The blockchain industry is expected to gain more than $359 billion by 2028. Most mainstream investors still believe that blockchain is only an underlying technology for Bitcoin and other alternative virtual coins.
However, legacy companies have been counting big on this advanced technology and investing heavily in blockchain technology and digital assets.
Here are the top 10 firms that have been developing blockchain-powered platforms and adopting cryptocurrencies:
1.Facebook
The social media behemoth, Facebook is developing a digital token “Diem” to enable payments on its platform. It could also be good news for content creators who have been raising their voices to get paid for their work.
They are likely to use blockchain technology to run its Metaverse services in the upcoming years.
2.Twitter
Jack Dorsey-led fintech platform, Square Inc, has been investing heavily in cryptocurrencies. The company bought 3,318 bitcoins worth $170 million in the first quarter of 2021.
Twitter’s chief Dorsey announced in the first half of 2021 that Bitcoin could be a “big part” of Twitter’s products and services. Meanwhile, Square Inc. has commenced developing crypto wallets.
3.PayPal
One of the pioneers in the FinTech industry, PayPal, has started allowing its users to make payments in selected cryptocurrencies, such as Bitcoin, Ether, Litecoin, and Bitcoin Cash. On top of that, its customers can also buy, sell, and hold crypto tokens. Right now, these services are available only for US citizens. Hence, crypto transactions can be done in a pair of US dollars. The firm is likely to expand its crypto operations globally.
4.International Business Machines (IBM)
IBM helps enterprises to launch their advanced digital products using its blockchain solutions. The tech firm also enables digital currency companies to develop stablecoins.
IBM expects to develop a network where traditional digital currencies can be transacted over multiple blockchains.
5.BlackRock
One of the global leading asset management firms, BlackRock, has stakes in multiple blockchain companies. In its exchange filings, the company announced that it holds a 6.6% stake in Riot Blockchain, and almost 7% shares in crypto-miner Marathon Digital, as of June 30, 2021. The company invested as much as $400 million in crypto mining firms as of the second quarter.
6.Visa Inc.
Visa has maintained an innovative and proactive approach for enabling offline transactions in virtual currency transactions just like fiat money. The company has begun allowing its clients to settle their transactions using cryptocurrency like USD Coin (Stablecoin).
On August 23, the company acquired a Non-fungible token (NFT) worth $150,000 from CryptoPunk’s collection.
The global blockchain-verified art token transactions amounted to $1.5 billion in the first quarter of 2021, as per Visa.
7.Rakuten
Japanese e-commerce platform Rakuten started enabling its customers to choose Bitcoin as one of the payment options in 2015. The large-cap company initially integrated the Bitnet payment gateway into its marketplaces. The company has now built Rakuten Wallet that also supports alternative virtual currencies like Bitcoin Cash and Ethereum. Buyers can load their Rakuten Cash balance through digital assets.
8.Amazon.com Inc.
Amazon’s payments segment posted a job opening to hire cryptocurrency and blockchain lead in July. As per media reports the firm is expected to develop its own cryptocurrency and allow its users to make payments in virtual tokens.
Meanwhile, Amazon Web Services (AWS) is offering diverse blockchain services, including ledger databases and Amazon-managed blockchain products. On top of this, the data cloud service provider has a blockchain marketplace for its 70+ partners.
9.Barclays
The United Kingdom’s second-largest bank, Barclays, has collaborated with a blockchain technology firm. The financial service facilitator is using public ledger technology for efficiently tracking its fund transactions along with Know-Your-Customer (KYC) integration.
10.Infosys Inc.
The $94-billion market cap firm has been optimising its clients’ operations using blockchain technology. The India-based tech giant also maintains the Indian government websites.
Infosys has a separate blockchain-demand response management system to offer advanced technology solutions to its clients. The company also envisages providing its blockchain services to the renewable energy sector and pharmaceuticals chain supply. It expects to overcome procure-to-pay pitfalls using blockchain.
