Factom (FCT)

Factom (FCT) is a blockchain-based platform for record keeping that was launched in 2014 by Paul Snow and David Johnston. Factom is aimed primarily at enterprise customers that can leverage the data registry and verification strengths of a decentralized system to make their services more streamlined. In 2017, Factom raised over $8 million in a round of funding that was led by Tim Draper of Draper Associates.

Factom’s services does not require companies to make use of cryptocurrencies, instead focusing on helping businesses leverage the strengths to enhance their current business models and workflows. Among others, Factom’s target industries and use cases are the mortgage industry, the Internet of Things and healthcare records.

Factom has two major products: Harmony Integrate and Harmony Connect. The former lets businesses build private blockchains for workflows and systems, while the latter allows them to enable blockchains in applications. Together, these products function as a Blockchain-as-a-Service (BaaS) platform that lets businesses easily deploy blockchain solutions into their services and products. Like other BaaS services, it does not require technical expertise to execute. 

Factom has been working on security and scalability improvements in Q2 2019, and the recent Protocol Grant 012 saw the team increase both considerably. In June, the team released an updated version of their Harmony Integrate product, which allowed enterprises to add data integrity and cryptographic auditability to existing processes. The rest of 2019 will see various such improvements to the network.