Forbes Publishes List of Billion-Dollar Companies Using Blockchain Technology
April 22, 2019 by Akshay Makadiya
From publishing list of wealthiest people in crypto to launching a crypto portal, American business magazine Forbes is undoubtedly keen about the latest developments in the crypto and blockchain space. The powerhouse media house, world-renowned for its billionaire list, have for the first time published a list of large companies that are embracing blockchain technology.
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Three Crypto Firms Make the Top 50 List
Forbes’ inaugural list, dubbed “Blockchain’s Billion Dollar Babies”, features fifty companies, which have a minimum valuation or revenue of $1 billion USD, that are actively implementing distributed ledger technology (DLT).
Also, the maiden list sheds light on the blockchain protocols these companies are leveraging.
The entry point for companies to qualify for the list was set at $1 billion in valuations in a bid to make it distinct than all the other indexes available in the market.
The list was created by editors and reporters at Forbes Media. Michael del Castillo, crypto writer at Forbes and the one who supervised the making of the list, who claimed that they had a “stringent criteria” for companies to get a spot on the list.
One of the most exciting parts of the list was that it has three crypto firms. These firms include crypto mining tech firm Bitfury, United States’ biggest crypto exchange Coinbase and blockchain play Ripple. Justifying the inclusion of crypto firms, Castillo asserted that it indicates the maturing crypto space.
Castillo told Modern Consensus “I didn’t want the list to feel like these big trusted companies are giving the blessing to this controversial technology, but that the industry itself is also maturing, and the criteria that we use also applies to some cryptocurrency companies.”
United States Leads in Blockchain Adoption at the Enterprise Level
Most of the non-crypto companies on the Forbes list are household names from all sectors such as finance, supply chain, and logistics, tech and food. However, it doesn’t come as a surprise that twenty of the fifty companies leveraging blockchain technology are part of the financial sector that includes banks and financial services, provider.
Once touted as dangerous, the distributed ledger technology underpinning cryptocurrency has now become a tech darling for financial enterprises.
Informally, the Forbes index could increase trust in blockchain technology among a wider audience. It is a clear indication of how traditional companies are showing more confidence in the decentralized tech.
“It’s not about the sexiest technology. It’s not about the coolest application. It’s about companies that our parents know and trust exploring this technology that used to be considered dangerous,” said Castillo.
Further analysis into the list indicates that American enterprises are at the forefront of blockchain adoption with thirty-three companies from the United States. In comparison, the European and Asian continent combined account for the remaining seventeen companies.
Notably, the Forbes list indicated that most of the companies are pursuing multiple blockchain protocols, with only thirteen firms using a single DLT. Moreover, out of the fifty companies, there only seven enterprises that use self-developed DLT protocols. Another important takeaway from the index is that most of the large companies are interested in private and permissioned blockchains rather than public DLT’s.
Will blockchain tech also see more adoption among small businesses? Share your views in the comments section.
Images via Pixabay
