Each year, new blockchain innovations driven by technological advancements spring up in droves. In 2020, however, the pandemic accelerated the tech world in a way not envisioned before and forced most (if not all) businesses to adjust the way they operated.
One of the main things businesses had to adopt was a digital transformation – and they had to do it faster than previously experienced. With that in mind, as the tech world keeps evolving to transform the way we do a wide array of functions both professionally and personally, a lot is at stake in 2021 as the globe collectively looks to bounce back from the virus’s economic impact.
In this article, we’re going to look at top blockchain startups you should keep an eye on as they boast the potential to go mainstream and capitalize on both micro and macro-economic trends. All the companies were selected based on their potential for a major disruption in 2021.
OriginStamp
OriginStamp’s services operate independently from centralized consortiums, government authorities, and organizations. The startup’s trusted timestamps are stored and created in a blockchain, based on a model in which the decentralized peer-to-peer system must collectively agree on the blocks’ contents. The accord model ensures the integrity of all stored information, and thus the tamper-proof and immutable nature of the blockchain.
Most importantly, when OriginStamp embeds a hash fingerprint in the blockchain, it’s not only immutable, but it will also exist “forever” as a trustworthy timestamp. OriginStamp will even offer you all the data you may need to recreate the hash fingerprint when you need to confirm and validate the existence of the digital content.
It’s essential to note that OriginStamp keeps all the data confidential as well.
Solve Care
Solve Care is a healthcare IT firm known for building blockchain platforms that most people believe will improve the way healthcare is managed and delivered.
Solve Care’s platform reportedly uses the blockchain database as the fundamental distributed ledger for coordinating payments, care, and benefits between all parties involved in the healthcare chain. These might include insurers, employers, laboratories, pharmacies, doctors, patients, and more.
What’s more? Solve Care’s token (SOLVE) can be used to secure transparent and efficient healthcare administration anywhere around the world.
The token’s supply is fixed but the price is variable, as determined by market demand and supply.
Genomes
A major challenge in the healthcare industry is, of course, non-interoperable data storage towers where crucial info, like genomic and other health data, is stored in the hands of the organization that collected it. Usually, this data isn’t put to work in a manner that generates its utmost value – and when it is, the owner of the data does not retain ownership or control over how the data is used.
For one startup, the answer to this problem may be blockchain. Founded back in 2017, Genome develops technological inventions intended to protect DNA data storage. Better yet, Genomes uses the Ethereum network to award its clients more control over their genome sequence data. Genomes’ users can even share their genome segments anonymously and securely.
Provenance
If you’re scouring the internet looking for a blockchain startup built with a traceability system for products and materials, then Provenance could be what you’re looking for. This startup awards its clients the opportunity to access info about suppliers by tracing the history and origins of their products.
The service allows companies to build trust with their supply chain and goods while at the same time helping shoppers choose the exact product they need. One of the main industries that can greatly benefit from this invention is the luxury goods industry.
Provenance can easily win the war against counterfeit products by tracking their origins.
Bankera
Founded in Vilnius, Lithuania in 2017 by Vytautas Karalevicius, Bankera is a blockchain startup aimed at integrating cryptocurrency and traditional economies into a single platform that will offer crypto-friendly fiscal services to individuals and companies around the world.
This platform has also been focusing most of its efforts on solutions based on speed, cost-effectiveness, and accessibility. This involves working towards its main objective of becoming a Blockchain-friendly bank and offering crypto funds (comprising of several crypto tokens and cryptocurrencies), crypto-backed loans for businesses and individuals, as well as giving Robo-advisory solutions for wealth management.
If these do not convince you that Bankera is a top Blockchain startup worth your attention in 2021, then perhaps the fact that the company raised more than €100 million in its Initial Coin Offering (ICO) might.
Coinfirm
Founded in 2015 and based in London, Coinfirm aims to become a foundation for the transparent adoption of blockchain by all players in the economy, including, but not limited to ordinary citizens, regulators, governments, as well as financial institutions.
Coinfirm’s anti-money laundering (AML) regulations for blockchain actors and virtual currencies will permit financial regulators and institutions to safely and easily engage with the realm of cryptocurrency. The network has created its own token as well (known as the AMLT) and offers its users incentives to report ransomware and any other scams.
Elrond
Saying that Elrond is utterly reinventing the public Blockchain infrastructure would be an understatement. Incorporated in 2017 in Malta and currently expanding its operations out of Romania, this institution is, as of the writing of this guide, the 2nd best-financed startup in Romania.
What’s more? The team behind Elrond has promised to give its clients all around the world easy and unlimited access to the digital global economy, by introducing a 1000x enhancement in Blockchain cost, scale, and speed.
That’s not all. Elrond is currently looking to release complementary products as part of its grand design, has glued together with a hive mind global community, is getting propelled by huge partners like Binance & Samsung, and also boasts a clear adoption strategy.
THORchain
THORchain, a pretty unknown cross-chain liquidity protocol, has been recently shaking the crypto-realm beat at a rate that has blown the imagination of most crypto enthusiasts. In under a year, this network has gained more than 1900% on its sturdy fundamentals, and here is everything you should know about the startup.
If you haven’t heard of the company before, THORchain is a digital system that allows cryptocurrencies to get exchanged without them having to get written on the currency Blockchain. This, in turn, enhances the speed and time required to complete a transaction.
THORchain also offers its clients a lending–borrowing structure collateralized by the users’ resources and a web of financial liquidity shares.
This implies that THIRChain works with decentralized nodes to run its platform, therefore eluding any room for failure. It’s also key that you note how the platform adjusts its trading fees based on the transaction size.
THORchain will permit its clients to stake their cryptocurrency tokens and enhance market liquidity, in return for a specified stake of the earned transaction charges. Currently, THORchain provides liquidity for RUNE.
Fetch AI
There has been quite a lot of hype around this startup, that’s for sure. The project published a somewhat braggadocious and short introduction on Medium back in 2018 simply stating that “We’re the world’s first smart ledger”, and that was more than sufficient to tickle the imagination of most crypto enthusiasts.
These imaginations were further enticed by Fetch.ai’s strong marketing effort. Just search “Fetch.ai” on YouTube and you’ll see the multiple, well-produced videos marketing the project while at the same time attempting to hook in potential investors.
Add to that the fact that the project has been featured on multiple mainstream publications including, but not limited to TechCrunch, Business Weekly, The Guardian, The Economist, and The Telegraph, and you’ll understand why it has been able to hit new heights in such a short span of time.
In regards to the technology Fetch.ai is offering, the project intends to create a hybrid of AI technologies and Blockchain – a hybrid that will boast the world’s 1st self-regulating and self-adaptive decentralized ledger that can manage client’s transactions. The model has been structurally divided into three distinct elements:
Smart Ledger
Fetch.ai’s Smart Ledger will have an amalgamation of the traditional blockchain design and the Direct Acrylic Graph (DAG) technology presented by the IOTA project.
Most experts are comparing this element to Zilliqa, thanks to the fact it will implement sharding on the Fetch.ai mainnet. The project will shard in a manner akin to chain forking, implying that new lanes will get created to ease the pressure on cluttered transaction pools. Every old lane will be referred to by two new ones, resulting in a DAG-like structure that ensures blockchain data consistency.
Open Economic Framework
Each agent’s conduct will be “directed” by the OEF (Open Economic Framework), a combination of agent positions, wallets, directories of agents and services, APIs, and previous transactions. The OEF offers agents geographic, economic, and semantic views on the world.
AEAs – Autonomous Economic Agents
These are Fetch.ai network’s “digital citizens” who will be in charge of using and receiving the platform’s digital data. Essentially, they’ll act as fully-abled AI reps of houses, businesses, IoT devices, and even individuals; Autonomous Economic Agents will collect the data and sell it to Agents who’d like it.
Most importantly, the whole interaction is automated and gets done through five key steps: execution/trust, collaboration, negotiation, communication, and discovery. As expected of Artificial Intelligence, AEAs will keep learning throughout the process, implying that each mistake/interaction they have will help them get better at what they do.
The bottom line
Blockchain might be one of humanity’s most essential undertakings. As the power and potential of blockchain keep increasing transparency, improving efficiency, and strengthening privacy, you can rest assured that the whole world economy will experience positive benefits.
With that in mind, this list of best blockchain startups will help you realise which projects are contributing the most to create a better quality of life for all of us. The services and products they’re delivering can influence the national and global economy in the near future.
