This year has been a very exciting one. Many blockchain projects have been launched, partnered up with other companies and absorbed other companies. They also made changes to comply with regulations and developed their blockchain solutions. Analyzing the cryptocurrency market from Q1 through Q2 of this year shows that overall industry development is slow but progressive. Although regulations are necessary to move forward, they have slowed down the pace of ICOs. This slowdown is due to the fact that institutional funds can’t flow into the crypto sector until it is fully and completely regulated.
Blockchain Projects
Partnerships are crucial to the success of any blockchain project. Because a solution without a place for application is useless, and the goal of a partnership to create a use case is the reason why. Blockchain projects are used to create solutions. However, the purpose of the solution can change from future applications to current experimental applications.
Below is a list of 10 top partnerships made by cryptocurrency and blockchain entities this year.
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Binance is believed to be launching the first global security token trading platform in Malta. Binance and the Malta Stock Exchange (MSX), signed an MOU to launch a new digital security token exchange.
Malta has been a haven for crypto in recent years. It is very pro-crypto, and Binance has had a good relationship since moving its operations to the island in January.
Dow Jones Media Group, Brave Browser. Brave browser and its cryptocurrency BAT have had a great year. In December 2017, the browser had 1,000,000 active users. It now has more than 4 million users and more that 10 million downloads, with months left in 2018.
In April 2018, Dow Jones Media Group announced a partnership agreement with Brave. This partnership aims to bring premium content to users and 测试 the blockchain payment technology. Both publications are confirmed publishers on the BAT platform, according to the partnership agreement.
ICON
ICON, a blockchain project that focuses primarily on the interoperability and blockchains, announced on May 15, 2018 that they would be collaborating with Line, a social media platform that has over 200 million monthly active users, to create their own blockchain network. Unchain will be the developer organization for the blockchain ecosystem for Line.
As Line and Icon join forces, the Icon network will see a significant increase in users. Icon will leverage the more than 200 million Line users. Blockchain.com and Ledger. Blockchain.com, one the earliest cryptocurrency web wallet providers, partnered with Ledger in order to create Lockbox, a hardware wallet compatible the Blockchain.com wallet.
This device will allow Blockchain.com users to keep at least a portion in a cold wallet, while the rest can be stored in the web wallet. The device, which is valued at $99.99, is compatible with Windows 7 and higher, MacOS version 10.9 and higher, Linux, Chrome OS, and Linux. Lockbox cannot be used with other Ledger products as it runs on the Blockchain.com firmware. Shipping is expected to begin in mid-November.
Binance and Tron
Binance, the largest Cryptocurrency exchange worldwide, announced the Binance Blockchain Charity Foundation. They also pledged to support the UNDP’s Sustainable Development Goals. Binance created the Blockchain Charity Foundation to help people use blockchain technology for good.
Tron, Binance and a donation were part of the initiative.
Circle and Coinbase
Coinbase, the well-known cryptocurrency exchange and wallet, and Circle, a Goldman Sachs-backed tech company, joined forces to create USDC, a stablecoin that was just listed on Coinbase.
The partnership led to the creation of the Centre consortium, which was responsible for the development of the USDC. Centre plans to produce stablecoins in British Pounds, Japanese Yuen, and Euro. These coins will be listed on Coinbase as soon as they become available.
Wanchain and MakerDAO
Wanchain, a blockchain project that focuses primarily on interoperability (or communication) of blockchains, announced the Dai, a stablecoin created by MakerDAO on October 11, 2018. It is the first ever cross-chain ERC-20 token. Because of its cross functionality, Dai can be used to exchange Bitcoin for Bitcoin. This makes it possible to add Bitcoin to Dai’s collateralized loan position alongside Ether.
TokenPay and Litecoin
TokenPay – The decentralized payment platform purchased 9.9% of WEG Bank Germany. It also has the option to buy the remaining 90% (approximately), following the usual regulatory approval on July 10, 2018.
Already, the bank’s 9.9% stake has been given to the Litecoin foundation. TokenPay will benefit from Litecoin’s support in developing its own blockchain. This will ensure its stability and future success. Litecoin will be integrated into the WEG Bank’s merchant services platform.
AWS and Qtum
Qtum and the China division of Amazon Web Services (AWS) announced a partnership on October 17, 2018, in a bid to develop Blockchain-as-a-Service solutions for enterprises and developers. Qtum will provide an AWS platform for smart contract development.
Amazon Machine Image (AMI), which contains Qtum Core and Solidity, allows developers and users to create and launch smart contract efficiently. Miguel Palencia, CIO at the Qtum Foundation stated that Qtum’s launch in the AWS marketplace provides an efficient and powerful cloud-based solution both for enterprises and end users. Anyone can use the Qtum platform to build and maintain dapps or staking nodes.
Stellar and IBM
IBM offers a distributed ledger solution to institutions that outsource their technological integrations. They use Hyperledger to manage private networks, but they prefer Stellar for public networks. IBM currently has 9 validators on the Stellar network.
IBM’s Universal Payment Solution currently uses Stellar Lumen, (XLM), as a bridge asset to facilitate cross-border transactions. IBM is currently looking into a stablecoin that can help it overcome the volatility in the cryptomarket. IBM recently announced the Blockchain World Wire, which uses the Stellar protocol for cross-border payments. It does this in seconds instead of days. IBM announced a partnership with Veridium labs to tokenize Carbon credits on the Stellar Blockchain.
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With the growing concern about a possible recession, crypto was a viable alternative for fiat currency in 2018. Despite the market’s downturn, the industry has continued to grow, demonstrating the confidence it enjoys. Major legacy players have also joined the wave, despite the looming market conditions and the rise of crypto. These partnerships are a sign of the future.