Here are nine of the top blockchain platforms to consider in 2021.

1. Ethereum

Introduced in 2013, Ethereum is one of the oldest and most established blockchain platforms. It provides a truly decentralized blockchain development company that is comparable to the Bitcoin blockchain network. Manders said its key strength is that it enables true decentralization with support for smart contracts. Its key weaknesses include slow processing times and higher transaction processing costs compared to other platforms. Besides its role as a blockchain platform that underpins enterprise applications, it has its own cryptocurrency called ether.

The Ethereum platform is seeing widespread adoption by technologists who build decentralized applications, or dApps, on the Ethereum network. For example, there are numerous platforms and exchanges for nonfungible tokens (NFTs) — a type of digital asset that can be exchanged on a blockchain. It has a mature ecosystem of tools for writing smart contracts using the Solidity programming environment, which runs on the Ethereum Virtual Machine. However, alternative blockchain networks can process transactions much faster at potentially lower cost than Ethereum, though many observers expect this to change after Ethereum adopts a more efficient security mechanism.

2. IBM Blockchain

IBM Blockchain is a private, decentralized blockchain network that has been the most successful with enterprise clients who are less risk-averse, Manders said. He sees the biggest opportunities in using it to link into enterprise cloud and legacy technologies more seamlessly than is possible in other decentralized networks.

The IBM Blockchain developer tool was designed to be flexible, functional and customizable. IBM has also invested in creating a user-friendly interface to simplify critical tasks, such as setting up, testing and rapidly deploying smart contracts.

Rakesh Mohan, IBM director of development for blockchain solutions, said the company has seen significant progress in financial services and banking, as well as supply chain. Some examples of successful blockchain apps include IBM Food Trust, which has completed more than 18 million transactions representing more than 17,000 products, and Blockchain Community Initiative in Thailand, which supports services like payment obligations and enterprise auctions for 22 Thai banks.

3. Hyperledger Fabric

Hyperledger Fabric is a set of tools that help create blockchain applications championed by IBM and The Linux Foundation. It was built from the ground up with enterprise distributed ledger uses in mind. It has a rich ecosystem of components that can be plugged into a modular architecture. It works well in closed blockchain deployment, which can improve security and speed. It also supports an open smart contract model that can support various data models, such as account and unspent transaction output, or UTXO, models (see sidebar).

Hyperledger Fabric can also improve data privacy by isolating transactions in channels or enabling the sharing of private data on a need-to-know basis in private data collections. It also enables high-speed transactions with low latency of finality and confirmation, according to its proponents.

Arnaud Le Hors, senior technical staff member of blockchain development company and web open technologies at IBM, who also chairs the Hyperledger Technical Steering Committee, said the latest developments add support for an organization to join a channel without copying the whole history of the ledger. This enables a quicker startup process with less storage required.

4. Hyperledger Sawtooth

Another open source blockchain initiative hosted by Hyperledger and the Linux Foundation, Hyperledger Sawtooth uses a novel consensus mechanism called Proof of Elapsed Time that can integrate with hardware-based security technologies to allow “trusted execution environments” of program code to run in secure enclaves, which are protected areas of computer memory.

Work has started on a Sawtooth Library that will enable developers of custom distributed ledgers to pick and choose which pieces of Sawtooth they use in their application. At the same time, Sawtooth is adopting Splinter for networking, which will provide dynamic private circuits (groups of nodes); Hyperledger Transact for transaction processing, which will extend smart contract capabilities; and Augrim for consensus, which will expand the number of supported algorithms.

5. R3 Corda

There is some debate whether R3 Corda is technically a blockchain or an alternative type of distributed ledger. It uses a novel consensus mechanism in which transactions are cryptographically linked but does not periodically batch multiple transactions into a block. Even the official Corda site describes it as “both a blockchain and not a blockchain.” One of the key benefits of this approach is that all transactions are processed in real time, which can improve performance compared to other types of blockchains.

The R3 consortium has a strong following in the financial industry, since Corda provides an attractive approach for financial transactions and smart contracts with strong security. Leading proponents include Bank of America, HSBC, Intel and Microsoft.

6. Tezos

In development since 2014, Tezos is an older platform that supports decentralized applications, smart contracts and novel financial instruments, such as NFTs, which can be thought of as a modern variation on trading cards that are tied to digital assets. The platform supports a dynamically upgradeable protocol and modular software clients that enable it to adapt to new uses. The Tezos community has been upgrading the platform at a rapid clip, with recent enhancements that have improved performance and increased the size limit on smart contracts.

7. EOSIO

The EOSIO blockchain platform was first launched as an open source project in 2018. It is optimized for developing decentralized applications and smart contracts. It uses a complex consensus mechanism based on PoS that provides better performance than older mechanisms like Ethereum, according to its proponents. It also includes support for a governance feature for voting on changes to the platform.

Key strengths include fast transactions and advanced account permission features for deploying applications. Over 400 applications have been developed on the platform, including identity management, supply chain management and gaming.

8. Stellar

Stellar is a newer blockchain development company platform optimized for various kinds of decentralized finance applications. It uses the Stellar Consensus Protocol, which purportedly can speed the time required to process and finalize transactions on a public blockchain network. It also includes security mechanisms for shutting out bad or questionable actors in a financial transaction. It has been adopted by several companies for international trade and exchanging money across borders.

9. Quorum

Quorum is a customized version of Ethereum pioneered by financial services company JPMorgan. It takes advantage of the core work on the Ethereum blockchain platform and repackages it into a hardened environment suitable for banks. It has been optimized to support high-speed transactions between institutions like banks and insurance companies on a private network. It also adds various privacy enhancements to Ethereum to improve support for regulations like GDPR in Europe and CCPA in California.