5 blockbuster blockchain startups from the windmill country

While bitcoin is getting a lot of attention since last year, many big companies, scaleups and startups want to foray in the blockchain technology. And when the talk is about startups how can the most innovative country in this world, Netherlands sit behind.

The windmill country has already produced a lot of startups which are eager to apply blockchain technology in their products and services.  Recently Silicon Canals was present at the Blockchain Innovation Conference (BIC) 2018 held in Utrecht and spoke to many blockchain startups to understand the vision behind their existence. Let’s take a look at few of them, which really impressed us.

#1 Tykn

This one is a really unique startup and according to us, one of the best blockchain startup ideas. Tykn, basically helps ‘invisible’ refugees to gain a digital identity. Founded by the ‘invisible man’ himself, Tey El-Rjula, the startup recently also won the best Dutch ICO award at the BIC 2018.

As a refugee, El-Rjula, born in Kuwait, lost his identity when his birth papers were destroyed during the Gulf War. El-Rjula ended up in the Netherlands via Dubai with a work visa, but all his documents were taken when it expired.

From an asylum seekers’ center in Zeist he started the startup, dubbed as Tykn, which now provides undocumented refugees with digital identity through Blockchain technology.

#2 FissaCoin

Based out of Rotterdam, FissaCoin is another innovative startup that wants to transform the current payment market at events and festivals by offering a tuna-based payment system for the event industry. There both the organizer and the consumer benefit, because the transaction costs for the payment go down and it becomes easier to buy products during events.

As per the company press release, FissaCoin is a cryptocurrency that supports the Blockchain. The platform is secure, transparent and decentralized. This means that security of user information is world-class, the transparency of the transactions is guaranteed and the platform can handle high volumes of transactions in real-time.

#3 CareerChain

CareerChain is a blockchain technology solution for the human resource sector. It is a non-profit organisation that aims to become an ‘open industry standard’ to communicate a candidate’s career history. Job seekers only have to fill in their profile once and they can apply anywhere. But they always keep control over who they share their data and their profile is never owned by a private company.

#4 Volareo

This one is very unique from the house of Dutch. Volareo is the world’s first blockchain smart streaming speaker and music hub that makes the benefits of blockchain accessible and cryptocurrency easy to use. It is basically a smart speaker, which the user can control with an app or using voice commands. Artists get paid per stream, just like at Spotify. In addition, listeners can directly tip musicians.

Payments to musicians are made via blockchain, digital and decentralized ledger system making direct and transparent micro-payments possible through smart contracts on Musicoin. As per the company press release, Musicoin (MUSIC) is a smart cryptocurrency and music streaming platform built upon the Musicoin blockchain. Each play equals one musicoin, worth about ten cents. More than 2500 artists have joined this blockchain initiative and are already distributing their music on Musicoin.

#5 CargoLedger

Another Dutch blockchain startup which is news these days is CargoLedger. This startup develops blockchain-based solutions that make the handling and dispatch of cargo easier, more transparent and safe. Shipments are labelled and dispatched. After scanning the label, the recipient immediately gains insight into a variety of cargo conditions, including the shipment’s temperature, humidity level and state.

As per reported by various media outlets, The Port of Rotterdam Authority in the Netherlands has partnered with CargoLedger to implement a blockchain solution for tracking shiploads in order to improve quality control in supply chains and establish a transparent and secure system.

The blockchain system will record and process data from labeled shiploads, which can be scanned by receivers in Rotterdam’s ports in order to gain immediate insight into the conditions of the load, such as its temperature and humidity.

Stay tuned to Silicon Canals for more updates in the tech startup world.