Bitcoin Forum

A Cambridge, Massachusetts-based company developing identity solutions for blockchain-based systems won $15,000 at a startup competition hosted by the venture arm of Spanish banking group Banco Santander yesterday.

Announced in November, the Distributed Ledger Challenge was organized by Santander InnoVentures, the $100m FinTech venture fund created by Banco Santander in 2014, and Onevest, a venture capital network based in New York. The Amazon Web Services Pop-up Lofts, a working space located in Manhattan, hosted the event.

Cambridge Blockchain, which won the event, was one of five finalists that saw more than 100 entrants submit pitches. In addition to Cambridge Blockchain, the list of finalists included Coinprism; ExiVest, a startup equity dark pool project; Midasium, a startup seeking to develop smart contracts for the real estate industry; and blockchain rewards network startup Ribbit.me.

It was through Santander InnoVentures that the Spanish banking group invested in Ripple and Digital Asset Holdings. The firm later published a report on potential cost savings banks could unlock with the technology.

The panel of judges featured Mariano Belinky, managing partner for Santander InnoVentures; Julio Faura, head of research and development for Banco Santander; Juan Jiménez Zaballos, director of corporate innovation for Banco Santander, Greg Shvey, partner for TradeBlock; Peter Smith, CEO and co-founder of Blockchain; and James Smith, CEO of Elliptic.

The event opened with an introduction by Belinky and Faura, followed by a question-and-answer session with the panel of judges.

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