Most people hear the words “blockchain” and “cryptocurrency” and immediately think of Bitcoin. But that’s far from the whole story. Crypto and blockchain technologies have helped revolutionize everything from carbon emissions data collection to banking history evaluations. At the same time, there are intriguing companies working to make crypto more accessible—such as by creating a no-code rewards program for people who make NFT purchases.
The companies behind these technologies are among the honorees in Fast Company’s Next Big Things in Tech awards for 2022. See a full list of all the winners across all categories here.
Winners: Fintech, crypto, and blockchain
Accern
For tuning AI to help financial professionals tame a surging sea of information
Accern created natural-language processing models specific to the needs of financial service companies that want to glean insights from news outlets, journals, social media, blogs, and other sources. Its focus on a single market helped it eliminate biases from its AI algorithms. And its no-code templates help customers get up and running quickly.
Allinfra
For calculating carbon footprints from hard data, not guesstimates
The Allinfra Climate platform gives organizations the ability to move beyond greenwashing and make progress toward sustainability goals based on timely, verifiable information. By retrieving data directly from sources such as smart devices and using a custom hybrid blockchain architecture, it aims to provide faster, more accurate data than conventional methods that rely on manual collection.
Capitolis
For helping banks and investors to help each other
Financial services companies and institutional capital providers turn to Capitolis’s marketplace to find each other and move money around efficiently. The company simplifies the process of dealing with complex financial products. In the wake of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the company also worked with two-thirds of the world’s largest financial firms to reduce their exposure to the ruble by billions of dollars.
Glow Labs
For being the silent partner in crypto-based rewards programs
Glow offers organizations the ability to create an Ethereum-powered, white-labeled rewards program—no code or blockchain expertise required. Rather than helping Web 2.0-era companies make the transition to Web3, it focuses on serving new businesses that want to reward their customers for everything from NFT purchases to social engagements on platforms such as Twitter.
Honorable Mention: Fintech, crypto, and blockchain
Empower
For conducting real-time evaluations of banking data and history
Recognize your brand’s excellence by applying to this year’s Brands That Matter Awards before the early-rate deadline, May 3.
