After the overall downward trend that presided over the cryptocurrency markets in 2018, there may be some hope for cryptocurrency investors with the development of Bakkt, and Ethereum’s Casper upgrade.

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Top Blockchain Related Stocks for 2019
After the overall downward trend that presided over the cryptocurrency markets in
2018, there may be some hope for cryptocurrency investors with the development
of Bakkt, and Ethereum’s Casper upgrade. For the more traditional investors in
the equity market, there are a number of high profile companies that are
experimenting with blockchain in sectors such as finance, healthcare, and
logistics. As blockchain technology becomes more mainstream, these companies
stand to gain the most from the combination of old and new investors. So here are
our top picks for blockchain related stocks in 2019.
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IBM Investing Big In Blockchain
IBM or the Big Blue has established itself as a giant in the blockchain space over
the last couple of years. IBM’s interest in blockchain began long before the hype
and frenzy that overtook the market in 2017. In fact, IBM has close to 1500 people
working on blockchain related projects in over 500 projects.
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In fact, IBM has close to 1500 people working on blockchain related projects in
over 500 projects. In the last five years, IBM’s stock has fallen from its highs of
around USD 200 in 2014 to the lows of USD 100 in 2018. IBM’s expertise in fields
like machine learning, distributed computing, and the internet of things (IoT) puts
the company at the greatest advantage to create highly reliable and scalable tools
that can be adopted by businesses. Food Trust is one of the most successful
blockchain projects developed by IBM and is being used by Walmart to ensure
food security along its entire supply chain.
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Mastercard to Use Blockchain to Curd Fraud
Even though Mastercard can be considered a rival to a decentralized payment
platform like Bitcoin, it has still invested a lot of resources in the underlying
blockchain technology. In fact, Mastercard has one of the highest numbers of
blockchain related patents of any company in the world. Earlier in 2018,
Mastercard was rumored to be working on a blockchain based payment gateway
for fiat money in order to reduce its operating costs. Credit card companies
reportedly suffered an estimated USD 25 billion in losses due to fraudulent
transactions in 2017.
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Therefore, reducing fraudulent credit card transactions is one of the biggest
motivations for Mastercard to get involved with blockchain. Mastercard’s stock has
seen steady growth in the last five years growing from its USD 70 level in 2014 to
the current USD 200 levels.
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Microsoft Offers Blockchain as a Service
Microsoft has been one of the earliest proponents of blockchain technology
leading the charge in accepting Bitcoin payments in the MS Store as early as in
2013. Microsoft offers blockchain to be easily integrated into its Azure Cloud
Computing platform. Now, some of the biggest companies in the world like
NASDAQ and AT&T are about to integrate the Azure blockchain into their
services. Microsoft stock has also seen steady growth in its stock in the last 5
years almost tripling in the time frame to its present levels of over $100.
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Walmart Leads The Race in Food Security
Walmart’s stock has seen quite a lot of volatility over the last few years due to
uncertain trade policies and too much competition. In order to put all of those fears
to rest, Walmart has decided to embrace emerging technologies like Artificial
Intelligence and blockchain to improve its supply chain. Walmart became the retail
giant it is today by constantly streamlining its supply chain and blockchain
combined with smart contracts allow Walmart to take that one step further.
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For that reason, Walmart has filed numerous patents related to blockchain and
has partnered with IBM to develop a platform for ensuring food security at every
step of the supply chain. All of these changes would not only improve the quality
of the product but also save costs in the long term which is sure to boost
Walmart’s stock.
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