Forbes

distribute cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin BLOCKCHAIN 99 directly into electronic wallets. Sure, the unbanked would need an internet con- 50 THE LIST • INVESTMENT GUIDE nection to spend it—or turn it back into plain old greenbacks—but that was also No longer dismissed as a haven for criminals and drug true of PayPal’s current solution. dealers, Bitcoin and blockchain have gone mainstream. Schulman knew that the federal gov- Bitcoin’s 2020 surge grabbed the attention of C-suite ernment—the supplier of stimulus pay- executives worldwide; not only are companies ments—could soon become his compe- tition. Digital currencies issued directly employing the technology underlying Bitcoin to perform by central banks, so-called CBDCs, were tasks such as reconciling invoices and verifying product on the horizon; their development would enable governments to send payments di- provenance, but dozens are now holding Bitcoin as a rectly to citizens. According to the Bank treasury asset. Our third annual Blockchain 50 features for International Settlements, 70% of central banks were already exploring the companies that lead in employing distributed ledger new technology—and some, including technology and have revenue or a valuation of at least China, Sweden and Uruguay, would soon $1 billion. Twenty-one newcomers—including the world’s launch their own digital currencies. largest bank, the Industrial and Commercial Bank Under Schulman’s direction PayPal im- of China, and four others from Asia—make their debut. mediately started hiring employees with expertise in Bitcoin and blockchain. In They take the spots of such U.S. companies October, Schulman announced that it as Facebook, Google, Amazon and Ripple, all of whom are still active in blockchain but kept lower profiles in 350% the space over the past 12 months. 300% •••EDITED by MICHAEL DEL CASTILLO, JANET NOVACK and MATT SCHIFRIN 250% Reported by Nina Bambysheva, Lauren Debter, Michael del Castillo, Steven Ehrlich, Eliza 200% Haverstock, Chris Helman, Katie Jennings, Jeff Kauflin, Jon Ponciano and Hank Tucker 150% A.P. MOLLER-MAERSK 100% COPENHAGEN, DENMARK The Danish shipping and logistics giant’s blockchain, TradeLens, 50% is digitizing supply chain information. Since its August 2018 launch, it has onboarded roughly 50% of container ships around 0% the world. In 2020, it processed 1 billion shipments, 30 million containers and 14 million documents, more than double the -50% previous year. Maersk has also partnered with Microsoft to Jan 19 2021 process marine insurance using blockchain tech. BLOCKCHAIN PLATFORMS: TradeLens, Hyperledger Fabric, Source: YCharts. IBM Blockchain FEBRUARY/MARCH 2021 ANT GROUP HANGZHOU, CHINA Alibaba spin-off Ant has more than 50 blockchain applications in development on its own blockchain platform, AntChain. One notable example is OpenChain, which launched in 2020 to enable small and medium sized enterprises to tap its blockchain technologies and smart contracts as a way to lower costs. So far more than 6,000 users have written 100,000 smart contracts, facilitating 400 million transactions. BLOCKCHAIN PLATFORMS: AntChain, Hyperledger Fabric, Quorum FORBES.COM

BAIDU create an immutable record of every step would let customers buy, hold and sell in the process of moving grain and oilseed cryptocurrency directly via their Pay- BEIJING, CHINA cargoes around the world. Pal accounts. Cryptocurrency now can be used as payment at any of PayPal’s China’s search giant and its fintech BLOCKCHAIN PLATFORMS: Quorum, 26 million affiliated merchants world- wide. Not that most people would venture Du Xiaoman Financial have Hyperledger Grid, Ethereum want to spend it: Since the onset of the pandemic, the price of Bitcoin has introduced more than 20 blockchain increased from $4,803 to more than $36,000 as of mid-January. solutions. One of them, Libra Chain, is Schulman is not alone in believ- serving as the infrastructure for China’s ing that crypto is the future of mon- ey. Hundreds of sizable companies are 100 three internet courts handling copyright now using Bitcoin and its underlying technology to make their operations and e-commerce disputes through virtual more efficient—and, thanks to its ex- traordinary returns, boost their profits. litigation. To date, more than 35 million From JPMorgan to Boeing, Honeywell to Aramco, there have never been more pieces of electronic evidence have been businesses that qualify for Forbes’ an- nual Blockchain 50 list of large compa- filed at the Beijing Internet Court.THE LIST • INVESTMENT GUIDE nies undertaking meaningful projects using this technology. BLOCKCHAIN PLATFORMS: Baidu ILLUSTRATIONS BY ULI KNOERZER FOR FORBES Xuperchain, Hyperledger Fabric This year’s list has 21 newcomers, in- cluding five from Asia, one from Aus- BHP Blockchain “will tralia and one from Africa. South Ko- fundamentally change rea’s dominant messaging app, Kakao- MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA Talk, for example, has its own crypto- financial systems in currency, Klay, which can be traded The mining giant is using blockchain to the next 10, 15 years. and loaned to others as collateral in ex- digitize multiple operations, including A blockchain technology change for rewards. Tech Mahindra, a tracking ESG (environmental, social will be applied in many big IT outfit in India, is using block- and corporate governance) attributes areas because it is about chain technology to help millions of and verifying suppliers’ identities. BHP trust, credit, security— mobile-phone customers avoid spam completed its first iron ore blockchain the security of data and calls, and Industrial and Commer- trade with China Baowu Steel in June 2020. the privacy of data.” cial Bank of China, the world’s larg- est bank, with $4.9 trillion in assets, is BLOCKCHAIN PLATFORMS: MineHub, —Jack Ma Cofounder of ANT Group helping importers and exporters get fi- Hyperledger Fabric and founder of Alibaba How to Play It BINANCE CARREFOUR HOW TO BUY BITCOIN  CAYMAN ISLANDS MASSY, FRANCE While the early days of Bitcoin seemed The world’s largest cryptocurrency The French supermarket chain is tracking like the Wild West, today many compa- exchange lists 184 tokenized assets and more than 30 product lines on the nies offer easy, secure access to cryp- supports almost a hundred blockchains. blockchain, including farm-raised eggs, tocurrencies like Bitcoin. Most crypto Total trading volume reached $2 trillion Norwegian salmon and Rocamadour exchanges function similarly to online last year. In July, Binance rolled out a cheese. These products are tagged with a Visa debit card that automatically QR code that customers can scan to find brokers. And now some online stock converts users’ crypto assets to local out more about where their food comes brokerages, including Robinhood, allow currency and will be accepted at from. Carrefour says the feature has 70 million merchants worldwide. boosted sales and aims to expand it to customers to buy major cryptos such 100 product lines by the end of next year. as Ethereum and Bitcoin. You can also BLOCKCHAIN PLATFORMS: Bitcoin, buy Bitcoin through PayPal and Square. Binance Chain and dozens of others BLOCKCHAIN PLATFORMS: IBM Blockchain, If you want access to dozens of tokens Hyperledger Fabric and more sophisticated trading strate- BOEING gies, open an account at a crypto-na- CHINA CONSTRUCTION tive exchange. San Francisco’s Coinbase CHICAGO, ILLINOIS BANK is the blue-chip firm in the U.S., but other reputable exchanges include Kraken, Its HorizonX venture arm has BEIJING, CHINA contributed funds to the development Gemini, Bitstamp and eToro. of SkyGrid, a blockchain-enabled air The massive bank has built BC Trade —Steven Ehrlich traffic control system to track and 2.0, where 75 financial institutions communicate with drones. Already can quickly identify risky borrowers, FEBRUARY/MARCH 2021 approved by the FAA to provide drone as well as compete to offer lower pilots with low-altitude authorization rates to more desirable ones. So and available as a free iPad app, far, the platform has facilitated Skygrid creates a permanent record of $134 billion worth of loans for 5,800 data—important for package delivery, users, including manufacturers and industrial inspections and especially trading companies. Importantly, the (someday) autonomous flying taxis. platform cuts out Swift, the interbank messaging platform that was a required BLOCKCHAIN PLATFORMS: Go Direct, middleman before blockchain. Hyperledger Fabric BLOCKCHAIN PLATFORMS: BC Trade 2.0, CARGILL Hyperledger Fabric, Hyperchain WAYZATA, MINNESOTA The ag giant first dipped into blockchain in 2017 when it used Intel’s Hyperledger Sawtooth to track turkeys through its pre-Thanksgiving supply chain. Last year it became one of six partners (with the likes of ADM and Louis Dreyfus) in the Covantis platform—which uses the Ethereum-based Quorum blockchain to FORBES.COM

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CME GROUP CONA SERVICES nancing in as little as two days, as op- posed to the seven it would normal- CHICAGO, ILLINOIS ATLANTA, GEORGIA ly take. Notably absent from this year’s list: Google, which hasn’t progressed The derivatives exchange began offering Owned by the 12 largest North American far beyond a limited blockchain search engine, and Facebook, which an- Bitcoin futures contracts in December Coca-Cola bottlers, CONA (which stands nounced an ambitious token called Li- bra in the summer of 2019, only to face 2017. This January, it added options on for Coke One North America) is moving widespread backlash. The coin, since Bitcoin futures and in February is adding orders and shipments between bottlers to How to Play It Ether futures. So far, 6,000 individual the blockchain and will eventually include WOULD YOU SETTLE FOR A DERIVATIVE? 102 accounts are trading Bitcoin derivatives external suppliers of raw materials, on the exchange. aluminum cans and more. Using a coin exchange like Coinbase is not the only way to get in on crypto. THE LIST • INVESTMENT GUIDE BLOCKCHAIN PLATFORMS: Bitcoin, BLOCKCHAIN PLATFORMS: Baseline, There’s Grayscale Bitcoin Trust (GBTC), Ethereum Ethereum, Hyperledger Fabric which owns a pile of coins and has COINBASE CREDIT SUISSE shares trading, over the counter, at an erratic premium to their coin value. SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA ZÜRICH, SWITZERLAND Not yet approved by the Securities and Exchange Commission: exchange- America’s largest cryptocurrency The Swiss banking giant is using the Paxos traded funds that would compete with exchange has more than 43 million Settlement Service to settle U.S. listed Grayscale and largely eliminate the individual accounts in 100-plus stock trades with broker-dealer Nomura’s premium/discount problem. Already in countries. It also has $20 billion in Instinet. The blockchain technology allows place: cash-settled Bitcoin futures on crypto under custody, up from $6 billion participants to settle trades directly CME’s Globex platform. A busy day in April 2020. Coinbase is the first with each other, without the traditional at the CME will see volume of 20,000 principal issuer of debit cards that allow intermediary, enabling same-day settle- contracts, each for five coins. That’s customers to spend their cryptocurrency ment versus the two days it typically takes. anywhere Visa is accepted and to $3 billion–plus of betting action. withdraw cash from any ATM. The BLOCKCHAIN PLATFORMS: Enterprise —William Baldwin Coinbase Card became available to Ethereum, Paxos Settlement Service customers from 29 European countries renamed the Diem, has yet to launch. last year and is now being rolled out to DAIMLER By contrast, Jack Dorsey’s Square U.S. residents. STUTTGART, GERMANY has been moving fast. In addition to BLOCKCHAIN PLATFORMS: Bitcoin, doing a brisk business facilitating Ethereum and dozens of others The maker of luxury Mercedes-Benz cryptocurrency purchases and trad- vehicles is using blockchain to streamline ing on its popular Cash App, Square everything from production to a recent moved some $50 million of its cash fundraising. into Bitcoin in October. Boeing is us- ing a blockchain-powered app called BLOCKCHAIN PLATFORMS: Hyperledger SkyGrid to work as an air traffic con- Indy, Hyperledger Fabric, Corda, Ocean troller for drone flights. Holders of Protocol, Ethereum, MoveX Visa cards will soon be able to spend their crypto using its plastic and earn “The tokenization DEPOSITORY reward points in Bitcoin. In Chica- process is efficient TRUST & CLEARING go, Northern Trust, a 131-year-old for assigning title to CORPORATION (DTCC) bank servicing corporations and ultra- real physical goods. wealthy individuals, recently expand- By making that process NEW YORK, NEW YORK ed its services to include digital cryp- more efficient, it tocurrency wallets. allows for more liquidity, The clearing behemoth behind more investment and $2.2 quadrillion in trades annually is PayPal had been dabbling in crypto opening up those assets reimagining its services. After moving since 2016, when it filed a patent for a to a broader range $11 trillion of credit derivatives to a new kind of digital wallet that speeds blockchain, it announced Project Ion crypto transactions. In 2019, PayPal of investors.” to track cash equities traded on public Ventures made its first blockchain in- markets, and Project Whitney, which would vestment in Massachusetts-based —Jeanine Hightower-Sellitto do the same for pre-IPO stocks trading on Cambridge Blockchain, which is devel- both the primary and secondary markets. oping a crypto wallet that lets individ- CEO of Atomyze, a partner uals prove who they are without leak- BLOCKCHAIN PLATFORMS: Axcore, ing unnecessary personal information. of Nornickel Hyperledger Fabric, Corda, DAML, Ethereum FEBRUARY/MARCH 2021 DIGITAL CURRENCY GROUP NEW YORK, NEW YORK The most prolific investor in cryptocurrency startups, with a portfolio of 170 companies, also owns two of the largest crypto institutions—trading platform Genesis, with 1,000 institutional clients, including payments giant Square, and Grayscale, which manages $27 billion in assets in 10 trusts, all traded over the counter. BLOCKCHAIN PLATFORMS: Bitcoin, Ethereum, XRP, Zcash and others FORBES.COM

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EQUINOR ING GROUP It also bought stakes in TRM Labs, a startup focused on helping financial in- STAVANGER, NORWAY AMSTERDAM, THE NETHERLANDS stitutions prevent cryptocurrency fraud and financial crime, and TaxBit, a Salt The oil giant has put 10 oil and wind power Among the earliest banks to embrace Lake City firm that automates crypto- currency tax payments. projects on the blockchain, including its blockchain technology, it now leads Fueled by small-fry speculators, de- new megafield in the North Sea. a group of other financial institutions mand for PayPal’s easy-to-buy crypto services has been so great that there BLOCKCHAIN PLATFORMS: Data Gumbo, Vakt working to help authenticate crypto is both a wait list and purchase limits, assets so they comply with global currently $20,000 a week. It’s a simi- lar story at Square. Pantera Capital, a 104 anti–money laundering standards. Menlo Park, California–based block- BLOCKCHAIN PLATFORMS: Corda, chain investment firm, estimates that FIDELITY Quorum, Ethereum, Hyperledger Fabric, PayPal and Square are buying up most of the 900 new Bitcoins being mined THE LIST • INVESTMENT GUIDE BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS Hyperledger Indy each day. This year, Schulman says, PayPal will expand its cryptocurrency The mutual-fund behemoth has been service to Venmo’s 40 million custom- helping institutional investors store and ers. “It’s not just an investment instru- trade Bitcoin since early 2019. Today, Fidelity ment,” he adds. “It’s a way that we will Digital Assets has 100 clients, including enable commerce.” Kingdom Trust, which allows individuals to hold Bitcoin in their retirement accounts. Another Bitcoin adopter jolted into Fidelity has also filed paperwork for a Bitcoin action by the pandemic is $483 mil- Index Fund but is tight-lipped on details. lion (sales) business intelligence soft- ware company MicroStrategy. Michael BLOCKCHAIN PLATFORM: Bitcoin Saylor, the 55-year-old chief executive of the publicly traded company, spent HONEYWELL After moving $11 trillion $1.1 billion buying Bitcoin in 2020, of credit derivatives to borrowing $650 million of it. The digi- CHARLOTTE, NORTH CAROLINA the blockchain, DTCC tal asset, currently worth $2.6 billion, is launching projects sits on the Tysons Corner, Virginia– The industrial conglomerate has transferred for both publicly traded based company’s balance sheet along- more than 2 million aviation quality and pre-IPO stocks. side more mundane stores of value like documents to a blockchain ledger, making “Ultimately you can Treasury bills. Saylor, outspoken and them fully accessible to its customer deliver something for controversial since he briefly became a base. It also operates blockchain-based your clients that’s better, multibillionaire during the first inter- marketplace GoDirect Trade, which lists net bubble in 1999, sees it as a hedge $4 billion in used aviation parts and has faster, cheaper.” against the federal government’s easy- attracted more than 10,000 users. money policy, which he figures is deval- —Jennifer Peve DTCC Managing uing the dollar at a rate of 15% per year. BLOCKCHAIN PLATFORMS: Hyperledger Fabric, GoDirect Trade Director, Fintech Strategy “As the energy is sucked out of the dollar, the currency’s value is collaps- HSBC ing,” Saylor says. “That means that ev- ery stock, bond, piece of real estate or LONDON, ENGLAND other asset that rests on the founda- tion of fiat currency is sagging.” With The British bank is using blockchain to MicroStrategy demonstrably unable to increase the efficiency of foreign-exchange produce organic growth that measures flows among its global branches. Since 2018, up to the likes of Amazon or Netflix, 1.9 million trades with a nominal value of Saylor effectively turned his enterprise $1.7 trillion have been settled on its ledger. software company into a leveraged Bitcoin ETF. Its stock is up 270% in 12 BLOCKCHAIN PLATFORMS: Quorum, months. By Forbes’ count, at least 25 Corda, Ethereum, Hyperledger Fabric, other publicly traded companies have OneConnect Bitcoin on their balance sheets. IBM CORPORATION JPMORGAN CHASE Most companies on the Blockchain 50, however, are not Bitcoin specula- ARMONK, NEW YORK NEW YORK, NEW YORK FEBRUARY/MARCH 2021 Among the first enterprises to invest Has signed up 425 banks, including seriously in blockchain, IBM’s new Digital Deutsche Bank and Mexico’s Banorte, Health Pass application lets organizations to use its Liink blockchain network to verify an individual’s Covid-19 test and speed up interbank transactions. The temperature results; customers such as technology will eventually help banks stadium operators can choose their own issue fewer paper checks and move more criteria, including whether a person was transactions online. vaccinated. BLOCKCHAIN PLATFORMS: Quorum, Ethereum BLOCKCHAIN PLATFORMS: IBM Blockchain, Hyperledger Fabric KAKAO ICBC JEJU-SI, SOUTH KOREA BEIJING, CHINA South Korea’s dominant messaging app, KakaoTalk, with 52 million users, The world’s largest bank now has has a Ground X blockchain unit that has 30 blockchain applications that let developed its own public blockchain customers trace everything from their with its own cryptocurrency, klay. So far health-care coverage to how their 370,000 verified KakaoTalk users have philanthropic donations are spent. opened digital wallets; 10% of them use the wallet every day. BLOCKCHAIN PLATFORMS: ICBC Chain, Ethereum, Hyperledger Fabric, Tendermint BLOCKCHAIN PLATFORM: Klaytn FORBES.COM

How to Play It LVMH Ethereum, Hyperledger Fabric, 105 Hyperledger Sawtooth, DAML TAXES FOR CRYPTO RICHES PARIS, FRANCE THE LIST • INVESTMENT GUIDE NOVARTIS Are you one of the thousands (or maybe The luxury-goods conglomerate is using millions) of crypto investors who have blockchain to track products and fight BASEL, SWITZERLAND counterfeiting of brands such as Louis neglected to report your profits? The IRS Vuitton and Bulgari. Nearly 10 million The drugmaker is a leading member of is putting a question about virtual cur- luxury products have been registered on PharmaLedger, a blockchain consortium rency on the front page of the 1040 this the platform, created with Prada and in the EU that is targeting incorrect or year. Now might be a good time to fess Richemont’s Cartier. outdated information on prescription up. Several services help busy traders inserts—a top reason for recalls. Along with compile data sets that can be fed into BLOCKCHAIN PLATFORMS: AURA, Quorum, Merck and the Polytechnic University of tax-prep programs. Among the pleasant Ethereum Madrid, Novartis built an app that scans surprises: Gains on coins held for more drug packages and makes real-time than a year qualify for a reduced tax MICROSOFT requests to manufacturers for up-to-date rate; as property rather than securities, information, to be accessed by patients coins aren’t subject to the wash sale rule REDMOND, WASHINGTON via scan codes. PharmaLedger is also using limiting deductions for losing trades. the technology to combat counterfeit and One of its blockchain applications, black-market medicines. —William Baldwin developed with EY, manages content rights and royalties. Game publishers BLOCKCHAIN PLATFORMS: Ethereum, tors but rather are looking to employ Xbox and Ubisoft were the first to use Sovrin, Hyperledger Fabric, Corda, the technology underlying the cryp- the new system, which makes royalty DAML, Quorum tocurrency in innovative ways. North payments automatically, compared to Carolina–based Honeywell, for in- a traditional processing time that can ORACLE stance, is using blockchain to con- stretch to 45 days or more. nect buyers and sellers of used avia- AUSTIN, TEXAS tion parts. So far 117 suppliers includ- BLOCKCHAIN PLATFORMS: Quorum, Ethereum ing Boeing and Lufthansa have signed The database giant launched its up, and in 2020 some $65 million in MICROSTRATEGY proprietary blockchain in 2018. Its most parts changed hands. That’s small po- mature project is Global Shipping Business tatoes for the $37 billion (sales) giant, TYSONS CORNER, VIRGINIA Network (GSBN), a maritime shipping but Honeywell executives hope that consortium that now has 300 customers, their proprietary platform could one Mature business-analytics software including container-shipping giants and day move the entire industry for sec- company jump-started the trend of storing port operators. ondhand parts online. Bitcoin in corporate treasuries to offset inflation by buying more than $1 billion BLOCKCHAIN PLATFORMS: Oracle South African wood-pulping gi- worth of the cryptocurrency in 2020. Blockchain Platform, Hyperledger Fabric ant Sappi uses blockchain to track its Morgan Stanley recently bought a nearly products from the sustainable forests 11% stake in the company. (See main story.) it cultivates to manufacturing plants BLOCKCHAIN PLATFORM: Bitcoin used to spin the pulp into fabric for clothing. The blockchain continues to NATIONAL BASKETBALL “The reason I have track the garments all the way to re- ASSOCIATION so much passion for tailers who can charge more because they can prove that no naturally oc- NEW YORK, NEW YORK Bitcoin is largely curring forests were harvested to make The NBA’s Top Shot marketplace is because of the model T-shirts and underwear. helping the league cash in on the sports- memorabilia boom. Using its partner it demonstrates: a Atlanta’s CONA Services, a newcom- Dapper Labs’ blockchain, the NBA is selling foundational internet er to the Blockchain 50, provides tech- packs of “moments,” similar to trading cards nology services to the 12 largest Coca- but in digital form. More than 400,000 technology that is Cola bottling companies in North moments have been sold so far, including not controlled or America. Prior to its adoption of block- one featuring a LeBron James block that influenced by any chain technology, orders and shipments traded for $100,000. single individual between bottlers involved antiquated BLOCKCHAIN PLATFORM: Flow spreadsheet forms, inconsistent record- or entity.” ing practices and cumbersome regula- NORNICKEL tions that sometimes left the bottlers —Jack Dorsey bickering over lost products and unex- MOSCOW, RUSSIA pected costs. Using its new encrypted The world’s largest high-grade nickel and Square CEO and cofounder system, order confirmations, proof of palladium producer is testing an industrial shipment and proof of receipt are add- asset tokenization platform through ed to the blockchain in real time. Connecticut-based startup Atomyze, which it partially owns. FEBRUARY/MARCH 2021 BLOCKCHAIN PLATFORM: Hyperledger Fabric NORTHERN TRUST CHICAGO, ILLINOIS In December 2020 it invested, along with Standard Chartered, in cryptocurrency startup Zodia Custody. (See main story.) BLOCKCHAIN PLATFORMS: Bitcoin, FORBES.COM

PAYPAL fast and simple ways for them to deposit Among the most frequently used money in their crypto trading accounts blockchains on our list this year are four standouts. Twenty-five compa- SAN JOSE, CALIFORNIA through its Ethereum-based platform, nies used one of the free versions of software provided by Hyperledger, The payments-processing pioneer is known as Signet. In 2020, deposits from the blockchain branch of the nonprof- gunning for a leading position in a future crypto customers increased from $2 billion it Linux Foundation. Twenty-two used in which digital assets and central bank to more than $10 billion. Ethereum, the blockchain that runs the $160 billion Ether cryptocurren- currencies abound. (See main story.) BLOCKCHAIN PLATFORMS: Signet, cy; nine used Quorum, an enterprise version of Ethereum developed by JP- BLOCKCHAIN PLATFORMS: Bitcoin, Ethereum Morgan and sold to New York block- chain startup ConsenSys; and six used 106 Ethereum, Bitcoin Cash, Litecoin Corda, developed by R3, a blockchain startup that has raised $112 million in THE LIST • INVESTMENT GUIDE PING AN SQUARE venture capital. Then there’s Bitcoin, of course, which is being used by no SHENZHEN, CHINA SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA fewer than 11 members of our list. The insurance and financial-services Two years ago, Square started letting According to the Gartner group, giant has more than 30 blockchain users of Cash App, its peer-to-peer money there were more than 1,000 corpo- applications, including a supply chain transfer and digital banking service, buy rate blockchain projects underway in project going through the Port of Tianjin Bitcoin. The app has grown to 30 million America as of November 2020. Most and a financing platform in Guangdong active users. Square generated $1.6 are early-stage and experimental, but Province, both operating through its billion in revenue and $32 million in gross 14% are either in production or will be fintech subsidiary OneConnect. profit from Bitcoin in the quarter ended soon. Forrester Research is even more September 30. In October, Square said it optimistic, predicting that as many as BLOCKCHAIN PLATFORM: FiMAX had invested $50 million, or 1% of its own 30% of active blockchain projects will total assets, in Bitcoin. (See main story.) be ready for customer use this year. BLOCKCHAIN PLATFORM: Bitcoin One significant trend amid the ex- citement over digital assets has been SAMSUNG GROUP STATE FARM a flood of major companies getting into cryptocurrency custody servic- SEOUL, SOUTH KOREA BLOOMINGTON, ILLINOIS es. It’s telling, for example, that Micro- Strategy’s Saylor and other institu- The conglomerate’s IT arm, Samsung SDS, For insurers resolving claims, the process tional investors won’t reveal how they has built a number of blockchain projects of subrogation—that is, determining which for local governments, hospitals and air- policy and insurer is ultimately responsible How to Play It ports. That includes a one-stop medical for paying which claim—can take months. claims processing service allowing patients State Farm and insurer USAA used to mail STOCKS WITH A to submit claims at a hospital reception each other an average of more than 200 BLOCKCHAIN KICKER center, a kiosk or via a mobile phone. checks a day. But since they began using the Subrogation Net Settlement blockchain One way to dip your toes into the crypto BLOCKCHAIN PLATFORMS: Nexledger last year, the number of checks exchanged pool is by owning the publicly traded has been reduced by 80%. equities of companies improving their SAPPI business processes using blockchain BLOCKCHAIN PLATFORMS: Quorum, technology (like many on the Forbes JOHANNESBURG, SOUTH AFRICA Ethereum Blockchain 50) or buying into companies The South African pulp producer has heavily invested in digital assets. The partnered with Indian eco-friendly fabric maker Birla Cellulose on GreenTrack, a most prominent example of this trend is blockchain that tracks fabric products from MicroStrategy, which already has sustainable forests to pulp to manufacturing plants. More than 250 supply chain $2 billion in Bitcoin on its balance sheet. partners, including Walmart and Marks & There are also publicly traded Bitcoin Spencer, now use GreenTrack to verify the mining companies such as Riot Block- sustainability of the apparel they sell. chain and Marathon Patent Group. Both BLOCKCHAIN PLATFORMS: GreenTrack, former microcaps have outperformed Hyperledger Fabric Bitcoin during its recent surge. Tech giants PayPal and Square have also SAUDI ARAMCO By tracking hundreds of become popular buys, not only because fresh food items, including of their exposure to crypto but because DHAHRAN, SAUDI ARABIA they will benefit from the growing use leafy greens, meat and of electronic payments. In 2019, Aramco invested $6 million into seafood on the blockchain, —Steven Ehrlich Data Gumbo, which has built a blockchain platform that aims to integrate thousands Walmart has made it FEBRUARY/MARCH 2021 of sensors at oilfields and refineries, the easier to identify the origin better to verify asset performance and reconcile smart contracts with Aramco’s of rotten products— vendors. Last year, Saudi Aramco Energy a benefit to not only the Ventures invested $5 million in Vakt, a retailer but also the FDA. blockchain platform for trading cargoes of oil and petroleum products. —Archana Sristy BLOCKCHAIN PLATFORMS: Ethereum, Walmart Senior Director—Software Hyperledger Engineering, Blockchain Platforms SIGNATURE BANK NEW YORK, NEW YORK The $64 billion (assets) New York bank is developing a specialty in serving institutional crypto customers, providing FORBES.COM

store their Bitcoin. This difficult task— customers manage their preferences to Bitcoins worth billions have gone miss- avoid spam calls. (See main story.) ing over the years—has long been a bar- rier to institutional adoption. There are BLOCKCHAIN PLATFORM: Hyperledger Fabric other problems besides fraud and theft. If the owner of a bank account forgets TELEFONICA 107 her password, the bank simply resets it. With Bitcoin, for which banks aren’t “The crypto economy is MADRID, SPAIN THE LIST • INVESTMENT GUIDE necessary, losing the password, called a what we’re driving toward. private key, is like losing the asset itself, The Spanish telecom uses blockchain with no recovery possible. It’s a new economy that to track 4 million home-equipment starts off primarily online, devices. It has also invested in Zamna, a In July the Office of the Comptrol- blockchain-enabled data platform that ler of the Currency published a letter but it’s also accessible helps airlines verify passengers’ identities stating that banks would now be per- to people in emerging prior to arriving at an airport, and it has mitted to provide custody services for teamed up with IBM to use blockchain to crypto assets. It’s no surprise that fi- markets. It’s more manage international calls. nancial institutions, preparing for a global. It’s more fair. day when digital asset ownership is BLOCKCHAIN PLATFORMS: TrustOS, common, are rushing into the cryp- It’s more free. Hyperledger Fabric to-custody business. No fewer than six It’s more efficient.” institutions, including Spanish bank TENCENT BBVA, Dutch bank ING and Swiss se- —Brian Armstrong curities firm SIX, are now crypto-cus- Coinbase CEO and cofounder SHENZHEN, CHINA todians. In December, hedge fund One River disclosed that it was us- STONE RIDGE The tech giant built the blockchain that ing Northern Trust’s custody servic- is used by Shenzhen’s tax authority to es to manage $600 million worth of NEW YORK, NEW YORK issue some 10 million invoices. In addition, cryptocurrency and was looking to in- it founded WeBank, whose blockchain crease the amount to $1 billion. That Through subsidiary New York Digital platform FISCO BCOS (Be Credible, Open same month, Northern Trust invested Investment Group, Stone Ridge has & Secure) is used by more than 2,000 in London-based cryptocurrency cus- become one of the largest institutional enterprises and includes WeIdentity, todian startup Zodia Custody. investors in Bitcoin. In October it said which has helped process more than it had made the cryptocurrency its 17 million border crossings between In many ways, companies like primary treasury asset, and in December Macao and mainland China. Another Northern Trust and Fidelity, which is disclosed to Forbes that it had Tencent blockchain app, WeSign, shortens also offering crypto-custody servic- purchased 20,000 Bitcoins, now valued arbitration processing time and is used es, are perfectly positioned to build a at more than $700 million. Overall, the in Chinese courtrooms to record pieces bridge to a regulated digital asset re- firm now has custody of $4 billion in of evidence. ality. Northern Trust has already part- digital assets. nered with a Singapore fintech startup BLOCKCHAIN PLATFORM: FISCO BCOS named BondEvalue to act as servicing BLOCKCHAIN PLATFORMS: Bitcoin, and custody agent in a business that Ethereum, XRP, Litecoin and Bitcoin Cash VANGUARD uses blockchain technology to carve up and sell fractional interests in corpo- SWISSCOM VALLEY FORGE, PENNSYLVANIA rate bonds. In August, the partnership executed the world’s first blockchain- BERN, SWITZERLAND In June the index-fund king announced based bond trade, an $8,000 sliver of an initiative to address the often a $300 million, 4.375% coupon bond The telecom giant has 11 blockchain messy process of keeping records for originally issued by Singapore agricul- applications in various stages, including asset-backed securities—as loans get ture giant Olam. The trade, which nor- crypto stock-issuance startup Daura repackaged and sold from one party to mally takes two days to settle, required and crypto custody firm Custodigit, a another, important credit information just seconds. joint venture with digital asset bank can be lost. Vanguard piloted a new Sygnum. Last November, the firm joined product—with Citi, State Street and “We’re going to continue to invest a $30 million investment in Fireblocks, BNY Mellon also participating—to store in digital asset programs across the which helps institutions create, store that loan information on a shared, landscape,” says Justin Chapman, an and trade digital assets. unalterable ledger. executive vice president at Northern Trust. “We think the technology is BLOCKCHAIN PLATFORMS: Hyperledger BLOCKCHAIN PLATFORM: Symbiont there, the understanding is there. Cli- Fabric, Hyperledger Ares, Hyperledger Assembly ents are ready.” Indy, Corda VISA FEBRUARY/MARCH 2021 TECH MAHINDRA FOSTER CITY, CALIFORNIA PUNE, INDIA Visa’s golden goose is its vast network of The technology arm of Indian access points—some 70 million merchant conglomerate Mahindra Group locations. Now that central banks are has developed multiple blockchain starting to mint digital currencies, Visa is technologies. In July 2019, it introduced doing extensive R&D so digital money can a blockchain-based app that is now flow safely (out of fraudsters’ reach) over helping 500 million mobile phone its rails. It has applied for 159 blockchain- related patents for uses such as making transactions more secure and using biometrics to verify someone’s identity. In December, it announced an integration with the cryptocurrency “stable coin” USDC, or U.S. dollar coin, to speed up international business-to-business payments. Blockchain Platforms: Bitcoin, Ethereum FORBES.COM

tune over $17 billion. However, XRP crashed with the rest of the CRYPTO market when the bubble burst later that year. Larsen was named a defendant in a December 2020 lawsuit brought by the Securi- ties and Exchange Commission alleging that Ripple sold XRP to the public in an unregistered securities offering. “The SEC is com- BILLIONAIRES pletely wrong on the facts and law,” Ripple said in a statement. 108 MICHAEL SAYLOR NET WORTH: $2 billion The stock market has given investors good reasonTHE LIST • INVESTMENT GUIDE The CEO of software firm MicroStrategy, he was to grin this past year, but none are smiling wider than one of the best-known executives of the Internet the holders of cryptocurrencies. The combined value ARMSTRONG AND SAYLOR: JAMEL TOPPIN FOR FORBES; ZHAO: AKIO KON/BLOOMBERG; WINKLEVOSS (2): JONATHAN FICKIES/BLOOMBERG; SILBERT: REUTERS/NEWSCOM bubble—even making People magazine’s list of all digital coins is north of $1 trillion, up fourfold from of Most Eligible Bachelors. But questionable $250 billion in January 2020. Given the surge, Forbes accounting led to a restatement of financial set out to calculate the fortunes of crypto’s wealthiest results, and the dot-com bust crashed his stock. Two big moves land him on this list: In December 2020, investors and entrepreneurs, counting not just the MicroStrategy announced that it used its cash and borrowed value of their digital money but also their stakes in $650 million to buy 70,784 Bitcoins for $1.1 billion (now worth $2.5 billion), helping drive shares up more than 300%. Plus, related businesses and traditional assets. Saylor says he personally snagged 17,732 Bitcoins for about The result: a record 11 billionaires. $175 million (now worth about $650 million). ••• CHANGPENG ZHAO (“CZ”) EDITED by JEFF KAUFLIN, CHASE PETERSON-WITHORN and JENNIFER WANG NET WORTH: $1.9 billion Reported by Jeff Kauflin, Michael del Castillo, Steven Ehrlich, Nina Bambysheva and John Hyatt BRIAN ARMSTRONG The former software developer sold his house in Shanghai in 2014 to go all in on Bitcoin. He NET WORTH: $6.5 billion launched Binance in the summer of 2017, and in under a year it became the most popular place His Coinbase is one of the most popular places to trade crypto. It has since launched business to buy and sell crypto, processing about $3 bil- lines ranging from a venture capital fund and a lion in trades every day. Armstrong, 38, cofound- Bitcoin mining operation to a debit card that lets you spend your ed the exchange in 2012 after stints at Deloitte crypto in Europe. The son of a professor who was temporarily ex- and Airbnb. It’s now the most valuable crypto iled from China, he flipped burgers at McDonald’s and worked business in America. Armstrong owns an esti- overnight shifts at a gas station to help cover household expenses. mated 20% of Coinbase, which in December filed confidentially to go public. Asked why he got into this business, the press-shy TYLER AND CAMERON WINKLEVOSS entrepreneur told Forbes: “I wanted the world to have a global, open financial system that drove innovation and freedom.” NET WORTH: $1.6 billion each SAM BANKMAN-FRIED Olympic rowers best known for accusing fellow Harvard stu- NET WORTH: $4.5 billion dent Mark Zuckerberg of stealing their idea for a social network, At just 28 years old, Bankman-Fried manages the twins used some of their 2012 $2.5 billion of assets through Alameda Research, $65 million legal settlement with the quantitative crypto trading firm he found- the Facebook CEO to start stockpiling Bitcoin. They still own an ed in 2017. An MIT grad and former Wall Street estimated 70,000 Bitcoins, in addition to other digital assets. In ETF trader, he also launched FTX, a crypto de- 2014, they cofounded crypto exchange Gemini; today it processes rivatives exchange, in 2019. The vast majority about $200 million a day in trades. of his wealth is in FTX’s equity and tokens (FTT). BARRY SILBERT CHRIS LARSEN NET WORTH: $1.5 billion NET WORTH: $2.9 billion After selling startup stock trading platform A serial entrepreneur, Larsen, 60, cofounded SecondMarket to Nasdaq in 2015, the Emory online lender Eloan in 1997 and, eight years University grad launched Digital Currency Group, later, peer-to-peer lender Prosper. This third a conglomerate of five companies. Its biggest rev- bet has been the most valuable—and contro- enue generator: digital asset manager Grayscale, versial: He cofounded Ripple with Jed McCaleb which oversees $28 billion worth of Bitcoin, Ether in 2012 to facilitate international payments for and other assets. Capitalizing on a classic first-mover advantage, banks through blockchain technology and a token called XRP. In Grayscale was the first to win regulatory permission to sell secu- January 2018, the cryptocurrency bubble briefly pushed his for- rities backed by Bitcoin to institutional and accredited investors. That now generates an estimated $590 million in revenue annually. FORBES.COM *All cryptocurrency values are as of January 19, 2021, at 4 pm ET, according to Messari.io.

JED McCALEB VMWARE 109 NET WORTH: $1.4 billion PALO ALTO, CALIFORNIAc In the first live THE LIST • INVESTMENT GUIDE application of blockchain An early pioneer, Mc- Known for developing the technology technology for listed U.S. Caleb, 46, helped launch behind Facebook’s cryptocurrency equities, Credit Suisse is three crypto firms. In Diem (previously Libra), VMware using the Paxos Settlement 2010 he created Mt. Gox, introduced its own enterprise-focused the first major Bitcoin blockchain platform in November. Service to settle trades exchange, which he sold Broadridge Financial Solutions is directly, on the same a year later. In 2012 he cofounded Rip- already using it to enable automation day, with broker-dealer ple, but soon left over reported disagree- and digitization of repurchase Nomura’s Instinet. ments with fellow founders. And in 2014 agreements. The Australian Stock he cofounded Stellar, the $4.8 billion (as- Exchange brought on VMware in 2019 —Emmanuel Aidoo set value) Ripple competitor that aims to to work on a post-trade platform to speed up cross-border payments. The bulk replace its quarter-century-old system. Credit Suisse, Head of Distributed of McCaleb’s wealth comes from the esti- mated 3.4 billion XRP he still holds, from BLOCKCHAIN PLATFORM: VMWare Blockchain Ledger Strategy the original 9 billion XRP he pocketed as a Ripple founder. Before entering crypto, WALMART McCaleb was known for creating file-shar- ing service eDonkey2000, which settled a BENTONVILLE, ARKANSAS 2006 lawsuit from record companies over copyright infringement for $30 million. Its Food Traceability Initiative, which helps Walmart detect contamination and other TIM DRAPER food safety issues, now tracks nearly 500 items like fresh leafy greens, coffee, NET WORTH: $1.1 billion seafood and meat. Last year, it assisted the FDA with six investigations into food This scion of a Silicon safety and was able to provide detailed Valley investing dynas- information on the original source of ty and founding partner potential contamination within an hour. of venture capital firm This year, Walmart will conduct a pilot Draper Fisher Jurvet- with U.S. Customs and Border Protection son has made hundreds to track imported foods. of VC investments in companies including Tesla and Theranos. In 2014, he bought BLOCKCHAIN PLATFORM: Hyperledger Fabric 29,656 Bitcoins that had been confiscat- DRAPER: FREDERICK M. BROWN/GETTY IMAGES; ROSZAK: JAMLE TOPPIN FOR FORBES ed by U.S. Marshals from the shuttered FORBES (ISSN 0015 6914) is published six times a year in February, April (double issue), June, August, Silk Road black market for $18.7 million October and December (double issue) by Forbes Media LLC, 499 Washington Blvd, Jersey City, NJ 07310. (price: $632 per coin). They’re now worth Periodicals postage paid at Newark, NJ 07102 and at additional mailing offices. Canadian Agreement $1.1 billion. “I bought a few more along the No. 40036469. Return undeliverable Canadian addresses to APC Postal Logistics, LLC, 140 E. Union Ave, way, but not enough to pass the Winklevii,” East Rutherford, NJ 07073. Canada GST# 12576 9513 RT. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to Forbes he tells Forbes in an email, but otherwise Subscriber Service, P.O. Box 5471, Harlan, IA 51593-0971. won’t disclose details about his wealth: “I would rather not get the proctology exam.” CONTACT INFORMATION MATTHEW ROSZAK For Subscriptions: visit www.forbesmagazine.com; call 1-515-284-0693; or write Forbes Subscriber Service, P.O. Box 5471, Harlan, IA 51593-0971. Prices: U.S.A., one year $34.99; Canada, one year C$52.99 (includes NET WORTH: $1 billion GST). We may make portions of our mailing list available to reputable firms. If you prefer that we not include your name, please write Forbes Subscriber Service (address above). A longtime crypto evangelist, Roszak For Back Issues: visit www.forbesmagazine.com; e-mail [email protected]; or call 1-212-367-4141. worked in venture capital For Article Reprints or Permission to use Forbes content including text, photos, illustrations, logos, and and as an entrepreneur video: visit www.forbesreprints.com; call PARS International at 1-212-221-9595; e-mail http://www. forbes. (he also settled insider com/reprints; or e-mail [email protected]. Permission to copy or republish articles can also be trading charges in 2006) obtained through the Copyright Clearance Center at www.copyright.com. Use of Forbes content without before amassing a crypto portfolio start- the express permission of Forbes or the copyright owner is expressly prohibited. ing in 2012. Today his day job is cofound- er and chairman of Bloq, a Chicago block- Copyright © 2019 Forbes Media LLC. All rights reserved. Title is protected through a trademark registered chain technology startup that consults with the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office. Printed in the U.S.A. on projects such as helping banks store digital assets securely. Roszak recently FORBES.COM co-led an initiative to give each member of Congress $50 worth of digital assets; some accepted, but not all. FEBRUARY/MARCH 2021

THOUGHTS ON Home 110 “Home is where you come to Out of Office “I have respect and affection when you have nothing better for people on both sides of the to do.” —Margaret Thatcher September 12, 1983 aisle, and I cherish the aisle itself as a welcoming middle “Home wasn’t built in a day.” In October 1982, Katherine Ackerman left her job as a ground, free of obstacles and Chicago Tribune research librarian and, shortly after her baby hostilities.” —Nancy G. Brinker —Jane Ace was born, set herself up as a freelance researcher, operating “You have to learn to have your “Many a man who thinks to entirely from home via her IBM personal computer. “One voice in your home. If you found a home discovers that don’t see equality in your own he has merely opened a tavern of the best things about working at home like this is home, it’s very hard to live out for his friends.” if the baby does something cute I have the freedom to in the world.” —Melinda Gates drop everything and take his picture,” she said, her son’s —Norman Douglas screams echoing in the background. “Which I do a lot.” As the “Anything that takes us out personal-computer age dawned, “telecommuting” began to of our comfort zones for a “You may think I’m small, but seem feasible, promising “to change the daily lives of millions while can act as a reminder I have a universe inside my of Americans as radically as the automobile.” But experts such that the past we are used to mind.” —Yoko Ono as New York University business professor Margrethe Olson may not be our best future.” (rightly) foresaw a major obstacle: the large, unhurriable “Home is where somebody portion of corporate America that would resist. “Culture —Charles Handy notices when you are no changes more slowly than technology,” she said. And office longer there.” culture remained stubbornly resistant to change—until “I learned to find equal meaning in the repeated —Aleksandar Hemon recently, when it no longer had a choice in the matter. rituals of domestic life. Setting the table. Lighting “In violent and chaotic times SOURCES: THE FINE ART OF HYPOCHONDRIA, BY GOODMAN ACE; SOUTH WIND, the candles. Building the fire. such as these, our only chance BY NORMAN DOUGLAS; FALLING BODIES, BY SUE KAUFMAN; REFLECTIONS OF A Cooking. These fragments for survival lies in creating our BACHELOR GIRL, BY HELEN ROWLAND; VOICES, BY URSULA K. LE GUIN; THE YEAR OF mattered to me. I believed own little islands of sanity and MAGICAL THINKING, BY JOAN DIDION; THE BROOK KERITH, BY GEORGE AUGUSTUS in them.” —Joan Didion order.” —Sue Kaufman MOORE; THE LAZARUS PROJECT, BY ALEKSANDAR HEMON; PROMISE ME, BY NANCY G. BRINKER; THE SECOND CURVE, BY CHARLES HANDY. “By wisdom a house is built, “How often have I lain beneath and through understanding rain on a strange roof, thinking it is established; through of home.” —William Faulkner knowledge its rooms are filled with rare and beautiful “A man’s home may seem to treasures.” —Proverbs 24:3-4 be his castle on the outside; inside, it is more often his FINAL THOUGHT nursery.” —Clare Booth Luce “A place to call one’s own “A man travels the world over remains a prime part of the in search of what he needs American dream. What else, and returns home to find it.” after mate and kids, —George Augustus Moore comes close? In fact, even “Home is any four walls that without ’em?” enclose the right person.” —Malcolm Forbes —Helen Rowland “Isn’t it what all the great wars and battles are fought for—so that at day’s end a family may eat together in a peaceful house?” —Ursula K. Le Guin “Of all modern notions, the worst is this: that domesticity is dull. The home is not the one tame place in a world of adventure; it is the one wild place in a world of rules and set tasks.” —G.K. Chesterton FORBES.COM FEBRUARY/MARCH 2021

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