Elements of the Blockchain Ecosystem
[as of 07/12/18]
Professor Walter A. Effross
American University Washington College of Law
[PDF Version] Ecosystem0712
Some categories, and examples, of participants in the world of blockchain and cryptocurrency.
(Inclusion on this list does not represent an endorsement of entities or their products, services, or activities.)
Trading/Exchange Platforms- Abra, Binance, Bitfinex, bitFlyer, Bithumb, Bitmex, BitPesa, Bitstamp, Circle, Coinbase, Gemini, Huobi, itBit, Kraken, OKEx, ShapeShift
Developers of infrastructure and applications- BlockCypher, Block.one, Blockstream, Bloq, Consensys, Initiative for CryptoCurrencies and Contracts; Lightning Labs, RChain
Developers of blockchain protocols- Lightning Labs
Open source (i..e., public) blockchains- Bitcoin, Ethereum, Hyperledger
Private (i.e., permissioned) blockchains- Axcore, Chaincore, Corda, Ethereum private blockchain, Exonum, Hyperledger Fabric, Sawtooth
Governance Groups- Internet Governance Forum; Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) (see its list of Working Groups); W3C; World Economic Forum Trade Association- Global Blockchain Business Council
Developers of industry consortium blockchains- Blockchain Insurance Industry Initiative (B3i); Coalition of Automated Legal Applications (COALA) (see its list of Working Groups); Energy Web Foundation, (EWF); Global Legal Blockchain Consortium; R3 Consortium Cross-Industry blockchain consortia-Chamber of Digital Commerce (and its Token Alliance); Enterprise Ethereum Alliance (EEA) [see its list of Working Groups]; Hyperledger; Open Identity Exchange (OIX)
Research and Advocacy- Bitcoin Foundation; Blockchain Alliance; Blockchain Research Institute; The Brooklyn Project (“An industry-wide initiative to promote token-powered economic growth and consumer protection”); Chaincode Labs; Chamber of Digital Commerce (and its Smart Contracts Alliance, and its DC Blockchain Center); CoinCenter; Ethereum Foundation; P2P Foundation (“conceived to help people, organizations and governments transition towards commons-based approaches to society through co-creating an open knowledge commons and a resilient, sustainable human network”); The SAFT Project (“[D]eveloping a compliant framework for token sales”), Trusted IoT Alliance (“We seek to enable trust in the data produced by such IoT systems in a distributed ledger/blockchain agnostic fashion, thereby enabling a decentralized trust model for interoperable digitized identities of physical goods, documents, immobilized assets, sensors, and machines.”); Wall Street Blockchain Alliance; Public-Private Alliances- ID2020 (providing digital identification worldwide; self-sovereignty)
Venture Capital- 7Blockchain.VC, a16z crypto (Andreessen Horowitz), Blockchain Capital, Digital Currency Group, Galaxy Digital, Greylock Partners,1confirmation, Ikigai; Medici Ventures, Mstate, Multicoin Capital, Pantera Capital, Union Square Partners, [trade association]; Venture Capital Working Group
Providers and developers of blockchain applications; provider of support and services- Clovyr
Developers of sidechains- Blockstream
Charitable/philanthropic crowdfunding (through cryptocurrency) platforms- Bitgive, Bithope, Helperbit
Providers of security, maintenance, compliance, logistics solutions- Bitgo, CipherTrace, CoinList
Prevention of crime/fraud- Chainalysis, Elliptic
Block explorers (reveal information about blocks and transactions)- Block Explorer, Blockchain.info, BlockSeer, Etherchain, Etherscan
Investigate other participants-BlockSeer
ID Validation- Netki
Blockchain-based verification of identity- Blockpass, Civic, ID2020 Alliance, SecureKey, Sovrin
Blockchain for anti money laundering (AML) and counter terrorism financing (CTF) compliance- Coinfirm
“Help protect individual constitutional rights and civil liberties in connection with regulatory and law enforcement scrutiny and efforts relating to digital currencies (e.g., bitcoin) and ledgers (e.g., blockchains)”- Digital Currency & Ledger Defense Coalition
Blockchain applications for governmental and social justice use- Blockchain for Good (BC4G), Blockchain for Social Justice Coalition Blockchain Trust Accelerator, PositiveBlockchain
Blockchain for securities trading and securitization of assets- Securrency
Blockchain for governmental benefit payments to individuals- Blockchain for Social Impact
Developers of blockchain-preserved news publications- Civil Media Company
Blockchain for use in corporate proxy voting- Broadridge Financial Solutions
Blockchain-enabled voting- Democracy Earth Foundation, Follow My Vote, VoteWatcher, VotoSocial
Blockchain for compliance with Europe’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR)- Fidelity National Information Services
Blockchain in the energy industry- Drift, Energy Web Foundation, LO3 Energy, Power Ledger
Prediction market platforms- Augur, Gnosis
Financial inclusion (payments to the “unbanked”)- BanQu, BitPesa, Coins.ph, Humaniq, Unocoin
Blockchain in supply chain management (SCM)- Ambrosus, Blockchain in Transportation Alliance (BiTA), Blockfreight, Everledger, OriginTrail, Skuchain
Blockchain in intellectual property licensing- Ascribe, DotBlockchain Music Project, KodakOne, MediaChain, Monegraph, Stem, Ujo,Verisart
Blockchain applications for lawyers- Integra, NetDocuments
Blockchain in mortgage recording- Block66, Factom, Homelend
Blockchain in medical records- Blockchain Health, Gem, MedRec, Patientory, SimplyVital Health
Education- Digital Currency Initiative (MIT)
Blockchain & Government- Illinois Blockchain Initiative
Blockchain-based social media, Steemit (“a blockchain-based rewards platform for publishers to monetize content and grow community”)
Blockchain-based virtual worlds- Decentraland
Smart contracts- Accord Project, Clause, Symbiont
Manufacturer of personal servers configured to function as blockchain nodes- Bitseed
Cryptocurrency- Bitcoin, Ether, Litecoin, Monero, Ripple, Zcash
Wallets- Bitpay, Blockchain, Colu, Xapo
Tokens- Basis, FileCoin
Crossborder payments- BitPesa
Payments Processing- CoinX, GoCoin
Cryptocurrency custodians- Komainu, Kingdom Trust, Ledger, Xapo
Cryptocurrency index funds- Bitwise Asset Management HOLD10 Private Index Fund, Coinbase Index Fund
Exchange-traded fund in cryptocurrency- VanEck SolidX Bitcoin Trust
Cryptocurrency futures trading- Cboe Global Markets, CME Group
News- Coindesk
Valuation-Coinmarketcap
Initial Coin Offerings- Coinschedule, Cointopia
Manufacturer of Bitcoin-mining computers- Bitmain