What are the big companies in Forbes' "Blockchain 50" doing with blockchain?

Since its inception in 2018, the Forbes "Blockchain 50" has documented the use of blockchain technology by some 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 “distributed ledger” technology for work, such as verifying insurance claims or facilitating real estate transactions. It has also become critical to supply chains, whether it's checking the origin of minerals such as cobalt or tracking car parts.

Cryptocurrencies such as bitcoin and ethereum are booming and grabbing almost all the headlines in 2021, yet the crypto market has lost more than $1 trillion in market cap since November. But in many ways, speculative cryptocurrencies are not the most attractive blockchain applications either. The most lasting impact of blockchain technology on the world will come as more and more multinational companies integrate blockchain into their day-to-day operations, unlocking efficiencies.

This year, nearly half of the “Top 50 Blockchain” companies are located outside the United States, with China accounting for 14%. In addition, new venture capital firms were added this year, and as a whole, they have invested more than $32 billion in the blockchain industry in 2021. From Sotheby's to Boeing and A16z, the list is increasingly diverse. It’s worth noting that this year’s Blockchain 50 list has also undergone a major shift, which is starting to shift to companies involved in public blockchains such as Bitcoin and Ethereum, and no longer just private blockchains like Hyperledger. , licensing platform.

Quick View:

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

-Finance is still the largest category of blockchain applications, after all, the first application of blockchain, Bitcoin, is a digital currency. Technology (including hardware, software, social media, internet) applications followed 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.

Here 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 attesting the provenance of the artwork 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 simplify cross-border auto insurance claims in Europe. In the past, disparate teams and incompatible databases meant a flood of emails in the process, and claims could take months to resolve. Today, with a single source of record for every claim, processing time has been reduced to minutes and costs have dropped by 10%. So far, 25 of Allianz’s subsidiaries are using blockchain technology to settle 850,000 claims.