Initially, blockchain brought disruption to the financial industry, but as more and more businesses are seeing the benefits and efficiencies that it can bring, more enterprises are investing in this technology to bring their business to the next level. The demand for blockchain and associated apps means that innovation and exploration into new protocols are off the charts! This growth of DApp development is a clear indication that more use-cases are being found and implemented every day, and this article features 10 of our favorite and, dare we say, best blockchain projects that are out there.
1. Ethereum
Founded in late 2013, Ethereum is an open-source and blockchain based distributed computing platform proposed by Vitalk Buterin, a 22-year old Russian-Canadian programmer. Ethereum is known for running smart contracts on a custom-built blockchain. Though enterprises have adopted Ethereum widely, it is essential to understand that Ethereum is a public (permissionless) blockchain platform, built for restricted access versus mass consumption. Moreover, it is the Proof of Work(PoW) based platform, which is comparatively slower in terms of speed. But it might change its consensus algorithm to Proof of Stake in the coming years. Ethereum has also built a large online support community to keep everyone up-to-date with product enhancements and updates.
Industry Focus: Cross-Industry
Consensus Algorithm: Proof of Work
Governance: Ethereum Developers
Smart Contract Functionality: Yes
Ledger Type: Permissionless
2. Hyperledger Fabric
Hyperledger Fabric is another project of Hyperledger, intended for building blockchain based solutions or applications using a modular architecture. The modularity of the architecture allows network designers to plug in their preferred components like membership services and consensus, distinguishing it from other blockchain solutions. The framework is designed for permissioned networks, enabling known identities to participate within a system. The participants within this network should be authorized and should have credibility in the capital to take part in the blockchain.
Industry Focus: Cross-Industry
Consensus Algorithm: Pluggable Framework
Governance: Linux Foundation
Smart Contract Functionality: Yes
Ledger Type: Permissioned
3. Hyperledger Sawtooth
Launched by the Linux Foundation and contributed by IBM and Digital Asset, Hyperledger Sawtooth is an enterprise-grade and modular platform, designed for creating, deploying, and executing distributed ledgers which enable digital records to be maintained without a central authority. It is Hyperledger’s second open-source blockchain platform to integrate with an enterprise-ready 1.0 version. The launch of 1.0 software solutions is essential for every developer as it indicates that the maintainers are still dedicated to the core features. So, it gives blockchain companies a sense of confidence that whatever they build won’t break because of future upgrades.
Industry Focus: Cross-Industry
Consensus Algorithm: Pluggable Framework
Governance: Linux Foundation
Smart Contract Functionality: Yes
Ledger Type: Permissioned
4. Hedera Hashgraph
Providing a new form of distributed consensus, Hedera Hashgraph platform is lightning secure, fast and fair platform that does not need to compute a heavy proof of work algorithm. Hedera empowers and enables developers to build an entirely new class of decentralized applications that are scalable. The Hedera Hashgraph Council is the governing body of the Hedera Hashgraph platform and the terms made in Hedera’s governance ensure no single member can have control and no small groups can have extreme influence over the entire body. Smart contracts in the Hedera Hashgraph platform can be made dynamic just like any other software component. Since it offers an optional mechanism which allows “binding arbitration”, the smart contracts deployed with a list of the public key of arbitrators can be edited to fix bugs or add new features.
Industry Focus: Cross-Industry
Consensus Algorithm: Asynchronous Byzantine Fault Tolerance
Governance: Hedera Hashgraph Council
Smart Contract Functionality: Yes
Ledger Type: Permissioned
5. Ripple
Discovered in 2012, Ripple is aimed at connecting payment providers, digital asset exchanges, banks, and corporate via a blockchain network, RippleNet without any chargebacks. It allows global payments through a digital asset called “XRP or Ripple,” which is now one of the popular cryptocurrencies like Ether and Bitcoin. Built on the advanced blockchain technology, XRP is more scalable and faster than other blockchains. Ripple uses probabilistic voting to reach the consensus between nodes. Big brands like Santander, American Express, MoneyGram International, SBI Holdings, and Deloitte are testing the potential of Ripple’s Blockchain and planning to integrate it to make the existing payment processes secure and faster.
Industry Focus: Financial Services
Consensus Algorithm: Probabilistic Voting
Governance: Ripple Labs
Smart Contract Functionality: No
Ledger Type: Permissioned
6. Quorum
Founded by J.P. Morgan, Quorum is an enterprise-focused version of Ethereum. It modifies Ethereum’s core and therefore, can incorporate the Ethereum updates seamlessly and quickly. Similar to Ethereum, Quorum is also open-source and free to use the blockchain platform in perpetuity. Unlike other blockchain platforms, it uses vote based and different algorithms to process hundreds of transactions per second. Designed to be permissioned, the networks using Quorum won’t be open to everyone. It can handle applications requiring high throughput processing and speed of private transactions. Quorum resolves the issue of the confidentiality of records that Ethereum and other blockchains failed to handle by introducing private and public on-chain transactions.
Industry Focus: Cross-Industry
Consensus Algorithm: Majority Voting
Governance: Ethereum Developers and JP Morgan Chase
Smart Contract Functionality: No
Ledger Type: Permissioned
7. Hyperledger Iroha
Hosted by the Linux Foundation, Hyperledger Iroha is a blockchain platform for building trusted, secure and fast decentralized applications. It is a simple and modularized distributed ledger system based on a highly secure and fast consensus algorithm called Yet Another Consensus, protecting Iroha networks from adversary nodes or failures. Being portable and supporting macOS and Linux environment, the platform is highly applicable for supply chain and IoT use cases. The National Bank of Cambodia and Soramistu Co. Ltd. are working together to develop the distributed ledger project, i.e., Hyperledger Iroha.
Industry Focus: Cross-Industry
Consensus Algorithm: Chain-based Byzantine Fault Tolerant
Governance: Linux Foundation
Smart Contract Functionality: Yes
Ledger Type: Permissioned
8. Corda
R3 is a consortium of world’s leading financial institutions that built one of the open source blockchain platforms called Corda in 2015. Corda is a cutting-edge blockchain platform, which enables institutions to transact directly with smart contracts by removing costly frictions in business transactions. Corda does not have a cryptocurrency or built-in token and is a permissioned blockchain platform which only allows the authorized participants to access the data, not the entire network. Since it operates in a permissioned mode, it enhances privacy and offers fine-grained access control to digital records. Designed initially by the financial industry, for the financial sector, Corda is now being applied in various other uses cases like healthcare, trade finance, supply chain, and government authorities.
Industry Focus: Cross-Industry
Consensus Algorithm: Asynchronous Byzantine Fault Tolerance
Governance: Hedera Hashgraph Council
Smart Contract Functionality: Yes
Ledger Type: Permissioned
9. EOS
Launched as open-source software in June 2018, EOS is a blockchain platform founded by a private company, Block.one. It is designed for the development of decentralized applications (DApps). The company distributed one billion ERC-20 tokens to ensure widespread distribution of their cryptocurrency and allows anyone to use EOS blockchain after it was released. The goal of the platform is to offer decentralized application’s hosting, decentralized storage of enterprise solutions and smart contract capability, solving the scalability issues of Ethereum and Bitcoin. Also, it eliminates the fees for all users, i.e., no one needs to pay to avail the benefits of a DApp based on EOS.
Industry Focus: Cross-Industry
Consensus Algorithm: Delegated Proof of Stake
Governance: EOSIO Core Arbitration Forum (ECAF)
Smart Contract Functionality: Yes
Ledger Type: Permissioned
10. OpenChain
The platform OpenChain has been Developed by Coinprism, a company behind the colored coins standard Open Assets. OpenChain is an open-source distributed ledger technology, highly suited for organizations willing to manage the digital assets in a secure and scalable manner. Unlike the consensus mechanism used in Bitcoin, it uses Partitioned Consensus where one instance will only have a single authority for validation of transactions.Since there is no miner in the OpenChain, the transactions are free of costs and can be validated by the asset administrator, making it more efficient than other platforms.
Industry Focus: Digital Asset Management
Consensus Algorithm: Partitioned Consensus
Governance: Linux Foundation
Smart Contract Functionality: Yes
Ledger Type: Permissioned
This concludes our list of the best blockchain projects in the field. We’ve love to hear your thoughts. Do you agree or have we missed other projects? Let us know in comments!
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