Technology
2019 Tech Impact Awards, Blockchain: Dragonchain
Plus: Silver Award winner Strix Leviathan
By Bill Conroy September 25, 2019
This article originally appeared in the October 2019 issue of Seattle magazine.
This article appears in print in the October 2019 issue. See more about the winners of the 2019 Tech Impact Awards here. Click here for a free subscription.
Dragonchain
Location: Bellevue
Dragonchain is part of a brave new world in cybersecurity, operating as a private/public open-source platform that delivers blockchain technology as a service, with the goal of providing security and integration flexibility for business applications.
Similar to the way the internet revolutionized how the world communicates, blockchain will revolutionize the way we transact anything of value, says Joe Roets, founder and chief executive officer of Dragonchain. All of our combined personal data is worth more than oil for years already, and were just at the very start of a decentralized transformation where we take back control of our own data.
Blockchain is a coding technology that interlocks blocks of transaction data to create a highly secure digital ledger that exists across a distributed network of computers. Its potential applications span a range of industries where transaction flexibility and security are prized, including the financial and health care sectors. Dragonchain currently employs 34, and were hiring, Roets adds.
In addition to its Bellevue headquarters, the company has offices in London, Singapore and Rock Hill, South Carolina. Soon, it plans to open another office in Amsterdam with more strategic positions in the pipelines, according to Roets.
Silver Award
Strix Leviathan
Location: Seattle
Strix Leviathan is building a cryptocurrency trading platform that will serve hedge funds, banks and large enterprise companies. To ensure security, digital cryptocurrencies, like Bitcoin, rely on blockchain technology in which all prior transaction data is embedded in each new transaction, linked together like a chain. The startup raised $1.625 million in 2018 from a range of investors, including a firm co-led by NFL Hall of Fame quarterback Joe Montana. The companys founder, Jesse Proudman, has a track record of hitting it out of the park. He founded cloud-computing company Blue Box in 2003, which he sold to IBM in 2015.