Many top financial institutions, banks, and transportation companies have rapidly begun adopting blockchain technology faster than anticipated and it has become impossible to ignore its rise.
Back in 2016, IBM (NYSE:IBM) issued a report estimating that 15 percent of all banks around the world will be using blockchain technology in 2017. By the year 2020, they suggested that around 66 percent of banks will have a commercial blockchain project implemented. This indicates that the market would increase at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 61.5 percent, thus indicating plenty of investment opportunities within the blockchain market as it is rapidly expanding.
However, the Global Blockchain Technology Market research report was a bit more conservative, projecting the CAGR growth rate at around 55.59 percent by 2021.
The financial institutions and banks aren’t the only ones adopting the technology. Many government institutions are exploring how blockchain technology can be implemented in securing their election processes. Also, the major credit card company Capital One has partnered with Gem on a blockchain technology project to improve healthcare claims.
To summarize, this is just the beginning of the adoption of this technology mainstream which presents for plentiful amounts of investment opportunities to be had within the blockchain industry.
All numbers listed below are current as of December 15, 2017.
1. BTL Group (TSXV:BTL)
- Market Cap: $255.85 Million
- Current Share Price: $12.55
The first stock on our list is based out of Vancouver, British Columbia, the BTL Group offers blockchain solutions for many different industries from fantasy sports leagues, to banks and even energy. This group uses a platform that enables money transfers with incorporated blockchain technology with smart contracts, named Interbit.
Back in June of this year, BTL announced the “steps towards a go-to production phase” of Interbit, having successfully completed its European energy trading test phase. They completed their 12-week pilot that built the framework on the energy trading confirmation solution on its Interbit platform, which was tested with 8 different scenarios.
CEO and Co-founder of BTL, Guy Halford-Thompson, told the press, “At BTL we truly believe that, by using blockchain technology and our proprietary platform, Interbit, there is a better and more efficient way for enterprises to build applications. Having demonstrated the reductions in risk and cost savings that are achievable we now have an opportunity to deliver the first successful blockchain based application to the energy market. We are also very excited that the pilot has enabled participating companies to better understand the benefits of Interbit and identify other areas in their organizations where they can apply it.”
Towards the end of August, the company announced its Beta launch moving it closer to its commercial launch. Early in November, the BTL Group announced they had increased their brokered offering that was led by GMP securities to $10.7 million through the offering of near $2.1 million units at around $4.90 per unit.
The company’s headquarters are in Vancouver but they operated in Calgary, AB as well as Canary Wharf in London, England.
2. HIVE Blockchain (TSXV:HIVE)
- Market Cap: $835.67 Million
- Current Share Price: $3.49
HIVE blockchain is relatively new to the blockchain scene but has already begun to make a name for themselves within the market as they aim to “build a bridge” between traditional capital markets and blockchain markets. They have strategic partnerships with Genesis Mining, a cryptocurrency mining hash rate provider.
Back on October 10th, the company made a public announcement that they received a $7 million equity investment by Genesis Mining. The following day, HIVE announced they closed a $30 million bought deal financing and in mid-November, the company closed $34.5 million deal financing, which is being used for their second phase in the construction of their mining center in Sweden.
3. BTCS (OTC:BTCS)
- Market Cap: $30.65 Million
- Current Share Price: $.12
Next on our stock list is BTCS, the first blockchain-focused company adopted within the United States and are way ahead of its competitors exploring the digital currency ecosystems. BTCS self-describes itself as an “early mover” in the blockchain sector.
Charles Allen, BTCS’s CEO, was recently interviewed by Bloomberg and explained his company’s main goal to “gather a currency that can be spent on goods and services” aiming to use Bitcoin to buy certain products such as electronics.
Back in August of this year, the company announced the signing of a non-binding letter to merge with Blockchain Global. BTCS secured $1 million in financing they announced back in mid-October with $250,000 of that being Bitcoin. At the end of October, the company released a statement that they had closed the remaining finance balance in moving forward with the planned merger with Blockchain Global.
4. Victory Square (OTC:VSQTF)
- Market Cap: $227.70 Million CAD
- Current Share Price: $3.65 CAD
The Vancouver based Victory Square is the next blockchain stock on our list, that primarily functions as an incubator for blockchain start-up companies. The company looks for blockchain based companies that bring something unique to the ‘space’ and when found, they offer them a company workspace surrounded by their VS marketing team and other blockchain corporations they’re working with. They invest in these companies monetarily and also hands-on, offering them mentorship and advice from their expert staff.
On December 6th, Victory Square has been in the news for being chosen to become the latest member of the Blockchain Investors Consortium, which is a leading corporation that deals with investments in digital assets. On December 15th, news broke that the group appointed BTL’s co-founder, Guy Halford-Thompson, as their company’s strategic advisor. The company was mentioned above, as our top stock to watch but Halford-Thompson’s role within Victory Square will be focused on expanding their current position within the cryptocurrency market.
At press-time, the company’s shares are up a staggering 20 percent and climbing.
5. 360 Blockchain (OTC:BKLLF)
- Market Cap: $42.14 Million
- Current Share Price: $.27
Another stock on our list is 360 Blockchain, which is formerly 360 Capital Financial, that changed its name back on October 10th of this year and trades under the symbol CODE on the Canadian Securities Exchange. Once the company became public, they announced their joint venture with NOS blockchain which entered into contracts to mine Ethereum and ZCash. 360 Blockchain USA has since been established within the group and they look to focus primarily on investing and developing blockchain technologies within the United States.
360 Blockchain looks to provide financial services to public and private businesses including, merchant banking, IPO consulting, financial advisory, and business advisory services.
6. Global Arena Holding Inc (OTC:GAHC)
- Market Cap: $35.67 Million
- Current Share Price: $.062
Global Arena Holding is a holding and technology development company and its main subsidiary is Global Election Services that provides technology-enabled election services.
The company has recently made investments in blockchain technology and has become the merger subsidiary for the potential acquisition of Blockchain Technologies Corp. Additionally, they began working with Blockchain Technology Software used for elections registration and tabulation processes and on August 17th, they announced their completion of ballot scanning software and hardware during the tabulation process. Many countries have been focusing recently on how blockchain technology software can benefit their current elections, thus why they’re on our list as this stock may jump a substantial amount when implemented globally.
The companies’ stock shares are up a staggering 63.16 percent today.
7. Coinsilium Group (OTC:CINGF)
- Market Cap: $14.607 Million
- Current Share Price: GB12.25
The London-based Coinsilium Group is a blockchain technology investment group that invests and develops blockchain tech, with a primary focus on new fintech applications. The company is the world’s first IPO for a blockchain technology company and is listed on the NEX exchange.
Coinsilium is relatively new in the blockchain field starting their blockchain tech adventures back in 2014. Since then, the group has gained interest from blockchain companies such as Minebox, RSK Labs, Indorse, and Factom.
In August, the company made an announcement that it had completed the sale of SatoshiPay, a company that processes bitcoin nano payment transactions. In November the company had signed a contract with United Mobility Technology and by the end of the month, Coinsilium acquired 30 percent interest from Startup Token Limited, which has since boosted its share price and total market cap.
8. DigitalX (OTC:DGGXF)
- Market Cap: $130.63 Million; Current Share Price: $.27
Next company on our stocks list is DigitalX. The company’s main focus is blockchain consulting services, ICO advisory services, and blockchain-related software development. More specifically, Airpocket, it’s mobile product provides customers a secure network for cross-border payments from over 30,000 payout locations in 14 different countries, with many in the US and South America. The company’s Bankera launched an ICO back on August 28th, which is aimed at providing payments, loans, deposits, and investments will be supported in various cryptocurrency and fiat currencies.
Back in September, DigitalX announced their collaboration with Stargroup (ASX:STL) to develop two-way Bitcoin ATMs in which consumers would be able to buy/sell Bitcoins on their machines.
9.eXeBlock Technology (CSE:XBLK)
- Market Cap: $84.74 Million
- Current Share Price: $1.38
The next stock is fairly new, which began trading on the Canadian Securities Exchange back on November 16th of this year. eXeBlock, which is headquartered in Nova Scotia, services offer blockchain technology application development, blockchain technology consulting and custom blockchain development.
10. MGT Capital (OTCQB:MGTI)
- Market Cap: $198.14 Million
- Current Share Price: $4.08
MGT Capital is currently in the business of Bitcoin mining but it is also in the works of adding to its diverse portfolio of cybersecurity technology.
Clearly indicated on its website, MGT is in a strong position to become the top crypto-mining enterprise in the United States. Currently, the group has a number of locations in central Washington. Back in mid-October, the company announced it’s upgraded to their current mining operations and state that the upgrade is projected to generate $2 million of revenue, monthly. Back on December 5th, MGT Capital gave a public announcement that they completed an order of 500 S9 Antminer mining rigs from Bitmain Technologies, with its shipment estimated in early 2018.
11. First Bitcoin Capital Corp (OTC:BITCF)
- Market Cap: $538.82 Million
- Current Share Price: $1.78
The last stock on our list, First Bitcoin Capital group, primarily focuses on acquiring Bitcoin startups and funds them to develop both software and hardware for Bitcoin. The company changed its name back in November 2016 and has grown over 1,600 percent this year. Investors seem to be extremely excited about its development of blockchain technologies and developing cryptocurrencies.
On November 7th, the company announced they had been awarded $500,000 to develop a blockchain-based supply chain management app from Petroteq. The company has enabled First Bitcoin Capital the ability to develop a one-stop shop for oil and gas companies to develop and customize their own distributed ledger models to enhance their current business operations.
Featured Image: DepositPhotos/ pxhidalgo
