The 10 Largest Crypto Companies In The World, And What They Do

Key Points

• Founded in 2018, by Hayden Adams, Uniswap is rather distinct from your average centralized crypto exchange since it relies on liquidity pools. It aims to make crypto trading accessible to everyone and has an intuitive interface.
• Kraken which was founded in 2011, is the fourth largest crypto exchange on the planet. Over six million users visit it daily and over $600 million worth of cryptocurrency is traded every 24 hours.
• The Sandbox is a virtual reality game which permits players to exchange assets such as virtual real estate in its market place and monetize them on its blockchain. It is the largest of its kind with 2 million users at present.

Cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin and Ethereum enable people to make financial transactions without intermediaries like banks or government institutions. As the cryptocurrency industry continues to expand exponentially, the number of crypto companies worldwide has also risen dramatically. Some of these companies have been in business since the early days of Bitcoin, while others are more recent startups tapping into blockchain technology. Regardless of their launch dates, these cryptocurrency companies are worth billions of dollars and continue to grow, making them some of the most successful businesses in history. In today’s article, we will discuss the top largest crypto companies in the world and what they do. Without further ado, let’s dive in.

#10. Chainalysis

Chainalysis is a financial technology company that offers cryptocurrency businesses data analytics, compliance, and regulatory services. It helps companies legally identify, validate, and report cryptocurrency transactions. Jonathan Levin and Michael Gronager, who had previously worked together at Google as a developer and data scientist, founded the company.

The company’s main product is an API that helps companies “understand their blockchain transaction data.” The API allows users to access their crypto transaction data, which they can use to track transactions and analyze patterns. In addition to this API, Chainalysis also offers a suite of tools for analyzing the data collected by their API.

Chainalysis investigation software scrapes the blockchain for fund movements while its know-your-transaction (KYT) kit flags illicit cryptos from crime or hacking. Their investigative software platform aims to improve compliance by assisting financial institutions, law enforcement agencies, and businesses in identifying illicit activity and bad actors in cryptocurrency.

Over 650 organizations use this software, including cryptocurrency exchanges, major banks, payment processors, hedge funds, and venture capital firms. Cross-Chain Investigations to Reactor is a new tool that helps customers trace cryptocurrencies and related digital assets across blockchains.

#9. Uniswap

Uniswap is a decentralized exchange that aims to simplify how people trade their favorite cryptocurrencies. It both traditional and more advanced trading tools into one simple interface.

Founded in 2018, by Hayden Adams, Uniswap hopes to make cryptocurrency trading accessible to everyone through its intuitive interface, which uses crypto as a means for people to trade their collections of crypto coins and tokens easily.

Uniswap, unlike centralized exchanges, uses liquidity pools rather than acting as a market maker to create more efficient markets. Individuals and bots, known as “liquidity providers,” provide liquidity to the exchange by adding a pair of tokens to a smart contract that other users can buy and sell. Liquidity providers get compensation, typically a percentage of the trading fees earned for that trading pair. When a person withdraws a token from the pool, they must deposit a proportional amount to maintain the constant. There are no listing fees. Plus, registration isn’t mandatory. Uniswap’s code, as open-source software, is forkable, allowing developers to create new exchanges.

#8. Kraken

Eight on our list of the largest crypto companies is US-based Kraken, a cryptocurrency exchange that’s been around since 2011. Kraken’s mission is to provide professional trading services for cryptocurrencies and digital assets. The company’s main focus is high-frequency trading, allowing users to get in and out of trades quickly.

Kraken is one of the largest cryptocurrency exchanges in the world, with more than six million users and over $600 million worth of cryptocurrency traded daily. The company has offices in New York City, Toronto, and Tokyo and is the first company to offer direct exchanges of UAE dirhams for Bitcoin. Every year, the UAE trades about $25 billion in cryptocurrency.

The company frequently adds new features and continues to expand worldwide. Its customers have access to several cryptocurrencies, including bitcoin (BTC), Litecoin (LTC), dogecoin (DOGE), and Peercoin (PPC).

Kraken also offers margin trading services for those who want to increase their chances of profiting when trading cryptocurrencies on the site’s platform(s).

#7: Gemini Trust Company

Gemini Trust Company, LLC (Gemini) is a cryptocurrency exchange and custodian that allows customers to buy, sell, and store digital assets. It was founded in 2014 by Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss . Gemini has a tiered service with separate interfaces and fee structures for casual investors and hardcore traders. It also has a mobile app, a payment app, a crypto credit card, and its own currency, the Gemini dollar. Unlike most cryptocurrencies, the Gemini dollar is a “stablecoin” tied to the U.S. dollar.

In November 2019, the Gemini Trust Co. bought Nifty Gateway for an undisclosed sum. Nifty Gateway is a marketplace for NFTs. The NFT marketplace hopes to be a custodian for various assets, including property deeds, passports, commodities, collectibles, videogame characters, movies, music, and event tickets. Currently, the company operates in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, South Korea, Hong Kong, and Singapore.

#6. Sandbox

The Sandbox is a community-driven platform and virtual reality game that is gaining traction due to the metaverse trend. The game has partnerships with Adidas and many brands and personalities. Creators can monetize voxel assets and gaming experiences on the blockchain. In the marketplace, users can buy and sell the best assets.

Accessible on computers and mobile devices, the game is based on a play-to-earn model. Sandbox’s blockchain-based version allows users to create their avatars, which they can trade and access various environments and games within the metaverse. The platform is the largest of its kind in the cryptocurrency space, with over 2 million users. Within the metaverse, these users can also trade in virtual real estate.

Sandbox’s total land sales volume in 2021 was over $350 million. Approximately 80% of this volume occurred in the fourth quarter of 2021. Secondary sales increased by more than 1.600% quarter over quarter. The platform’s active buyers increased in all four quarters of 2021 by 37% between October and December. At the end of the third quarter, the median price for Sandbox land was $1,308, but by the end of the year, it had risen to $11,364.

#5. OpenSea

OpenSea is an online marketplace for digital goods. Established in 2017, it has grown into a global marketplace for trading Cryptocurrencies. The platform had over 600,000 users as of early 2022. This significantly increased from March 2020, when the platform had only 4,000 users. The OpenSea website receives more visitors monthly. According to conservative estimates, the site receives more than 120 million monthly visitors. This significantly outperforms the competition in the NFT market sector. The company earned more than $365 million in revenue from NFT sales on the Ethereum blockchain in 2021.

OpenSea’s revenue in 2020 was only $525,000. The distinction highlights NFTs’ phenomenal growth in the crypto space. Every transaction on the platform is subject to a 2.5% fee. This is comparable to what competitors such as Rarible charge. The estimated value of the company exceeds $13 billion. The company has raised more than $427 million in funding through nine funding rounds. Early in 2022, a Series C funding round raised $300 million.

OpenSea is one of the companies that institutional investors are watching, along with Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE: MA), PayPal Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ: PYPL), and Block, Inc. (NYSE: SQ).

#4. Grayscale

Grayscale Investments is a digital asset management firm specializing in various digital assets, from Bitcoin and Ethereum to XRP and Litecoin. It’s the brainchild of Barry Silbert, the founder of SecondMarket, an online marketplace for trading shares.

Grayscale offers an institutional-grade digital asset platform to invest in digital assets such as bitcoin, Ethereum, and more. It allows investors to trade digital assets through its exchange or partner exchanges. The company also offers a professional trading service that provides access to liquidity pools and market makers with access to over $25 billion in assets under management.

The company provides some of the biggest publicly traded cryptocurrency funds worldwide. These comprise the Grayscale Ethereum Trust and the Grayscale Bitcoin Trust. Collectively, their value in the market is over $11 billion. Grayscale offers nearly twenty publicly traded investment products for cryptocurrency.

#3. International Business Machines Corporation

IBM started as the Computing-Tabulating-Recording Company, one of the first companies to implement punch card technology into its systems. In 1924, the company changed its name to International Business Machines Corporation (IBM). Today, the company has over 280,000 employees worldwide and generated nearly $60 billion in revenue last year (2021).

IBM offers information and technology-related solutions and services. The company has invested significantly in cutting-edge technologies like blockchain, AI, and cloud computing in recent years. It holds close to 14% of the market share for AI software. With its significant revenue stream, IBM can fund growth initiatives, giving it an edge over market rivals.

IBM Blockchain technology empowers businesses to digitize transactions through a secured, shared, and distributed ledger, improving efficiency and transparency. The company has joined forces with Stronghold, a startup, and Stellar, a blockchain that closely resembles Ripple, to introduce USD Anchor, a stablecoin backed by banks. Supply chain solutions, identity management, and digital asset management are a few of the items the business provides in the crypto market.

#2. Coinbase Global, Inc

Coinbase Global, Inc., or Coinbase, is a public company that operates a cryptocurrency exchange platform. It is the largest crypto exchange in the U.S. by trading volume. Founded by Brian Armstrong and Fred Ehrsam, Coinbase provides cryptocurrency exchange trading, wallet storage and management, and merchant services.

Its members can buy and sell Bitcoin, Ethereum, Litecoin, Bitcoin Cash, and other digital currencies on their website or via an API that integrates into other applications. Users can also use Coinbase to send money to friends or family via bank transfers or debit cards.

Coinbase has over 89 million verified users, 11,000 institutions, and 185,000 ecosystem partners across100 countries. The company has a competitive edge as one of the “first movers” in the crypto space. It debuted on the market in April 2021 and fetched a valuation of over $85 billion in one of the biggest IPOs of the year.

#1. Binance

Binance is the largest crypto exchange in the world in terms of the daily trading volume of cryptocurrencies. Changpeng Zhao (CZ), the current CEO of Binance, founded the company in July 2017. CoinGecko data shows Binance handles spot trading volumes of more than $15 billion and nearly $45 billion in derivatives in a single day.

Binance was one of the first exchanges to offer multiple fiat currency options for customers to deposit funds into their accounts, including USD, EUR, CNY, and JPY. Currently, the company has over 30 million users across its global platform. When it was first introduced in 2017, there were only roughly 120,000 users. The Binance website and apps have close to 29 million weekly visitors. The application has the greatest daily trade volume in the world, close to $10 billion. According to Bloomberg, the company’s sales were over $20 billion in 2021.

In 2018 alone, Binance grew by more than 100% and reached over a billion dollars in daily volume, a significant milestone compared to the other largest crypto companies. The exchange’s success is partly due to the company’s ability to innovate quickly while maintaining high security and transparency standards. Binance has launched two proprietary cryptocurrencies: Binance Coin (BNB) and BinanceUSD (BUSD). The company claims BinanceUSD, a product of its partnership with Paxos, is backed by a 1:1 reserve of US Dollars.

Despite being inaccessible in major crypto markets, Binance continues to report impressive growth. A public offering is scheduled for 2024, and the company hopes to achieve a valuation of $300 billion at that time. Coinbase, Binance’s main rival, has a $40 billion market valuation. Since 2018, Binance has held the title of biggest cryptocurrency exchange globally. In addition to Turkey, Russia and Brazil also have significant traffic on Binance.

Up Next…

Now you know the largest crypto companies, check out some related articles:

• KuCoin Review: Features, Benefits, History, and More: A wide range of cryptocurrencies, competitive fees, and extra perks set this crypto exchange apart. Find out all you need to know about KuCoin, in this article.
• Guide to NFTs: What They Are, How They Work, and What to Know Today: They make it possible for you to claim ownership digitally. Find out all you need to know about them, here.
• Kraken: A Guide to One of the Original Crypto Trading Platforms: It’s the fourth largest crypto exchange in terms of volume. Here is all you need to know about one of the oldest trading platforms for virtual currency.

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