Overview of the development status of the global blockchain alliance: a total of 550 institutions participated

William Mougayar is the author of the book "Business Blockchain". In addition, he is also a board advisor and investor in many blockchain projects and startups.

In this article, Mougayar examines the current state of blockchain alliances around the world, providing an interactive map for further investigation.

In 2000, B2B alliance markets began to take the world by storm. They quickly became popular in every industry segment. Such networks enable new levels of collaboration among industry players, simplifying B2B transactions and eliminating redundant processes.

At its peak, there were nearly 200 such alliances around the world, each with nearly hundreds of member companies.

After the dot-com bubble burst, these alliances were almost wiped out, with only two surviving, for a variety of reasons.

The theory of B2B marketing makes sense, but when it comes to practice, it’s another story. Few alliances make it to the end due to unrealistic assumptions, expectations, or insufficient energy or budget.

I write this because the new thing called blockchain alliance is also popping up like mushrooms all over the world today.

I am both excited and worried about the outbreak of such activities. I am excited because the existence of these alliances will accelerate the development of blockchain, but I am worried because I know that some of them will not succeed.

Although in my opinion, the success rate of blockchain alliances is higher than that of B2B alliances in the Internet bubble era.

I have compiled 25 important blockchain alliances or organizations, and the main findings are as follows:

My research areas are:

1. Which organizations are involved in the blockchain alliance?

2. Collect their basic information

3. Mark it on the map

4. Share a Google Sheet

An interactive version is here (which means you can also click on each marker to reveal more information about each organization).

Here is a link to the Google chart I used.

Some facts about them:

1. 25 global blockchain alliances

2. 13 alliances in the financial services industry and 2 alliances in the healthcare industry

3. 10 alliances in the United States and 3 alliances in the United Kingdom

4. 22 blockchain alliances were established in 2016

5. Among them, four blockchain alliances are developing standards in certain areas.

6. Average number of alliance members: 25

7. Maximum number of members in the alliance: 100 (Hyperledger and ISITC)

8. Total number of participating institutions: 550

Building a coalition is not an easy thing, you need to get different companies to work together, you need patience, and you need tolerance for some political issues.

In the best case, alliances allow all participants to move forward collectively and do not provide a competitive advantage, which is why most participants join multiple blockchain alliances at the same time.

My predictions for 2017:

1. The number of blockchain alliances will exceed 100 because many industries and fields have not yet spoken collectively.

2. Of the 25 existing blockchain alliances, at least seven will merge or announce the termination of the alliance. This does not mean that they have failed, but that they have achieved their goals.

3. At least three coalitions are set to fail because their members are showing clear signs of division.

4. Only four alliances will be considered highly successful, and two of those alliances have yet to be announced.

Whatever is going on, coalition activity is worth tracking. If I've missed any relevant organizations, please let me know in the comments or on the chart.