This is week four of The Beast. The scheduled topic is business. My contribution is an investigation of the most promising blockchain projects.

The unpredictable nature of blockchain and crypto makes investigating this topic highly opinionated. To combat bias, for brevity, and to provide value, I used the following key words as a guide:

• Project
• Platform
• Startup
• Company
• Stock
• Venture

I have a personal preference for using the word “project” or “venture” for this investigation because they keep the most options open. Platforms and startups would seem to yield the most technical results. While company and stock would likely return blockchain efforts that are backed by conventional thinking. These were the expectations of my investigations.

Here is a brief overview of the returns of my investigation and associated links.

Visionary Pursuits:

The Bitcoin Market Journal listed the biggest blockchain companies by valuation. The link also provides summaries for each.

• Bitmain $14 billion
• Coinbase $8 billion
• Robinhood $5.6 billion
• Ripple $5 billion
• Kraken $4 billion
• Block.One $4 billion
• Circle $2.9 billion
• Binance $2 billion
  https://www.bitcoinmarketjournal.com/biggest-blockchain-companies-by-valuation/

Here is Forbes' list of new companies. I reviewed Buddy and Goldilock last year.

• PATRON
• TraDove
• Celsius Network
• Menlo One
• Gameflip
• Buddy
• ADBIT
• DACC
• Goldilock
• FCoin
  https://www.forbes.com/sites/andrewrossow/2018/07/10/top-10-new-blockchain-companies-to-watch-for-in-2018/#3ad0db695600

Steem makes the top of the list at this link:
https://blog.hubspot.com/marketing/blockchain-companies

20 organizations that got attention in 2018 are listed at the blockchain.cioreview.com link below with summaries.
https://blockchain.cioreview.com/vendors/top-20-blockchain-technology-companies-2018.html

Conventional Investment:

Some traditional companies getting attention:

• Nasdaq (NDAQ)
• Salesforce.com (CRM)
• VMWare (VMW)
• Red Hat (RHT)
• Oracle Corp. (ORCL)
• Microsoft Corp. (MSFT)
• IBM (ticker: IBM)
• Alibaba Group
• Fujitsu
• Mastercard
• ING Groep
• Amazon
• Overstock
• Intercontinental Exchange
• Goldman Sachs
• J.P. Morgan
• Seagate
• Advanced Micro Devices
  Links used to compile this list:
  https://money.usnews.com/investing/cryptocurrency/slideshows/7-blockchain-stocks-that-are-ahead-of-the-curve?slide=2
  https://www.fool.com/investing/2018/12/13/3-top-blockchain-stocks-to-watch-in-december.aspx
  https://www.forbes.com/sites/ericervin/2019/01/24/5-blockchain-stocks-2019/#22e3a27f7d49
  https://www.bitcoinmarketjournal.com/best-blockchain-stocks/

Goldman Sachs wrote several chapters about blockchain. The website is rather dynamic.I encourage you to visit.
https://www.goldmansachs.com/insights/pages/blockchain/index.html

M^5Wire