Best Blockchain Platforms

How Many Blockchain Platforms Products Does G2 Track?

Total Products under this Category: 135

Category Stats (Oct 2026)

  • Average Rating: 4.19/5 The average rating of products in this category, based on all submitted ratings
  • Top Trending Product: POK - Proof of Knowledge (+0.02%) - Among all products in this category, POK - Proof of Knowledge recorded the largest rating increase compared to last month

Last updated: October 21, 2026

How Does G2 Rank Blockchain Platforms Products?

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G2 Grid® for Blockchain Platforms

G2 Grid® for Blockchain Platforms plotting products by satisfaction and market presence

Highlighted products: POK - Proof of Knowledge, TransferChain, IBM Blockchain Platform, Ethereum, Coinbase Institutional, Dfns, Azure Web3 Developer Solutions, and Blockstream.

Underlying data: [Grid® JSON](https://www.g2.com/categories/blockchain-platforms/grids.json?focus%5B%5D=pok-proof-of-knowledge&focus%5B%5D=transferchain&focus%5B%5D=ibm-blockchain-platform&focus%5B%5D=ethereum&focus%5B%5D=coinbase-institutional&focus%5B%5D=dfns&focus%5B%5D=azure-web3-developer-solutions&focus%5B%5D=blockstream)

POK - Proof of Knowledge

POK is a digital credentials platform that enables institutions to issue verifiable certificates, diplomas, digital badges, and microcredentials compliant with Open Badges 3.0. Credentials are secured on the blockchain as NFTs, ensuring authenticity and global verifiability. The platform helps universities, companies, and certification bodies recognize academic achievements, professional skills, and validated projects through secure and globally verifiable digital credentials. POK complies with leading international standards including Open Badges 3.0, the European Learning Model, GDPR, LTI, and Europass. POK is a platform certified by 1EdTech, the global organization that manages the Open Badge 3.0 standard, ensuring interoperability with modern digital credential ecosystems. Through blockchain-based infrastructure, credentials issued with POK are tamper-proof, cryptographically secured, and instantly verifiable worldwide. Organizations can fully customize certificates, domains, and communications with white-label capabilities aligned with their institutional branding. POK integrates with major education and enterprise systems such as Blackboard, Moodle, D2L, Canvas, Salesforce, and HubSpot, allowing institutions to issue digital credentials without disrupting existing workflows. Built-in analytics allow organizations to track verifications, downloads, shares, and credential engagement across professional networks. Unlike traditional credential platforms, POK does not require setup fees or minimum credential purchases, allowing institutions to start issuing digital credentials with lower adoption barriers and greater scalability.

Average Rating: 5.0/5.0

Total Reviews: 39

How Do G2 Users Rate POK - Proof of Knowledge?

  • Quality of Support: 9.8/10 (Category avg: 8.3/10)
  • Ease of Use: 9.7/10 (Category avg: 8.5/10)

Who Is the Company Behind POK - Proof of Knowledge?

Who Uses This Product?

  • Top Industries: Higher Education
  • Company Size: 51% Medium, 44% Small

What Are Recent G2 Reviews of POK - Proof of Knowledge?

TransferChain

TransferChain provides the safest cloud storage, file transfer, and file request capabilities for businesses - through zero-knowledge encryption, file splitting, distributed cloud architectures, and blockchain authorization. Neither TransferChain nor any unauthorized third parties, be it potential bad actors or data centers, can access the user’s private and confidential information. TransferChain is the most secure and private way to store your sensitive documents and share them externally.

Average Rating: 4.7/5.0

Total Reviews: 29

How Do G2 Users Rate TransferChain?

  • Quality of Support: 8.9/10 (Category avg: 8.3/10)
  • Ease of Use: 8.9/10 (Category avg: 8.5/10)

Who Is the Company Behind TransferChain?

  • Seller: TransferChain AG
  • Year Founded: 2020
  • HQ Location: Baar, Switzerland
  • Twitter: @TransferChain_
    860 Twitter followers
  • LinkedIn® Page: www.linkedin.com
    21 employees on LinkedIn®

Who Uses This Product?

  • Company Size: 86% Small, 3% Large

What Do G2 Reviewers Say About TransferChain?

AI-generated summary from verified user reviews

Pros
  • Users value the exceptional security features of TransferChain, appreciating the peace of mind for sensitive file transfers.
  • Users appreciate the ease of use of TransferChain, enjoying its intuitive interface and seamless navigation for all.
  • Users appreciate the security focus of TransferChain, feeling secure with its zero-knowledge encryption for sensitive data.
  • Users love the secure storage of TransferChain, appreciating its zero-knowledge encryption and end-to-end protection for sensitive files.
  • Users commend the reliability of TransferChain, praising its fast loading and secure handling of sensitive data.
Cons
  • Users find the file size limitations of TransferChain frustrating, causing slow uploads and impacting overall efficiency.
  • Users find mobile app issues challenging, especially with integration on phones and older browsers, but hope for improvements.
  • Users find the security complexities of TransferChain overwhelming, making login and cloud creation confusing and frustrating.
  • Users find the insufficient information regarding file size limits frustrating for transferring larger files effectively.
  • Users experience a small learning curve with TransferChain initially, but it becomes more user-friendly over time.

What Are Recent G2 Reviews of TransferChain?

IBM Blockchain Platform

Blockchain is a shared , immutable ledger for recording the history of transactions. It fosters a new generation of transactional applications that establish trust , accountability and transparency-from contracts to deeds to payments.

Average Rating: 4.0/5.0

Total Reviews: 11

How Do G2 Users Rate IBM Blockchain Platform?

  • Quality of Support: 8.6/10 (Category avg: 8.3/10)
  • Ease of Use: 7.7/10 (Category avg: 8.5/10)

Who Is the Company Behind IBM Blockchain Platform?

  • Seller: IBM
  • Year Founded: 1911
  • HQ Location: Armonk, New York, United States
  • Twitter: @IBMSecurity
    74,660 Twitter followers
  • LinkedIn® Page: www.linkedin.com
    344,328 employees on LinkedIn®
  • Ownership: SWX:IBM

Who Uses This Product?

  • Company Size: 55% Small, 36% Medium

What Are Recent G2 Reviews of IBM Blockchain Platform?

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Ethereum

Ethereum is a platform and a programming language that makes it possible for any developer to build and publish next-generation decentralized applications.

Average Rating: 4.3/5.0

Total Reviews: 36

How Do G2 Users Rate Ethereum?

  • Quality of Support: 6.8/10 (Category avg: 8.3/10)
  • Ease of Use: 8.4/10 (Category avg: 8.5/10)

Who Is the Company Behind Ethereum?

  • Seller: Ethereum Project
  • Year Founded: 2014
  • HQ Location: N/A
  • Twitter: @ethereumproject
    1,811 Twitter followers
  • LinkedIn® Page: www.linkedin.com
    979 employees on LinkedIn®

Who Uses This Product?

  • Top Industries: Computer Software
  • Company Size: 78% Small, 20% Medium

What Are Recent G2 Reviews of Ethereum?

What Are G2 Users Discussing About Ethereum?

Coinbase Institutional

Coinbase Institutional is a comprehensive platform tailored for institutional investors, offering a suite of services to facilitate engagement with digital assets and the evolving web3 landscape. Designed to meet the sophisticated needs of asset managers, financial institutions, corporations, liquidity providers, and private clients, Coinbase Institutional provides secure custody, advanced trading capabilities, and a range of prime services to support the entire investment lifecycle. Key Features and Functionality: - Trading and Financing: Access to Coinbase Exchange and multiple liquidity venues through Coinbase Prime, offering over 240 assets and 500+ trading pairs. The platform ensures deep liquidity and capital efficiency, with dedicated trading desks providing high-touch execution services. - Custody: Secure storage solutions with integrated custody services, including segregated cold storage and enhanced security measures. Regular audits and multi-user access controls ensure the safety and integrity of assets. - Participation: Opportunities for staking and governance, allowing institutions to actively participate in the crypto ecosystem and earn rewards. - Crypto-as-a-Service: White-label solutions enabling businesses to integrate crypto trading and payment services seamlessly into their existing platforms. Primary Value and Solutions Provided: Coinbase Institutional addresses the complexities institutions face when entering the digital asset space by offering a trusted and integrated platform. It simplifies the process of trading, storing, and managing cryptocurrencies, ensuring compliance and security. By providing access to diverse liquidity pools, advanced trading tools, and secure custody solutions, Coinbase Institutional empowers institutions to confidently navigate and capitalize on opportunities within the crypto economy.

Average Rating: 4.0/5.0

Total Reviews: 19

How Do G2 Users Rate Coinbase Institutional?

  • Quality of Support: 7.7/10 (Category avg: 8.3/10)
  • Ease of Use: 8.1/10 (Category avg: 8.5/10)

Who Is the Company Behind Coinbase Institutional?

  • Seller: Coinbase
  • Year Founded: 2012
  • HQ Location: San Francisco, CA
  • Twitter: @coinbase
    6,977,923 Twitter followers
  • LinkedIn® Page: www.linkedin.com
    7,139 employees on LinkedIn®
  • Ownership: NASDAQ: COIN

Who Uses This Product?

  • Company Size: 86% Small, 10% Large

What Are Recent G2 Reviews of Coinbase Institutional?

What Are G2 Users Discussing About Coinbase Institutional?

Dfns

DFNS is a core banking platform for digital assets. It gives banks, fintechs, and enterprises the infrastructure to run financial operations and build products onchain, provisioning wallets, securing keys, governing transactions, and servicing tokenized assets across blockchains, the way a traditional core banking system underpins accounts, payments, and ledgers in conventional finance. The platform addresses a structural gap. The core systems financial institutions run today were not built for assets that settle in seconds, on public networks, with cryptographic ownership. Rather than replacing an organization's existing core banking system, hardware security modules, or compliance stack, DFNS provides the layer that lets those systems operate onchain. It is delivered as composable modules through one REST API and SDKs, so an organization can adopt a single capability or the full platform, and it connects to more than 100 blockchains and third party services through a single integration surface. Over 500 institutional and fintech clients run on DFNS, including Standard Chartered, First Abu Dhabi Bank, IBM, Stripe, Circle, Thunes, and Broadridge. Roughly 1% of all global stablecoin payment volume settles through the platform. DFNS is used across digital asset custody, banking, embedded wallets, stablecoin payments, trading operations, tokenization, and treasury and asset management. The platform is organized into modules, including: 1. Wallet-as-a-Service — create, index, and manage wallets across 100+ blockchains and third party services, as one account layer for custody, payments, trading, treasury, and tokenization. 2. Transaction Management — format, approve, decode, simulate, sign, broadcast, and track transactions at scale, built for high volume flows and complex approval logic. 3. Treasury Management and Tokenization Engine — manage onchain treasury across entities, currencies, and networks, and issue and service tokenized assets across their full lifecycle. 4. Policy Engine and Governance Engine — enforce limits, allowlists, quorums, roles, and ABI aware approvals before every signature, and cryptographically verify every intent, policy, and signature against a state the customer controls, deployed within their own perimeter. 5. Key Management — run keys across MPC, HSM, TEE, or BYOK models, with production grade protocols built for resilience, scale, and no single point of failure. A defining characteristic is that authentication and transaction signing are handled as separate functions, and policies are evaluated before any signature is produced, giving organizations programmable control over who can move which assets, under what conditions. Keys are operated so that a complete private key is never assembled in one place. DFNS can be deployed as managed SaaS, hybrid, or fully on premises. The deployment model changes while the modules and controls stay the same, allowing key material and infrastructure to be placed according to regulatory and operational requirements. It integrates with existing systems including core banking platforms, custody and compliance tooling, and payment rails, and organizations typically adopt it to add digital asset capabilities to existing products, to meet requirements under frameworks such as GENIUS, MiCAR, and DORA, or to consolidate wallet, transaction, governance, and settlement operations onto one platform.

Average Rating: 4.7/5.0

Total Reviews: 52

How Do G2 Users Rate Dfns?

  • Quality of Support: 9.7/10 (Category avg: 8.3/10)
  • Ease of Use: 8.7/10 (Category avg: 8.5/10)

Who Is the Company Behind Dfns?

  • Seller: Dfns
  • Company Website:
  • Year Founded: 2020
  • HQ Location: Paris, FR
  • Twitter: @dfnsHQ
    4,156 Twitter followers
  • LinkedIn® Page: linkedin.com
    86 employees on LinkedIn®

Who Uses This Product?

  • Who Uses This: CEO
  • Top Industries: Financial Services, Information Technology and Services
  • Company Size: 85% Small, 12% Medium

What Do G2 Reviewers Say About Dfns?

AI-generated summary from verified user reviews

Pros
  • Users commend the responsive and knowledgeable customer support of Dfns, enhancing their integration experience significantly.
  • Users find Dfns easy to implement and use, with great support and ongoing improvements enhancing the experience.
  • Users value the comprehensive features of Dfns, appreciating the robust infrastructure and ongoing improvements.
  • Users value Dfns for its easy integrations, allowing for efficient project delivery and seamless functionality.
  • Users value the strong security features of Dfns, including built-in MPC wallets and key management systems.
Cons
  • Users find Dfns lacking in missing useful features that limit its flexibility and practical application.
  • Users find the complexity of the API and interface challenging, leading to a steep learning curve despite some improvements.
  • Users find the dashboard not very practical and note the need for more UX improvements for better experience.
  • Users find poor usability in Dfns, citing complex wallet management and unclear signing messages as major issues.
  • Users find the limited support for USDT restricts market operations and seek better blockchain integration.

What Are Recent G2 Reviews of Dfns?

Azure Web3 Developer Solutions

Azure provides a rapid, low-cost, low-risk, and fail-fast platform for organizations to collaborate on by experimenting with new business processes and it's all backed by a cloud platform with the largest compliance portfolio in the industry.

Average Rating: 4.1/5.0

Total Reviews: 12

How Do G2 Users Rate Azure Web3 Developer Solutions?

  • Quality of Support: 7.8/10 (Category avg: 8.3/10)
  • Ease of Use: 8.2/10 (Category avg: 8.5/10)

Who Is the Company Behind Azure Web3 Developer Solutions?

  • Seller: Microsoft
  • Year Founded: 1975
  • HQ Location: Redmond, Washington
  • Twitter: @microsoft
    13,091,739 Twitter followers
  • LinkedIn® Page: www.linkedin.com
    232,750 employees on LinkedIn®
  • Ownership: MSFT

Who Uses This Product?

  • Company Size: 58% Medium, 33% Large

What Are Recent G2 Reviews of Azure Web3 Developer Solutions?

What Are G2 Users Discussing About Azure Web3 Developer Solutions?

Blockstream

Blockstream offers Bitcoin and blockchain technology.

Average Rating: 4.2/5.0

Total Reviews: 16

How Do G2 Users Rate Blockstream?

  • Quality of Support: 8.1/10 (Category avg: 8.3/10)
  • Ease of Use: 9.2/10 (Category avg: 8.5/10)

Who Is the Company Behind Blockstream?

  • Seller: Blockstream
  • Year Founded: 2014
  • HQ Location: Victoria, BC
  • Twitter: @Blockstream
    212,115 Twitter followers
  • LinkedIn® Page: www.linkedin.com
    189 employees on LinkedIn®

Who Uses This Product?

  • Company Size: 69% Small, 25% Medium

What Are Recent G2 Reviews of Blockstream?

Kaleido

Kaleido is the award-winning, enterprise-grade platform making blockchain and digital assets radically simple for organizations to adopt. Kaleido provides a complete stack for building blockchain-based digital asset and tokenization solutions across public and private chains on protocols including Ethereum, Polygon, Avalanche, Hyperledger Fabric, Quorum, Hyperledger Besu and Corda. All protocol options offer support for Hyperledger FireFly, the industry's first open source web3 gateway. Not only that, Kaleido provides security, compliance, and scalability to meet the most stringent enterprise requirements within highly regulated industries. Kaleido's platform is ISO27K and SOC 2 Type 2 certified with built-in high availability and disaster recovery, achieving 99.99% uptime over the past 4 years. That's why companies from web3 startups to leading global enterprises are in production today on Kaleido, accelerating the digitization of their critical business processes and the adoption of digital asset technologies across industries as varied as Finance, Healthcare, Insurance, Supply Chains, Gaming, Media, Entertainment, ESG, the Public Sector, and more.

Average Rating: 4.8/5.0

Total Reviews: 24

How Do G2 Users Rate Kaleido?

  • Quality of Support: 9.4/10 (Category avg: 8.3/10)
  • Ease of Use: 9.2/10 (Category avg: 8.5/10)

Who Is the Company Behind Kaleido?

  • Seller: Kaleido
  • Year Founded: 2017
  • HQ Location: Raleigh, North Carolina
  • Twitter: @Kaleido_io
    4,561 Twitter followers
  • LinkedIn® Page: www.linkedin.com
    80 employees on LinkedIn®

Who Uses This Product?

  • Company Size: 58% Small, 33% Large

What Are Recent G2 Reviews of Kaleido?

Corda

Corda is a blockchain and smart contract platform.

Average Rating: 4.3/5.0

Total Reviews: 14

How Do G2 Users Rate Corda?

  • Quality of Support: 7.6/10 (Category avg: 8.3/10)
  • Ease of Use: 7.9/10 (Category avg: 8.5/10)

Who Is the Company Behind Corda?

  • Seller: Corda
  • HQ Location: Cotia, BR
  • Twitter: @Cordablockchain
    13,081 Twitter followers
  • LinkedIn® Page: www.linkedin.com
    1 employees on LinkedIn®

Who Uses This Product?

  • Top Industries: Banking, Information Technology and Services
  • Company Size: 50% Small, 36% Large

What Are Recent G2 Reviews of Corda?

What Are G2 Users Discussing About Corda?

SubQuery

We make it easy for blockchain teams and users to launch nodes and get access to a large range of blockchain protocols. We have expertise in managed infrastructure hosting for the Substrate/Polkadot network, and the ability to deliver complex infrastructure projects and host them for production use.

Average Rating: 4.3/5.0

Total Reviews: 10

How Do G2 Users Rate SubQuery?

  • Quality of Support: 9.0/10 (Category avg: 8.3/10)
  • Ease of Use: 9.2/10 (Category avg: 8.5/10)

Who Is the Company Behind SubQuery?

  • Seller: SubQuery
  • Year Founded: 2021
  • HQ Location: Singapore, SG
  • Twitter: @SubQueryNetwork
    104,539 Twitter followers
  • LinkedIn® Page: www.linkedin.com
    12 employees on LinkedIn®

Who Uses This Product?

  • Company Size: 60% Small, 30% Large

What Are Recent G2 Reviews of SubQuery?

Hyperledger

Hyperledger is a collaborative effort created to advance blockchain technology by identifying and addressing important features for a cross-industry open standard for distributed ledgers that can transform the way business transactions are conducted globally.

Average Rating: 4.1/5.0

Total Reviews: 15

How Do G2 Users Rate Hyperledger?

  • Quality of Support: 7.4/10 (Category avg: 8.3/10)
  • Ease of Use: 6.8/10 (Category avg: 8.5/10)

Who Is the Company Behind Hyperledger?

  • Seller: The Linux Foundation
  • Year Founded: 2015
  • HQ Location: San Francisco, US
  • Twitter: @hyperledger
    299 Twitter followers
  • LinkedIn® Page: www.linkedin.com
    95 employees on LinkedIn®

Who Uses This Product?

  • Company Size: 56% Small, 25% Large

What Are Recent G2 Reviews of Hyperledger?

Platform 6

Platform 6 provides all the off-chain features and services required to develop, package and run enterprise-class blockchain applications.

Average Rating: 4.3/5.0

Total Reviews: 10

How Do G2 Users Rate Platform 6?

  • Quality of Support: 7.9/10 (Category avg: 8.3/10)
  • Ease of Use: 7.1/10 (Category avg: 8.5/10)

Who Is the Company Behind Platform 6?

  • Seller: Platform 6
  • Year Founded: 2017
  • HQ Location: Peterborough
  • Twitter: @Platform6_io
    7 Twitter followers
  • LinkedIn® Page: www.linkedin.com
    1 employees on LinkedIn®

Who Uses This Product?

  • Company Size: 45% Medium, 45% Small

What Are Recent G2 Reviews of Platform 6?

BitFury

BitFury is a fully integrated Bitcoin Blockchain security and infrastructure provider.

Average Rating: 4.6/5.0

Total Reviews: 10

How Do G2 Users Rate BitFury?

  • Quality of Support: 9.0/10 (Category avg: 8.3/10)
  • Ease of Use: 8.7/10 (Category avg: 8.5/10)

Who Is the Company Behind BitFury?

  • Seller: Bitfury
  • Year Founded: 2011
  • HQ Location: Amsterdam, NL
  • Twitter: @BitfuryGroup
    20,817 Twitter followers
  • LinkedIn® Page: www.linkedin.com
    86 employees on LinkedIn®

Who Uses This Product?

  • Company Size: 60% Small, 30% Medium

What Are Recent G2 Reviews of BitFury?

QANplatform

QANplatform is the Quantum-resistant hybrid blockchain platform. Build your software applications like DApps or Defi and run business processes on blockchain in 5 minutes with QANplatform. 1) The Problem: “By 2021, 90% of current enterprise blockchain platform implementations will require replacement within 18 month to remain competitive, secure and avoid obsolescence.” - Gartner 99% of current blockchains are not quantum-resistant These blockchains need to change their whole architecture and encryption algorithm before quantum computers arrive to stay secure. - Lack of hybrid blockchain platforms - Unpredictable Time-to-Implement - Costly hardware and energy requirements - Unpredictable data transaction prices for public blockchains 2) Our Solution: Quantum-resistant hybrid blockchain platform + Quantum-resistant security + Hybrid blockchain platform + Rapid 1-click deployment and integration + Lowest hardware and energy requirements on the market + Predictable data transactions for public blockchain ⚙️ Build on QAN blockchain platform: Smart contract | DApps | DeFi | Token/Cryptocurrency | NFT ⚙️ Code in these languages: Rust | (upcoming > TypeScript | C, C++ | Go | Lua) ⚙️ Types of QAN blockchain platform: Private blockchain | (upc. > Public blockchain | Hybrid blockchain) ⚙️ Deployed using these systems: Kubernetes | Docker Swarm | Single-Host ⚙️ Running on these platforms: - Cloud: Linode | Amazon AWS (upc. > Google Cloud Platform | Microsoft Azure | Digital Ocean | IBM Cloud | SAP Cloud | Alibaba Cloud | Red Hat | Oracle Cloud - Virtualized: VMWARE (upc. > Microsoft Hyper-V | Virtual Box | KVM) - Bare-metal: Apple | HP | Dell

Average Rating: 5.0/5.0

Total Reviews: 9

How Do G2 Users Rate QANplatform?

  • Quality of Support: 9.4/10 (Category avg: 8.3/10)
  • Ease of Use: 9.8/10 (Category avg: 8.5/10)

Who Is the Company Behind QANplatform?

Who Uses This Product?

  • Company Size: 78% Small, 22% Medium

What Are Recent G2 Reviews of QANplatform?

Brandon Summers-Miller
BS
Researched and written by Brandon Summers-Miller
Updated October 3, 2024

Learn More About Blockchain Platforms

What are Blockchain Platforms?

Blockchain platforms are software solutions that allow businesses to build applications that rely on blockchain technology. Blockchain technology refers to the use of a distributed, immutable ledger that documents transactions, activities, and resource movement across a network. Companies utilize the ledger in various ways, and a blockchain-based ledger system can be applied to any application that relies on any kind of transaction.

Blockchain platforms operate as a development platform with an integrated distributed ledger. This ledger is essentially an encrypted storage space for all kinds of data. The integrated data is then used to help develop consensus mechanisms that will be used to validate and approve transactions. 

The ledger references integrated data and previously completed transactions to prevent fraud and ensure complete historical visibility. Companies can also perform audits of the ledger should suspicion of fraud or misuse arise. While these functions are some of the core features provided by blockchain platforms, they can still be customized by developers to possess additional features, unique user interfaces, and use cases. 

What Types of Blockchain Platforms Exist? 

Blockchain technology can generally be defined into four segments or protocols. These four main blockchains categories are public blockchains, private blockchains, consortium blockchains, and hybrid blockchains.

Public blockchain

Public blockchains are open source, decentralized solutions that anyone can use for transactions, development, or mining. They are, in theory, completely transparent and display each transaction openly for public examination. These ecosystems can not be shut down as there is no centralized control over its availability. Without that centralized authority, there are security concerns, but none about transparency and audibility. 

Private blockchain

Private blockchains require permissions to perform transactions, development, or investigation. They’re typically built and utilized by enterprise businesses that do not want confidential information displayed on a public blockchain. This kind of blockchain is easier to secure and monitor but more difficult to investigate or audit.

Hybrid blockchain

Hybrid blockchains can utilize any combination of features offered by both public and private blockchains. This provides companies flexibility in terms of governance and security without a complete loss of transparency. For example, a business could limit the blockchain's historical ledger to mask or hide sensitive information without completely closing the transaction history to others using the blockchain.

Consortium blockchain

Consortium or federated blockchains limit participants to preselected user groups. Consortium blockchains are mostly beneficial for smaller groups with trusted users. This allows some centralized authority over access to the blockchain, increasing transaction speed, throughput, and privacy. These increased benefits also preserve transparency and visibility for those approved to participate. 

What are the Common Features of Blockchain Platforms?

The following are some core features within blockchain platforms that can help users build, develop, and deploy blockchain-based solutions:

Development: Development features include everything a developer would need to build a fully-functional blockchain application. This includes developer environments, asset libraries, APIs, templates, and more. 

Governance: Governance features vary depending on the type of blockchain in use but typically refer to the ability to control user access on private blockchains or peer-to-peer networks and approvals for consortium blockchains.

Scalability: Scalability is an important feature to consider when choosing a type of blockchain. For example, consortium solutions with small, trusted networks will not require substantial scalability, but applications utilizing a public blockchain will require scalability to prevent performance, throughput, and availability issues. 

Workflows: Workflow features will help businesses build out the transaction process. Pre-made or customizable workflows can provide a basic process for trading, validation, and settlement and allow for additional steps unique to a custom blockchain solution. 

Peer-to-peer networks: Access to large peer-to-peer networks is not always a priority but can be if developing a solution that requires consistent transactions. These networks can also be used to identify untrustworthy parties that may threaten the network. 

What are the Benefits of Blockchain Platforms?

Blockchain platforms can provide various real-world solutions that may be unique to any business or industry. Some of the most common, horizontal solutions include the development and use of smart contracts, cryptocurrencies, and decentralized applications (dApps)

Smart contracts: Smart contracts are one of the two most well-established uses of blockchain technologies. Smart contracts, as you might imagine, are contracts with integrated, intelligent features that can ensure certain parameters are met before self-executing a contract. Companies can use blockchain platforms to build smart contracts for any purpose. For example, a real estate developer could program a smart contract to automatically close a deal upon parties meeting requirements for appraisal, inspection, and mortgage approval. 

Cryptocurrencies: Cryptocurrencies are the other original use for blockchain technology. These digital assets are used in place of traditional fiat currencies like the US dollar or the euro. Cryptocurrency coins are “mined” by users with access to the blockchain and rewarded after solving complex mathematical problems. 

Decentralized applications (dApps): dApps are programs running on a blockchain network. These applications can increase privacy and reduce censorship for users as there is no central authority with access to their information. Various dApps have emerged in the form of exchanges, games, financial tools, and video games, to name a few. 

Non-fungible tokens (NFTs): NFTs are digital assets such as art, videos, or music that utilize a blockchain ledger to generate unique, verifiable ownership identifiers for each individual asset. Artists, companies, or content creators can use these to create one-of-a-kind digital assets their fanbase or user community can buy and trade. 

Software Related to Blockchain Platforms

Related solutions that can be used together with blockchain platforms include:

Blockchain as a service: Blockchain as a service solutions provide a blockchain platform for companies and individuals to develop applications and solutions that can be deployed on preconfigured, third-party cloud infrastructure. These tools provide less extensibility and centralized control than a pure-play blockchain platform but can save time on development and money on deployment and hosting. 

Cryptocurrency software: Cryptocurrency solutions do rely on blockchain technology at their core but don’t provide the development capabilities of a blockchain platform. There are many cryptocurrency applications, but they all relate to the mining, trading, and storing digital currencies. 

Smart contracts software: Like cryptocurrencies, smart contracts rely on blockchain technology and can be developed using a blockchain platform but pertain to a specified use of the highly variable technology. Most of the tools in this category provide prebuilt but customizable smart contracts that run on a specific, existing blockchain network. 

Challenges with Blockchain Platforms

Blockchain solutions can come with their own set of challenges. 

Speed and scalability: There is enormous variance in the speed and scalability of different blockchains. A blockchain’s speed to settlement largely depends on the platform’s ability to handle multiple transactions at once, the number of transactions required to achieve consensus, and the number of users trading at any given time. 

Security and privacy: While blockchain technology is often thought of as an inherently private technology concept, this is not always the case. For example, a transaction made on a public blockchain may permanently and publicly archive information related to both parties if programmed to do so. Since private blockchains offer increased privacy at the expense of transparency, there is often a compromise that developers must make in terms of public visibility and user privacy. 

Efficiency: For all the examples of potential blockchain-based applications and solutions, there is not as much discussion of whether or not it is necessary to incorporate blockchain functionality. For example, it could add transparency and auditability to an existing transactional process but could slow transactions to half their normal rate. As with any emerging technology, the buzz-worthy technological concept can sound better in theory than it performs in practice.

How to Buy Blockchain Platforms

Requirements Gathering (RFI/RFP) for Blockchain Platforms

Companies considering adopting a blockchain platform for their business should identify their goal and the blockchain protocol capable of meeting their needs. Companies must understand whether they want to utilize a public and open source blockchain ledger with minimal centralized control or governance, a centrally managed blockchain platform, a consortium model, or a hybrid model incorporating aspects of each. 

Compare Blockchain Platform Products

Create a long list

The long list should include the potential blockchain platforms capable of facilitating the number of transactions required at a speed the company desires. Companies can identify all possible options using resources such as analyst reports, software review sites, and other industry-specific information sources. Look for prior use cases as well. While your solution may be fairly unique in theory, it’s helpful to know that the platform you are considering has been used to successfully develop applications with similar features and functions in the past. 

Create a short list

Narrow the long list by identifying must-have integrations and features and bridging support. Evaluating these factors will ensure the solution you choose operates at the scale desired but also extends functionality into other applications and provides users the features or data they require. If the list must be shortened further, a few obvious factors include price, energy usage, and P2P networks. 

Conduct demos

When conducting demos of each solution, it is important to ask questions about the platform itself, the skills required to operate it, and the must-have features you require. Your existing staff should be able to learn the tool quickly and utilize their already existing skills without having to learn new coding languages or build out numerous custom integrations. Additionally, consider the platform’s usability and learning curve, and look out for performance issues and other inefficiencies.

Selection of Blockchain Platforms

Choose a selection team

The selection team should include someone from the development team who will end up using the tools and product specialists who will be pivotal in the execution and development of your solution. Other parties from leadership, finance, and marketing teams can also be considered depending on their involvement in planning, releasing, and promoting future blockchain-based applications. 

Negotiation

Development teams and their ability to adopt the application will be key to its success. Individuals leading those teams and other parties in charge of spending should provide a good balance in determining what solution will meet the team and company’s desired requirements while remaining within budget. 

Final decision

Once price points are set, it’s important to involve developers and other end users in finalizing the decision. If the platform is well liked, well utilized, and provides satisfactory results, the buyer can take that as a sign that they’ve made the right call. If not, it may be time to consider other options.