## What Is Concordium (CCD)?

Launched in 2018, Concordium is a public-permissionless [Layer 1 blockchain](https://coinmarketcap.com/alexandria/glossary/layer-1-blockchain) that embeds encrypted ID into every on-chain transaction, enabling identification at a protocol level. It is designed to balance privacy with accountability through its ID layer. From the onset, the team behind the project, which includes leadership from Volvo, IKEA, Credit Suisse, and more, stated that its goal was to make it easy for current and future businesses to easily integrate the potential of blockchain technology, with an emphasis on regulatory compliance.

While providing real-world identity may seem like a turnoff for many crypto enthusiasts, the company claims to provide users with full privacy while using zero-knowledge proofs.

To date, the company has raised 52M EUR, partnering with Geely, a global automaker and co-owner of Volvo Cars, Volvo AB, and Daimler.

Behind the scenes, Concordium has a native cryptocurrency called CCD. It is used for paying transaction fees, staking, rewards for node operators, and as a collateral/settlement medium for Concordium’s DeFi landscape.


## Who Are the Founders of Concordium?

Concordium was founded by Lars Seier Christensen, the co-founder and former CEO of the online trading and investment platform Saxo Bank. Christensen, who is the current Chairman of the Foundation Board was able to grow Saxo to 1,500 employees in 150 locations. However, the company has a team of more than 30 experts, making up the Foundation Board, the Science Team, the Technical Team, an Operations Team, and an Advisory Board.

Other notable mentions on the team include Professor Ueli Maurer, a senior academic at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich and renowned for his work in cryptographic innovations. Professor Ivan Damgård, the co-inventor of the Merkle-Damgård cryptographic hash is also part of the team.

Other key C-level team members include Group CPO/CTO Kåre Kjelstrøm (entrepreneur, Silicon Valley startup veteran from multiple ventures including Uber).


## What Makes Concordium Unique?

Concordium’s most unique selling point comes from its built-in identity layer. The ID layer employs trusted identity issuers to provide users with their self-sovereign identity. However, the network tries to maintain a balance between user privacy and the need for identification if a legitimate legal issue arises. 

On the other end of identification, on-chain transactions are carried out privately using cryptographic means to prove that all participants have been verified without disclosing their identity.

Asides from its privacy and identity features, Concordium provides a powerful execution environment for smart contracts and digital financial primitives suited for enterprise users. Some of these features include high throughput with fast finality, low, fixed transaction costs, and a regulated DeFi Lab.

Speaking of transactions, the blockchain network uses a dual [consensus](https://coinmarketcap.com/alexandria/glossary/consensus) mechanism. At one end, operators (known as bakers) process transactions using a Nakamoto-style Proof-of-Stake mechanism, and at the other end, a [Byzantine fault tolerant](https://coinmarketcap.com/alexandria/glossary/byzantine-fault-tolerance-bft) (BFT) agreement among a set of specialized bakers (known as finalizers) is used to finalize transactions.

Any user that stakes more than 14,000 CCD can become a baker, while finalizers need to stake at least 0.1% of all CCDs.


#### Related Pages:

Learn more about [zero-knowledge proof](https://coinmarketcap.com/alexandria/glossary/zero-knowledge-proof) on CMC Glossary.

Check out our guide on what [privacy coins](https://coinmarketcap.com/alexandria/article/what-are-privacy-coins) are.

[What is a smart contract?](https://coinmarketcap.com/alexandria/article/what-is-a-smart-contract) Find out more.

Learn more about cryptocurrencies on the [CoinMarketCap Alexandria](https://coinmarketcap.com/alexandria/).


## What Is the Circulating Supply of CCD Tokens?

The CCD token has a total supply of 11,568,824,325 CCD tokens at the time of writing, with a current circulating supply of 6,836,607,809 CCD.


## Where Can You Buy Concordium?

Concordium (CCD) tokens can be purchased on several exchanges, such as [Kucoin](https://coinmarketcap.com/exchanges/kucoin/), [Bitfinex](https://coinmarketcap.com/exchanges/bitfinex/), [AscendEX](https://coinmarketcap.com/exchanges/ascendex/) and [MEXC](https://coinmarketcap.com/exchanges/mxc/).

New to the crypto space? Read more on [how to buy Bitcoin](https://coinmarketcap.com/how-to-buy-bitcoin/) and other crypto.

Concordium

A science-based PoS blockchain with a groundbreaking ID framework, designed to fuel the global transformation to Web3.

Everscale (EVER) is a fast and secure layer-one blockchain that aims to become a decentralized platform for high-performance applications with real-world relevance, such as Stablecoins, CBDCs, DEXes, Bridges, Gaming Platforms and more.

Everscale

Telos

Radix is a layer 1 smart contract platform built to create a Web3 future for everyone, not just the innovators here today. A future where our friends, family and colleagues can confidently participate.
After 10 years of research, testing and development, Radix has built a highly optimized stack of custom technologies that tightly integrates wallet, programming language, execution environment, and consensus algorithm.
Users, with the Radix Wallet, can confidently use Web3 and DeFi with human-readable transactions, transaction guarantees, native assets, and more.
Developers, with Radix's Scrypto programming language, can build secure, production-ready dApps in a fraction of the time.

Radix

Gains Network

Covalent leverages big-data technologies to create meaning from hundreds of billions of data points, delivering actionable insights to investors and allowing developers to allocate resources to higher-utility goals within their organization.

Instead of painstakingly sourcing data from a small handful of chains, Covalent aggregates information from across dozens of sources including nodes, chains and data feeds. The Covalent API then sources end-users with individualized data by wallet, including current and historical investment performance across all types of digital assets. Most importantly, Covalent returns this data in a rapid and consistent manner, incorporating all relevant data within one API interface.

Having achieved product-market fit, we are now planning to execute the next phase of Covalent, which is a progressive decentralization that will enable the Covalent Network to be owned and operated by its users. Of course, a critical piece to this is CQT.

CQT is the native token of the Covalent Network. It has three primary purposes:

CQT is a governance token, whereby token holders vote on proposals to change the system parameters.

CQT is a staking asset. Validators will earn fees for answering queries.

CQT is a network access token that fulfills data queries for users of the API.

Developer resources include:

Covalent Knowledge Base for extensive guides on how to use the Covalent API. 

Covalent API Documentation.

Covalent

SKALE, described as a modular blockchain network, is designed to bring scalability to Ethereum. SKALE is the only blockchain network capable of running an unlimited number of fast, on-demand, pooled-security Blockchains with zero gas fees to end users. These individual chains are known as SKALE chains and can be dapp-specific or shared.

The project’s website says it wants to enable people to build and run DApps in a “decentralized modular cloud built for real-world needs and configured for your requirements.” This emphasis on decentralization isn’t at the expense of security.

According to SKALE, those who build on this platform can run Solidity smart contracts “thousands of times faster at a fraction of the mainnet cost” — with games and content streaming services among the projects that already take advantage of its infrastructure.

SKALE

Launched on mainnet on March 30, 2021, Casper is the first live proof-of-stake (PoS) blockchain built off the Casper CBC specification. The Casper platform is designed to boost the adoption of blockchain technology, smart contracts, and DApps on a global scale.

With its future-proof architecture, Casper is designed to ensure the platform is continually developed according to the evolving needs of its users, and that it’s maximally accessible to developers of all backgrounds. As per the official whitepaper, Casper is optimized to suit both enterprise and developer needs. Casper’s mission is to usher in a new era for Web3, as demand for intuitive, interconnected services continues to grow across the board. Casper does so by solving the adoption trilemma: offering enterprise-grade security, scalability and decentralization all within the same blockchain protocol.

Casper

XCAD Network

PlatON

Astar Network helps developers build decentralized applications (dApps) and layer 2 solutions by providing interoperable web 3.0 infrastructure, financial incentives, incubation programmes and technical support. It seeks to provide the best solution for all developers by supporting EVM and making a parachain where EVM and WASM smart contracts can co-exist and communicate with each other.

Astar connects the Polkadot ecosystem with layer 1 blockchains like Ethereum and Cosmos. It's a Polkadot Parachain, and was designed as a multi-chain Polkadot dApp hub with support for DeFi, NFTs, DAOs, where developers can move beyond infrastructure and focus more on application development.

The project, which is backed by Binance Labs and Coinbase Ventures, operates on two layers: the first layer is built on the Substrate framework, and the second is built using OVM or Optimistic Virtual Machine, for scalability.

Astar

Onyx Protocol is a decentralized platform that facilitates a peer-to-peer money market lending protocol. The Onyx Protocol supports a variety of digital assets, such as Ether (ETH), ERC-20 tokens, ERC-721 tokens, and ERC-1155 tokens, which can be supplied or borrowed through an aggregated and unified balance, supported by non-custodial custody via decentralized smart contracts. Furthermore, NFTs can be supplied as collateral to enhance the borrowing capacity of the corresponding account.

Onyx Protocol’s underlying mechanism is powered by Onyxcoin (XCN), a decentralized digital asset on the Ethereum blockchain that serves as both the protocol's governance and utility token. Credit lines accessed and borrowed through the Onyx Protocol do not have monthly payments or expiration dates, and they remain perpetual as long as the collateral is deemed sufficient.

Onyxcoin

Boba Network

Acala Token

Router Protocol

ThunderCore

Axelar claims to deliver “secure cross-chain communication for Web3.” The project provides a decentralized network and tools to help builders of decentralized applications (dApps) with seamless cross-chain communication through its protocol suite, tools and APIs.

Axelar features three core components – a decentralized network, a software development kit of protocols and APIs, and a set of gateway smart contracts for cross-chain connectivity.

Powered by a decentralized network of validators, anyone can join the network, build on it, or use it. Apps builders can interact with a simple API atop a permissionless network that routes messages and ensures network security via proof-of-stake (PoS) consensus mechanism.

AXL is the native token of the Axelar network. The protocol also supports the cross-chain transfer of several native tokens via their wrapped ERC-20 versions, including AVAX (Avalanche), ETH (Ethereum), FTM (Fantom), GLMR (Moonbeam), and MATIC (Polygon).

Meanwhile, Axelar has raised capital from top-tier investors, including Binance, Coinbase Ventures, Dragonfly Capital, Polychain Capital and others.

Axelar

Aurora is a product that helps Ethereum users and dApps to easily move to the NEAR blockchain. It allows users to do two distinct things: upload and interact with Solidity smart contracts on NEAR blockchain and move assets (including ERC-20 tokens) between Ethereum, NEAR and Aurora via the Rainbow Bridge..

Aurora’s base token is ETH to deliver the best user experience and familiar tooling for developers.

AURORA token is a governance token to ensure proper upgrades to the protocol.
Aurora is governed by AuroraDAO which includes representatives from different ecosystems and sectors of the blockchain industry.

Aurora

Vega Protocol provides the derivatives scaling layer for Web3. It is a custom-built proof-of-stake blockchain, which makes it possible to trade derivatives on a decentralised network with comparable experience to using a centralised exchange.

VEGA is the network governance and staking token. It is used for:

Voting on the creation of new markets on the network

Running validator nodes on the network via staking VEGA tokens

Earning fees from traders through staking and delegation

Governing important network parameters which ensure markets are secure and fair

Vega Protocol

Stargate Finance (STG) is an omnichain-native asset bridge designed to solve the blockchain trilemma, which says that no blockchain can be decentralized, secure, and fast simultaneously. It does this by simplifying cross-chain DeFi transactions, which lets users transfer and swap their assets between different blockchains, layer-2 networks, and decentralized applications (dApps) almost instantly.

Stargate users can also move their assets between different liquidity pools on various decentralized finance (DeFi) protocols and dApps. The protocol supports transfers between eight chains: Ethereum, Avalanche, Polygon, Metis, BNB Chain, Arbitrum, Optimism and Fantom.

The platform offers several other, profit-making features: users can supply liquidity pools, stake assets, and farm tokens. When users stake their assets, they can help govern the Stargate Finance Exchange.

Stargate Finance

Aergo describes itself as an open-source enterprise blockchain platform optimized for hybrid deployments, which consist of both permissioned and permissionless blockchain architectures. It includes support for SQL allowing for easy data handling and familiar smart contract programming for developers.

The platform is built and utilized by Blocko, the Samsung-backed South Korean blockchain technology company that, according to Korean media sources, has deployed production blockchain solutions for large-scale clients including Lotte Card, Shinhan Bank, Korea Exchange, Hyundai Motors, and more.