Blockchain: the 50 billion dollar companies

Forbes ranked the 50 companies that matter in the area of blockchain, that is to say making at least a billion dollars in revenue per year or whose valuation reaches at least a billion.

For the second year, Forbes has established its classification of major players in the blockchain. And the list of this edition has evolved significantly compared to the previous one, with companies that illustrate the real economic benefits (income or savings generated) of this technology.

The 2020 list includes names known as Vanguard, Square and Microsoft, but also some startups from the world of cryptocurrencies, among which Ripple and Bitfury. However, not all are pure-players of the blockchain.

Blockchain present in major economic sectors

This is the case withAmazon, and more particularly from its Cloud subsidiary, Amazon Web Services. The e-commerce giant is nonetheless a blockchain supplier. The firm provides blockchain services based on its cloud infrastructure. Companies such as Sony Music, BMW, Accenture and Nestlé are clients of its solutions.

Finance and insurance players are also very well represented in the Forbes 50 of the blockchain. This is the case of the Chinese Ant Financial. Its Duo-Chain platform has thus facilitated the granting of $ 1.5 billion in loans to suppliers short of cash. The company operates various blockchain networks, including Hyperledger Fabric and Quorum.

Traditional insurers are also taking over the blockchain as part of their digital transformation. The American Anthem debuted on this technology in late 2019 to allow policyholders to access and share their health data securely. Within two years, Anthem plans to toggle the health data of 40 million policyholders.

Banks and historic insurers take over the blockchain

Aon is another insurer in transformation. The company notably provided a $ 255 million insurance policy to Coinbase, insuring it against losses due to hacking. But Aon has also developed its own blockchain platform for other insurers.

At the start of the year, it was the Bittrex cryptocurrency exchange that announced the subscription of a policy with the New York insurer Marsch and Arch syndicate 2012, an insurance company based in Bermuda. Objective: to insure the cryptocurrencies stored through its cold storage system (cold wallets) up to 300 million dollars.

Among the pure-players in the sector, several known names rank within the Forbes 50, among which therefore Coinbase. The global exchange has 35 million accounts, manages more than $ 21 billion in assets and in 2020 could exceed $ 800 million in revenue.

In finance, crypto players are not legion, however, unlike traditional banks that take over the blockchain. ING, Citi, HSBC, Swiss credit, JPMorgan… Many financial giants have joined blockchain consortia, or even developed their own solutions.

This year's members have gone far beyond the theoretical benefits of blockchain, to generate very real income and cost savings, ”judges Forbes.