Photos: 10 innovative blockchain startups poised to revolutionize business

[This gallery was originally published on TechRepublic.]

Bitcoin is dead. Long live the blockchain!

Bitcoin's underlying technology is far more interesting than the cryptocurrency itself, said Brooklyn-based mobile application and blockchain developer Charles Hope.

Blockchain tech refers to an encrypted database log of timestamped transactions. Metadata about the transaction is publicly accessible through APIs. "The blockchain is a global financial ledger without any central authority," Hope explained. "An eternal record of every Bitcoin transaction, its own algorithms pay people to host it. It supports operations that are difficult to do with regular money, such as a completely secure escrow state, which permits safe contracts between strangers."

SEE: Three ways encryption can safeguard your cloud files (Tech Pro Research report)

Because Bitcoin transactions generate millions of secure data points, the Bitcoin blockchain has evolved to become the backbone of a platform for a number of innovative startups. These are some of the most vital, and interesting, blockchain-based startups.

Industry vertical: Infrastructure, Platform

Ethereum is a decentralized application platform. The company eschews the traditional Bitcoin blockchain in favor of its own custom-built chain. Developers use Ethereum to build transfer currency systems, store money, and even build customized and personalized blockchains.

Industry vertical: Infrastructure, Platform

Mycelium is a blockchain platform that supports several products, including point-of-sale and payment processing hardware and a digital wallet. The payment system is designed to buffer retailers against fee-heavy credit card processing systems.

Industry vertical: Infrastructure

Developed by a team of tech industry veterans, Chain is a currency processing platform that facilitates one-to-one, bilateral, and auction-based transactions.

Industry vertical: Brokerage

If you own Bitcoin, it's likely you've used Coinbase. Since 2012 San Francisco's Coinbase, a brokerage and wallet, has raised over $100 million in venture funding in a campaign to bring Bitcoin to a mainstream market. The site is one of the easiest places to buy and sell Bitcoin.

Industry vertical: News

CoinDesk is the insider trade magazine of the Bitcoin and blockchain business community. The company publishes reliable reports on the trends, economy, and newsmakers of blockchain companies.

Industry vertical: Crowdfunding

Portland's Chroma.fund bills itself as "Capitalism 2.0" and offers a blockchain-based approach to crowdfunding. Chroma.fund is based on the idea that "a person or company could also be represented and traded as shares like the stock market," co-founder Marcus Estes explained in a recent interview. Because the blockchain is available to the public, "we could associate an action like the sale of a share of stock with the chain and verify its authenticity."

Industry vertical: Compliance

Bitcoin and the blockchain offer tremendous potential for business innovation, but both technologies are mired in controversy. Elliptic helps finance industry blockchain companies manage compliance issues. The company also identifies and reports illegal, unethical, and otherwise fishy cryptocurrency behavior.

Industry vertical: Middleware

Chronicled is a complex blockchain smart tag platform. It's also a fashionable vintage shoe company. The company's middleware tech is a mobile open market that connects vintage shoe aficionados with sellers all over the world. The platform began with vintage shoes market but can be used for nearly every type of market.

Industry vertical: Financial services, healthcare

Gem is a blockchain consulting firm that simplifies the blockchain development process and creates custom solutions for financial services and healthcare companies.

Industry vertical: Smart contracts

The retail loyalty card industry is mostly a closed source system. Loyyal is a blockchain-powered loyalty card startup that uses smart contracts to allow for cross-platform, interoperable conditional transactions.