.5 billion fund, the largest cryptocurrency-centric venture capital fund ever.

Blockchain platforms: Bitcoin, Ethereum, etc.

Paypal

In October 2020, PayPal launched a cryptocurrency brokerage service as part of its grand plan to become a one-stop financial super app. Crypto users use the app twice as much as regular customers. While the company now allows U.S. customers to buy up to $100,000 in crypto per week, most transactions are much smaller; daily trading volume is estimated to be less than $50 million. Looking ahead, the company hopes to expand its crypto offerings beyond the U.S. and U.K., and is exploring launching its own stablecoin.

Blockchain platforms: Bitcoin, Ethereum, BCH, LTC.

Ping An of China - OneConnect Financial Technology

Since January 2020, the world’s sixth-largest company has provided more than $12 billion in loans to 1 million small and medium-sized enterprises in China’s Guangdong Province through its subsidiary OneConnect’s blockchain financing platform. OneConnect’s software uses government data to analyze the risk profile of a borrower’s bank, reducing transaction processing time to 10 minutes—saving its 788 client financial institutions a ton of money. In November, OneConnect’s subsidiary partnered with the People’s Bank of China to use blockchain to track and process import and export financing from mainland China and Hong Kong.

Blockchain platform: FiMAX

Providence

In 2019, Providence, a nonprofit Catholic health system, acquired the medical technology startup Lumedic. The blockchain network developed by Lumedic helps solve time-consuming administrative problems, such as "prior authorization between doctors and insurance companies." In 2021, Providence's 16 hospitals and four clinics in Washington, Montana, and Oregon are using its blockchain to reduce prior authorization processing time from days to hours. Last year, more than 40,000 treatments were processed on Lumedic's blockchain.

Blockchain Platform: Corda

Renault

In response to growing technical demands from European regulators, the French automaker launched its blockchain platform Xceed in April to track thousands of auto parts for each car produced in 16 European factories. If any feature does not meet standards, the manufacturer will automatically receive an alert. When the manufacturer completes the production requirements, it can notify the supplier with the touch of a button, saving weeks of audit time in the past. By 2024, Renault hopes to recruit 3,500 suppliers to track its more than 6,000 regulated auto parts and features.

Blockchain platform: Hyperledger Fabric

Samsung

Most people know Samsung for its TVs and other electronics, but that’s only part of its business; it also makes ships, runs theme parks, and sells insurance. Since 2020, it has been using a blockchain-based lending platform to make it easier for small and medium-sized enterprises to apply for government loans. In the past, such requests required documents from the government, credit guarantors, and banks, and took an average of three weeks to process. Now, the platform reduces paperwork and shortens processing time to 12 days, saving about 13,000 hours of work each year.

Blockchain Platform: Nexledger

Signature

In 2015, Signature became one of the first banks to allow customers to accept cryptocurrencies. It has taken more than $22 billion in total cryptocurrency deposits and processed more than $200 billion worth of payments on its proprietary network, Signet, based on the Ethereum blockchain. This year, the bank began offering Bitcoin-backed loans. It has also partnered with stablecoin issuer TrueUSD to allow customers to send instant payments using the U.S. dollar stablecoin.

Blockchain Platform: Signet, Ethereum

Societe Generale

Last year, France's third-largest bank released Cast Framework through its subsidiary Forge, a software that allows mainstream financial companies and crypto startups to create digital securities on the blockchain that meet regulatory requirements. A recent example is helping French banks refinance $45 million in securities and track them on the blockchain. Using blockchain reduces transaction time and saves audit costs. Societe Generale is also developing a "smart contract" library with reusable code specifically for financial services. In addition, it has applied for a French regulatory license that allows them to manage digital assets for customers.

Blockchain Platform: MakerDAO

Sotheby’s

The art auction house, known for selling paintings by Picasso and Van Gogh, is now auctioning <Bored Ape> and <Crypton Punk>. In April 2021, Sotheby's held its first NFT auction, selling a large number of works by digital artist Pak for $16.8 million, but this is just the beginning. Last year, Sotheby's total NFT sales exceeded $100 million. In September, riding the craze of using NFTs as profile pictures on social media, Sotheby's sold 101 <Bored Ape> NFTs for $24.4 million. Currently, the auction house accepts bids in both fiat and cryptocurrencies.

Blockchain platforms: Bitcoin, Ethereum

Stone Ridge

In 2017, the financial company, which manages $13 billion in assets, established New York Digital Asset Investment Group (NYDIG), a subsidiary designed to help institutional investors buy and hold cryptocurrencies. Institutional clients include JPMorgan Chase, Wells Fargo and Morgan Stanley. Since then, Stone Ridge has purchased and held approximately 20,000 bitcoins (worth approximately $740 million).

Blockchain platforms: Bitcoin, Ethereum, XRP, LTC, BCH

Mahindra Group

The technology arm of Indian conglomerate Mahindra Group has developed more than 60 blockchain-based applications covering telecommunications, media and entertainment, manufacturing, retail and energy. One of the most interesting programs is VaccineLedger, which tracks vaccines from manufacturer to recipient via blockchain, helping to prevent counterfeiting and reduce the amount of wasted vaccines. VaccineLedger is already operating in two states in India and plans to expand globally.

Blockchain platform: Hyperledger Fabric

Tencent

Over the past decade, Tencent has built a Chinese "super app" - WeChat, which is used by more than 1 billion people for everything from games, social media, chat and shopping. The company is currently developing a one-stop blockchain platform - Tencent Cloud Blockchain (TBaaS). Ten provinces and cities, including Hainan, Guangdong, and Beijing, have used it to issue electronic bills for medical care, transportation, etc. As of August 2021, Tencent Blockchain has processed more than 15 million transactions in one city alone.

Blockchain platforms: ChainMaker, Hyperledger Fabric, FISCO BCOS

Twitter

The most extensive crypto community is on Twitter, a personal social media platform. There were 220 million tweets about NFTs in 2021, and 60 million in January 2022 alone. Just because former CEO Jack Dorsey left in November to devote his full time to Block, it doesn't mean Twitter has given up on its claim to a decentralized future. Twitter is doubling down on creator tools, such as tipping other users in Bitcoin and letting users display their NFTs as profile pictures.

Blockchain platforms: Bitcoin, Ethereum

Visa

The credit card giant has partnered with more than 60 crypto platforms including FTX, BlockFi, Coinbase, and Binance to make it easy for people to spend cryptocurrencies through crypto cards. All of Visa's 80 million merchants now effectively accept cryptocurrencies as a payment method, and funds are automatically converted to fiat currency before being received. Since October 2020, consumers have spent more than $6 billion using Visa crypto cards.

Blockchain platforms: Bitcoin, Ethereum

Walmart

Walmart announced in September 2020 that it would be responsible for tracking a dozen at-risk foods, such as romaine lettuce, soft cheeses, and fish, at every step of the supply chain to more quickly identify and address contaminated items. The retailer has already tracked 1,500 items on the blockchain, a roughly 3x increase. Its food safety initiatives are becoming more visible to shoppers: A recent Sam’s Club pilot in China lets shoppers scan QR codes to get information about where a product was grown and when it was harvested.

Blockchain Platform: Hyperledger Fabric, Walmart Blockchain

WeBank

WeBank, based in Shenzhen, China, has recently launched a blockchain app that encourages sustainable living by rewarding users for actions such as walking, taking the bus or recycling clothing. Users receive Green Buds points through a mini-program on WeChat, which can later be redeemed for vouchers and gifts. All records are stored on its blockchain to ensure transparency and traceability. Overall, WeBank has more than 70,000 coders working on its proprietary "FISCO BCOS" blockchain.

Blockchain Platform: FISCO BCOS