As 2017 comes to a close, blockchain is everywhere (or more accurately perhaps “bitcoin, bitcoin, bitcoin.”) here is a primer on blockchain that I prepared for my team at Founder Collective to help frame some of the exciting use cases we see coming down the pike. Further reading is on the last slide.
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“Are ICOs the new VC?”
Meanwhile, ICO fundraising speeds past “traditional” VC investment in June 2017.
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Regulation is coming too. In Nov 2017, the SEC took the unusual step of warning against celebrity
endorsements for ICOs.
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Blockchain use cases seem compelling enough to warrant investment from organizations as
diverse as Deloitte, the FDA and Maersk.
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Startups are preparing. In April 2016 - AirBnB acquihired a bitcoin
payments team to help them keep up.
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Evolution of the network: from internet > decentralized blockchain. Put another way:
blockchain makes it possible for p2p communication to be secure enough for transactions.
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Blockchain Stack
● Consensus layer: a protocol that describes the format of a ledger that
is publicly visible and a consensus function that anyone can use to
determine which of multiple candidate ledgers is the consensus ledger.
The protocol must also allow new blocks to be added to the ledger.
● Mining layer: a protocol that incentivizes parties to maintain the
consensus and add blocks to the ledger.
● Propagation layer: a protocol that determines how the ledger and
blocks are transmitted between nodes in the network.
● Semantic layer: a specification of how new blocks must relate to
previous blocks and a protocol for verifying conformity with the
specification.
● Application layer: application code that implements some desired
functionality.
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How a blockchain transaction works
That said, understanding how the technology works is like understanding MySQL replication - it
doesn’t help you appreciate Pinterest or Uber. The use cases are what matters.
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Blockchain 101 key concepts
▪ Contracts, records and transactions
▪ Decentralized ledger fixes many problems of the
internet
▪ Enabling p2p transactions
▪ Cutting out intermediaries
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Fintech + BlockchainCompany Description Location URL Use Case Year Founded Funding Raised Funded By
SETL Platform for settlements and payments UK setl.io
Settlements
Payments 2015 $39,000,000 Deloitte
clearmatics
Decentralized clearing machines for financial OTC
markets UK clearmatics.com
Clearing Settlements
Payments 2015 $1,000,000
Nyca Partners
Route 66 Ventures
Symbiont
Proprietary Smart Security® technology allows
complex financial instruments to be modeled in an
easy to understand programming language and fully
digitized onto a distributed ledger NY symbiont.io
Clearing
Settlements
Payments
Smart Contracts 2015 $7,000,000
Medici Ventures
Hudson Technologies
Celeridem Capital Management
Wicklow Capital
Kayon Partners
SenaHill Partners
DHVC
Atlantic Merchant
Abra
Consumer digital wallet supporting payments and
transfers for bitcoin and over 50 fiat currencies Mountain View abra.com
Payments
Transfers 2014 $30,000,000
Jungle Ventures
Silver8 Capital
RRE Ventures
Foxconn Technology Group
Arbor Ventures
IGNIA
American Express Business Travel
Lerer Hippeau Ventures
First Round Capital
LedgerX
Institutional derivatives exchange platform for digital
currencies NY ledgerx.com
Trading
Clearing 2014 $12,900,000
Digital Finance Group
GV
TechU Angels
SV Angel
Blockchain Capital
Lightspeed Venture Partners
Jeremy Liew
Eric Kagan
Funders Club
Cross Pacific Capital Partners
Coinbase
Largest dgital currency wallet service to buy and sell
bitcoin SF coinbase.com
Payments
Transfers 2012 $217,000,000
Draper Associates
Expanding Capital
Battery Ventures
Greylock Partners
IVP (Institutional Venture Partners)
Todd Chaffee
Tusk Ventures
Jordan Nof
Spark Capital
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Supply chain + BlockchainCompany Description Location URL Use Case Year Founded Funding Raised Funded By
Provenance
Provide transparency tools that assemble image,
identity and location to create profile, product and story
pages; provide traceability system confirms identities
and product attributes in tracking items through supply
chains UK provenance.org
Tracking for all
stakeholders
Transparency for end
users 2014 $1,000,000
Digital Currency Group
Plug and Play Tech Center
John Taysom
Omidyar Group
Merian Ventures
Humanity United
Chronicled
Secures IoT device identities, data, and event logs and
automates IoT-dependent business logic through
smart contracts and offers a blockchain as a service
platform for supply chain ecosystems SF chronicled.com
Crypto identity for
physical goods
Tracking via IoT
Smart Contracts 2014 $9,000,000
Iterative Capital Management, L.P.
Vinny Lingham
Pantera Capital
Dr. Steven (Seven) Waterhouse
Colbeck Capital
Solon Mack Capital
Mandra Capital
Social Starts
Seattle Seahawks
Mojix
Patended RFID technology for real-time asset tracking
and supply chain management LA mojix.com
Tracking via IoT
Analytics platform 2004 $85,500,000
Mercury Partners LLC
Rainer Busch
Oak Investment Partners
Bandel Carano, Tom Huseby
OMERS Ventures
Jim Orlando
Tom Huseby
InnoCal Venture Capital
Red Rock Ventures
Context Labs
Secured distributed ledger technologies, network
graph analytics, data interoperability and visualization
for supply chain Cambridge, MA contextlabs.com
Crypto identity for
physical goods
tracking N/A N/A N/A
Bext360
Develops technologies that streamline critical supply
chains in emerging economies Denver, CO bext360.com
Tracking via IoT
Analytics platform 2016 $1,200,000 SKS Venture Partners
Skuchain
Offers a universal, secure ledger by which SKUs can
attest to digitally to their orgins and attributes. Products
include cryptographically secure smart contracts
governing an entire purchase cycle and Proof of
Provenance codes, a crypto-serialization solution to
track flow of goods on SKU level. Mountain View skuchain.com
Tracking via IoT
Trade Finance
Smart Contracts 2014 N/A
Amino Capital
Fenbushi Capital
Digital Currency Group
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Marketplaces + Blockchain (1/2)
Company Description Location URL Use Case
Year
Founded
Funding
Raised Funded By
OpenBazaar
Decentralized cryptocurrency marketplace that enables its
users to trade online
Washington
DC
openbazaar.or
g/ P2P Marketplace 2014 $4,200,000
Digital Currency Group
Andreessen Horowitz
BlueYard Capital
Union Square Ventures
William Mougayar
Andreessen Horowitz
Union Square Ventures
Arcade City P2P ridesharing platform connecting drivers to riders Austin, TX arcade.city P2P Marketplace 2016 N/A N/A
Lemonway
Payment solution technology for marketplaces,
ecommerce, crowdfunding France
lemonway.co
m
Ecommerce
Marketplace
Crowdfunding
Payments 2007 $600,000 N/A
Stratumn
Proof of Process Technology enables traceability,
transparency and data integrity, thus reducing costs and
complexity of the interactions between partners, customers,
auditors, and regulators. The solution offers a common
audit trail, secured by blockchains and cryptography, where
stakeholders can collaborate without revealing their private
and confidential data France stratumn.com
Peer-to-Peer Network
Proof of Process Protocol 2015 $9,667,000
BNP Paribas Cardif
NASDAQ
Otium Capital
Bruno Raillard, Pierre Entremont
Digital Currency Group
Open CNP
Otium Capital
LO3 Energy
Launched Brooklyn Microgrid, a community-powered
microgrid here in Brooklyn. This means our participants can
engage in a sustainable energy network and choose their
preferred energy sources, locally. Brooklyn, NY
lo3energy.co
m
Transactive grid (hybrid
device that measures a
building’s energy production
and use, and communicates
with the network to
collectively manage energy)
DTL 2012 N/A
Centrica
Braemar Energy Ventures
ConsenSys
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Marketplaces + Blockchain (2/2)
Company Description Location URL Use Case
Year
Founded
Funding
Raised Funded By
21.co
21.co built first computer with native hardware and software
support for the Bitcoin protocol. Developers use it to build
bitcoin-payable apps and services. 21.co rebranded to launch
Earn.com, a token-based social network, where senders pay users
in digital currency to complete tasks
San Francisco,
CA earn.com Marketplace 2013 $121,050,000
Yuan Capital
Clarissa Zhang
RRE Ventures
Peter Thiel
Andreessen Horowitz
Mark Pincus
Khosla Ventures
Qualcomm Ventures
Civil
Ethereum-based decentralized platform that can be used to create
“newsrooms” and “stations” — blockchain-based marketplaces
where citizens and journalists form communities around a shared
purpose and set of standards, financially support factual reporting,
nd investigative work, and substantially limit misinformation
through effective collaborative-editing methods NY joincivil.com
Smart Contracts
Marketplace 2017 $5,000,000 ConsenSys
CyberMiles
CyberMiles is a blockchain protocol being developed and
optimized for business and marketplace applications. CM is being
developed as a “fat protocol”, consisting of a blockchain-based
“virtual machine”, and defined modules of middle-layer software
stacks operating outside the chain, to support decentralized
processes governed by smart contracts implemented on the
network.CM is working closely with 5miles, a leading c2c
marketplace operator with more than 12 million users in the US.
5miles is expected to be the first platform to utilize CyberMiles’
blockchain protocol. N/A
cm.5miles.co
m
Smart Contracts
Marketplace 2017 ICO ICO (+ partnership with 5Miles)
bitJob P2P MarketPlace for students, freelancers and employers. Tel Aviv bitjob.io Marketplace 2016 $2,000,000 ICO
Storiqa
Full and comprehensive combination of e-commerce services –
such as smart contracts, cryptocurrency payments, integration with
third-party services and 24/7 support Switzerland
iico.storiqa.co
m
Ecommerce
Payments 2017
4 425 ETH
($1.6M USD) ICO
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Healthcare + Blockchain
Company Description Location URL Use Case
Year
Founded Funding Raised Funded By
MedRec
Decentralized record management system for EMRs
that uses blockchain technology to manage
authentication, confidentiality, accountability, and data
sharing. A modular design integrates with providers'
existing, local data-storage solutions, enabling
interoperability. Cambridge, MA
https://www.media.mit.
edu/research/groups/1
454/medrec EMR via Blockchain N/A N/A N/A
Gem
Partner with industry leaders (Philips) to identify
problems they want to solve for their network, and then
launch a federated blockchain to support the pilot
running on GemOS (OS enables connecting to any
blockchain, data store, access controls) LA gem.com 2013 $12,500,000
KEC Ventures
Jeff Parkinson
Pelion Venture Partners
Ben Dahl
Digital Currency Group
RRE Ventures
Tiller Partners
Fenbushi Capital
Blockchain Capital
Danmar Capital
Amplify.LA
Robert Wolfson
Google
DeepMind Building an auditing system for healthcare data UK
https://deepmind.com/
applied/deepmind-heal
th/ EMR via Blockchain 2010 N/A Google
HashedHealth
Consortium of healthcare companies focused on
ausing blockchain and DLT Nashville, TN hashedhealth.com
Payments
Identity
ERP
IoT
Clinical Trials 2016 $1,000,000 Martin Ventures
Tierion
Engine for collecting data and recording it in the
blockchain Hartford, CT tierion.com/
Data Collection
Hash API 2015 $26,000,000 ICO
YouBase
Individual-centric data store for health information,
owned & controlled by the patient, built for security &
privacy with blockchain Englewood, CO youbase.io
Personal Record
Management via
Blockchain Wallet 2016 $1,000,000
N/A (raised $500K
10/2017)
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Supply chain use cases (1 / 5)
Use Case Problem Chronicled Solution
Cold Chain Monitoring ● Shipments needing constant
refrigeration are spoiled if they lose
temperature
● Cause of temperature loss and
liability is unclear in complex global
supply chains
● Regulation requires securing of the
"event logs" in the cold chain
inability to take corrective actions in a
timely manner
● Temperature monitoring via low
cost, disposable and reusable
sensors
● Regulatory compliance by design,
including CFR 21 Part 11
● Position tracking
● Real-time alerts
● Easy deployment option based on
SmartPhone and NFC/BLE
communication
● Large scale implementations
supported via IoT gateways
● Integration with ERP and supply
chain solutions
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Supply chain use cases (2 / 5)
Use Case Problem Chronicled Solution
Tamper Proof Sealing ● Packaging can be copied or
tampered and counterfeits sold
High-precision products, devices,
machines, and hardware can fail
if tampered
Banker's boxes with archival
documents are difficult to seal
● CryptoSeal provides strong
cryptographic identity to a
physical item with a tamperproof
sticker
Produced in various shapes and
sizes, round,
thermometer-shaped, etc.
Tamper-evident adhesive
sticker similar to registration
sticker on license plate and
breaks into tiny pieces
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Supply chain use cases (3 / 5)
Use Case Problem Chronicled Solution
Supply Chain
Compliance
● Inability to establish the legitimacy
of inter-party event logs
Traditional tracking solutions are
hosted in private databases and
not interoperable
High integration costs because
multi-party data exchange
Centralized solutions create
vendor lock-in
● Decentralized,
blockchain-based back end
Hub and spoke data exchange
to minimize integration costs
Truthful and legit by design via
an immutable ledger
Easy integration with existing
ERP and SCM systems,
packaging line solutions, and
hardware scanners
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Supply chain use cases (4 / 5)
Use Case Problem Chronicled Solution
Supply Chain
Automation
● Goods, documents, and money
flows in supply chain are all
manual processes (e.g.,
payments are made upon manual
verification of delivery)
The friction between IoT
platforms, ERP, supply chain, MS
Word, and financial
record-keeping systems results in
a slow digitization of supply chain
Untrusted data from IoT devices
(e.g., GPS, temperature loggers)
cripple the ability to automate
business processes and is not
secure enough to support
financial flows
● Smart contracts, i.e. business
contracts codified on the
blockchain, can support
multiple-parties including
shipper, receiver, and also
third-party insurance and
financing parties
● When a shipment with a trusted
IoT chip arrives, and signs a
random string sent from the
hardware scanner, this can be
used as evidence of arrival in
the smart contract, and money
flow can be automated
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Supply chain use cases (5 / 5)
Use Case Problem Chronicled Solution
Secure Product
Identity
● Serial number, QR code, UPC
code, and barcode systems are
all easily cloned and copied
● The security is insufficient to
support supply chain automation
or M2M identity verification and
payments
● Approximately $2 trillion per year
of luxury products are
counterfeited
● NFC or BLE "identity chips" are
embedded into products at time
of manufacture
● The chip can be used to power
identity verification,
authentication, as well as
consumer engagement
experiences
Smart phone-based
experiences include, buy-it-now,
operating manual, warranty
claim card, etc
