Bitcoin Magazine has compiled this list to highlight the 21 companies and projects that we think did the most for Bitcoin in 2020. We admit that this grouping is far from perfect, but our team did its best to objectively curate those that made the biggest impact on the BTC ecosystem this year. Of course, this was a very difficult process and we decided to leave off some projects that may have had a massive impact on Bitcoin the past, but whose influence this year in particular did not rise to make the cut.
2020 may have been an incredibly trying year collectively for humans on planet earth, but it was also a historically productive year in the Bitcoin ecosystem. As the world continues to experience turmoil and tribulation, its clear that humanity will increasingly turn to the Bitcoin network. For that reason especially, we are honored to highlight these 21 incredible projects and companies for the massive impact that they made to the Bitcoin community this year plus, we rounded out the list with nine honorable mentions. The following are listed alphabetically, along with some basic info about what they are bringing to the world of Bitcoin and why we wanted to highlight them.
Bitcoin Magazine could not be more excited about Bitcoins forward march and we are thrilled to be part of such a vibrant community!
Website and Twitter
Category: Exchange
This year, Bisq provided the most censorship-resistant on-ramp and off-ramp for Bitcoin. Bisq is designed to be the exchange of last resort and it has made some massive strides in 2020, including adding SegWit support.
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Category: Wallet
Blue Wallet shipped like crazy in 2020 and served as the most full-featured iOS bitcoin wallet on the market. It was also one of the most cutting-edge mobile wallets in Bitcoin.
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Category: Infrastructure
BTCPays status as an open-source payment processor for sovereign businesses and individuals was more necessary than ever in 2020, when deplatforming and financial censorship became commonplace.
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Category: Hardware
Coinkite was the first major hardware manufacturer to prove that a Bitcoin-only business model could be successful while increasing the security guarantees expected from a hardware wallet.
Website and Twitter
Category: Sats Back
Fold has revolutionized the use of sats as a universal rewards point, all the while preserving privacy and using a respectful business model that drives results for partners. Fold has consistently shipped great updates and features, culminating in a sats-back debit card launched in 2020.
Website and Twitter
Category: Exchange
In 2020, Hodl Hodl maintained a continuous focus on providing KYC-free and non-custodial options amid a landscape with increasing regulations and KYC requirements. This type of consistency is much needed in the Bitcoin space.
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Category: Nonprofit
The Human Rights Foundation (HRF) launched the first 501(c)(3) Bitcoin development fund this year so that Bitcoiners and others can contribute to development in a tax-efficient manner and help build the ecosystem.
Website and Twitter
Category: Infrastructure
Lightning Labs spent 2020 building out open tools to help support independent Lightning node operators manage their nodes more effectively, like with Lightning Pool.
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Category: N/A
MicroStrategy made waves this year when it announced that it had adopted a Bitcoin standard for its corporate treasury, converting more than $450 million to BTC at an average price of $11,111. It has since made two more massive bitcoin buys while announcing intentions on offering Bitcoin blockchain data products in the future.
Website and Twitter
Category: Infrastructure
This year, myNode provided a user-friendly and accessible platform for Bitcoiners to deploy their own, 24/7 dedicated Bitcoin node and use it easily.
Website and Twitter
Category: Exchange
River is the only bitcoin brokerage focused on serving high-net-worth individuals, which has built out an extremely impressive, cutting-edge bitcoin financial services offering with deep liquidity for large orders, native hardware wallet support, Lightning and auto dollar-cost averaging (DCA) features.
Website and Twitter
Category: Wallet
Samourai provides a full-featured, privacy-focused software stack for Bitcoiners, including a full-node implementation, mobile wallet, best-in-class ZeroLink-coordinated CoinJoin implementation, coin control with labeling, stealth addresses and P2P CoinJoin and PayJoin a full suite of offerings that proved critical to Bitcoin in 2020.
Website and Twitter
Category: Infrastructure
Slush Pool is the most innovative public mining pool in the space and in 2020, began championing a Stratum protocol improvement which should significantly improve the incentives between miners and pool operators.
Website and Twitter
Category: Wallet
Specter Desktop emerged as the easiest way to use your own bitcoin wallets directly with Bitcoin Core in 2020. This enabled a much more private and sovereign method than using hosted apps, while also providing much easier set up and use than previous Electrum-based alternatives.
Website and Twitter
Category: P2P Messaging
The first consumer-focused Lightning chap app, with an added focus on providing podcasters with the ability to broadcast their shows to audiences while receiving sats per minute, offers an end-to-end encrypted and open standard, routed natively through Bitcoins Lightning Network.
Website and Twitter
Category: Exchange
Under the direction of CEO Jack Dorsey, Square became the first legitimate fintech company to begin diving into the Bitcoin space. In 2020, bitcoin has become a major profit driver for Square and it has emerged as a leader in both bitcoin sales and Bitcoin development. Square Crypto has become a major player in sponsoring Bitcoin development, with over 19 grants given so far.
Website and Twitter
Category: Exchange
With a user experience on par with Venmo or Cash App, Strike is an incredibly easy-to-use, P2P payment app that is built on top of Bitcoin and the Lightning Network. Users can easily send dollars and withdraw bitcoin with Strike and it helped showcase the advances that Bitcoin has made as a payments technology this year.
Website and Twitter
Category: Infrastructure
Suredbits has emerged as the leaders in Discreet Log Contract (DLC) technology for Bitcoin in 2020. Throughout the year, the Suredbits team has pushed the envelope on Bitcoin-based oracle and Lightning initiatives.
Website and Twitter
Category: Exchange
In 2020, Swan Bitcoin established itself as a new and powerful player in the Bitcoin onramp and education space. Swan is a true Bitcoiners onramp that remained true to Bitcoin best practices throughout the year. Its talented team of builders and educators will continue to be a force evangelizing for Why bitcoin? and beyond.
Website and Twitter
Category: Financial Services
Unchained Capital is arguably the first Bitcoin-native financial services company. In 2020 it built on its fantastic 2019 momentum by shipping business infrastructure and features, as well as completely rebuilding its systems to support Coldcard and standardizing partially-signed bitcoin transaction (PSBT) multisig. Its blog also emerged as one of teh best educational resources available for Bitcoin.
Website and Twitter
Category: Wallet
Wasabi Wallet has done an incredible amount of work to make better Bitcoin privacy more accessible in 2020. This includes easy CoinJoin, coin selecting and labeling, native Bitcoin Core integrative, native Tor integration and native hardware wallet support. Wasabi Wallet is also one of the best bitcoin desktop wallets out there. In 2020, the Wasabi team shipped a completely redesigned version of the wallet and CoinJoin architecture.
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Category: Custody
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Category: Custody
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Category: Gaming
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Category: Wallet
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Category: Data
Website and Twitter
Category: Financial Services
Website and Twitter
Category: Infrastructure
Website and Twitter
Category: Infrastructure
Website and Twitter
Category: Infrastructure
Ever thought about contributing to Bitcoin Magazine?
Bitcoin Magazineis currently seeking submissions for articles about Bitcoins unforgettable 2020, as well as whats in store for Bitcoin in 2021. If you have ideas for articles and want to contribute, contactjoe@bitcoinmagazine.com.
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The 21 Best Bitcoin Projects Of 2020 - Bitcoin Magazine
- Meet the Brothers Behind an Extreme Gun Rights Network Republicans Call a Big Scam - The Daily Beast [Last Updated On: June 26th, 2020] [Originally Added On: June 26th, 2020]
- The Brothers Behind an Extreme Gun-Rights Network That Republicans Call a Big Scam - The Trace [Last Updated On: June 26th, 2020] [Originally Added On: June 26th, 2020]
- Antifa, The Left-Wing Version Of Fascism | News, Sports, Jobs - Jamestown Post Journal [Last Updated On: June 26th, 2020] [Originally Added On: June 26th, 2020]
- COVID-19 and the Growing White Supremacist Menace - Foreign Affairs Magazine [Last Updated On: June 26th, 2020] [Originally Added On: June 26th, 2020]
- My Little Pony Fans Are Ready to Admit They Have a Nazi Problem - The Atlantic [Last Updated On: June 26th, 2020] [Originally Added On: June 26th, 2020]
- Can't Imagine a World Without Police? Start Here - VICE [Last Updated On: June 26th, 2020] [Originally Added On: June 26th, 2020]
- Black WaPo editor claims white women 'lucky' to be called 'Karen' - Filmy One [Last Updated On: July 1st, 2020] [Originally Added On: July 1st, 2020]
- Twitter sued for allegedly conspiring with Saudi Arabia government to shut down dissenting voices - Reclaim The Net [Last Updated On: July 1st, 2020] [Originally Added On: July 1st, 2020]
- Will the Social-Justice Mob Cancel Hamilton? - City Journal [Last Updated On: July 1st, 2020] [Originally Added On: July 1st, 2020]
- Dick Masterson says Patreon alternative New Project 2 is closing after getting blacklisted by Mastercard - Reclaim The Net [Last Updated On: July 1st, 2020] [Originally Added On: July 1st, 2020]
- Reddit bans r/The_Donald and 2000 other hateful subreddits because it was about time - The Next Web [Last Updated On: July 1st, 2020] [Originally Added On: July 1st, 2020]
- Progressives the voice of tyranny - Cowichan Valley Citizen [Last Updated On: July 1st, 2020] [Originally Added On: July 1st, 2020]
- Deplatforming - Wikipedia [Last Updated On: July 1st, 2020] [Originally Added On: July 1st, 2020]
- Whats the Deal With Parler? - Slate [Last Updated On: July 9th, 2020] [Originally Added On: July 9th, 2020]
- Why did it take so long for Reddit and Facebook to block racist groups? - The Guardian [Last Updated On: July 9th, 2020] [Originally Added On: July 9th, 2020]
- Theres nothing Marxist about Black Lives Matter - Spiked [Last Updated On: July 9th, 2020] [Originally Added On: July 9th, 2020]
- The Real Masters of 'Cancel Culture' The Pro-Israel Lobby - The Bullet - Socialist Project [Last Updated On: July 9th, 2020] [Originally Added On: July 9th, 2020]
- Facebook would be in 'way better shape' adopting Twitter's disinformation response, ex-Facebook security chief says - CNBC [Last Updated On: July 9th, 2020] [Originally Added On: July 9th, 2020]
- Is cancel culture silencing open debate? There are risks to shutting down opinions we disagree with - The Conversation AU [Last Updated On: July 10th, 2020] [Originally Added On: July 10th, 2020]
- Minds Wants to Pay You to Post on Its Social Network, and Is Expanding Into India - Gadgets 360 [Last Updated On: July 18th, 2020] [Originally Added On: July 18th, 2020]
- Owen Benjamin and His Personal Army (Collided With Reality) - Patheos [Last Updated On: July 18th, 2020] [Originally Added On: July 18th, 2020]
- The boundaries of free expression are up for debate in the Age of COVID-19 and Black Lives Matter - capitalcurrent.ca [Last Updated On: July 18th, 2020] [Originally Added On: July 18th, 2020]
- Judge allows withdrawal of Spencer's attorney - The Daily Progress [Last Updated On: July 18th, 2020] [Originally Added On: July 18th, 2020]
- Is cancel culture silencing open debate? The perils of shutting down disagreeable opinions and arguments - ABC News [Last Updated On: July 19th, 2020] [Originally Added On: July 19th, 2020]
- Milo Yiannopoulos is proof that deplatforming works [Last Updated On: July 19th, 2020] [Originally Added On: July 19th, 2020]
- On the ethics of deplatforming : stupidpol [Last Updated On: July 19th, 2020] [Originally Added On: July 19th, 2020]
- Social Media Deplatforming: Big Techs Gag Order - Dateway [Last Updated On: July 19th, 2020] [Originally Added On: July 19th, 2020]
- Is There A World Beyond YouTube for Crypto? - Cryptonews [Last Updated On: July 19th, 2020] [Originally Added On: July 19th, 2020]
- 9 weeks till NZ election what does the political landscape look like? - thedailyblog.co.nz [Last Updated On: July 19th, 2020] [Originally Added On: July 19th, 2020]
- Best and worst of this week's headlines: International students, sexual abuse - GW Hatchet [Last Updated On: July 20th, 2020] [Originally Added On: July 20th, 2020]
- WUWT is being deplatformed service interruptions the subsequent few days - The Shepherd of the Hills Gazette [Last Updated On: July 20th, 2020] [Originally Added On: July 20th, 2020]
- Is Cancel Culture Butchering the Centre? | Jonathan MS Pearce - Patheos [Last Updated On: July 20th, 2020] [Originally Added On: July 20th, 2020]
- Churchill: Troy preacher has the right to offend - Laredo Morning Times [Last Updated On: July 20th, 2020] [Originally Added On: July 20th, 2020]
- How QAnon Will Fight Back Against Twitters Ban And What Happens Next - Observer [Last Updated On: July 22nd, 2020] [Originally Added On: July 22nd, 2020]
- Goodbye Compromise - The Organization for World Peace [Last Updated On: July 22nd, 2020] [Originally Added On: July 22nd, 2020]
- Nearly half of Americans think cancel culture has gone TOO FAR... but 2 in 5 admit participating in it - RT [Last Updated On: July 22nd, 2020] [Originally Added On: July 22nd, 2020]
- What is deplatform? - Definition from WhatIs.com [Last Updated On: July 23rd, 2020] [Originally Added On: July 23rd, 2020]
- Its too late to stop QAnon with fact checks and account bans - MIT Technology Review [Last Updated On: July 26th, 2020] [Originally Added On: July 26th, 2020]
- Why Congress should look at Twitter and Facebook - MIT Technology Review [Last Updated On: July 27th, 2020] [Originally Added On: July 27th, 2020]
- Cancel Culture and Call Out Culture Are Not the Same - Study Breaks [Last Updated On: July 27th, 2020] [Originally Added On: July 27th, 2020]
- Florida man to be charged with vandalism of 2 synagogues - Forward [Last Updated On: July 27th, 2020] [Originally Added On: July 27th, 2020]
- Remains of 286 Jewish Holocaust victims uncovered in 2 basements in Ukraine - Forward [Last Updated On: July 27th, 2020] [Originally Added On: July 27th, 2020]
- How Transformative Justice Can Address Harm Without Police - Shadowproof [Last Updated On: July 28th, 2020] [Originally Added On: July 28th, 2020]
- Police Are The Real Cancel Culture - CounterPunch.org - CounterPunch [Last Updated On: July 28th, 2020] [Originally Added On: July 28th, 2020]
- Trump Jr. bashes Twitter over suspension: 'This never happens to ... the left. It only hurts conservatives' - Fox News [Last Updated On: July 29th, 2020] [Originally Added On: July 29th, 2020]
- Donald Trump Jr. Returns to Twitter, Reacts to Being Booted Off Platform - PopCulture.com [Last Updated On: July 29th, 2020] [Originally Added On: July 29th, 2020]
- If Cancel Culture Is About Getting Fired, Let's Cancel At-Will Employment - In These Times [Last Updated On: July 29th, 2020] [Originally Added On: July 29th, 2020]
- Big tech CEOs give Congress the 5 Ds of Dodgeball on anti-competitive behavior - The Sociable [Last Updated On: July 29th, 2020] [Originally Added On: July 29th, 2020]
- QAnon accounts banned by Twitter have already returned, with over 100,000 followers - The Daily Dot [Last Updated On: July 30th, 2020] [Originally Added On: July 30th, 2020]
- Who would sell Holocaust-themed face masks? This guy. - Forward [Last Updated On: July 30th, 2020] [Originally Added On: July 30th, 2020]
- East Hartford Police Union Claims GLOCK Pistols Are Defective!? - AmmoLand Shooting Sports News [Last Updated On: July 31st, 2020] [Originally Added On: July 31st, 2020]
- COVID Fatigue: The State of Public Policy on Coronavirus - The Globe Post [Last Updated On: July 31st, 2020] [Originally Added On: July 31st, 2020]
- Trump says he'll ban Tik Tok, to hoots of derision - Boing Boing [Last Updated On: August 1st, 2020] [Originally Added On: August 1st, 2020]
- Matthew Longley of Gun Critic About Buying Gunstreamer.com - AmmoLand Shooting Sports News [Last Updated On: August 2nd, 2020] [Originally Added On: August 2nd, 2020]
- NZ First anti-Green ads will backfire, but Kingi restaurant fiasco perfect ACT Party culture war propaganda - thedailyblog.co.nz [Last Updated On: August 2nd, 2020] [Originally Added On: August 2nd, 2020]
- If Big Tech makes enemies of conservatives, it will have no allies - Washington Examiner [Last Updated On: August 3rd, 2020] [Originally Added On: August 3rd, 2020]
- Whats Going On With Trumps TikTok Ban and Microsofts Deal to Avoid It? - New York Magazine [Last Updated On: August 3rd, 2020] [Originally Added On: August 3rd, 2020]
- The Hate-Fueled Rise of r/The_Donaldand Its Epic Takedown - WIRED [Last Updated On: August 4th, 2020] [Originally Added On: August 4th, 2020]
- It's important that Scotland protects its tradition of literary and artistic freedom - iNews [Last Updated On: August 4th, 2020] [Originally Added On: August 4th, 2020]
- Inside the Beltway: Roger Ailes, 'The Man in the Areana' - Washington Times [Last Updated On: August 4th, 2020] [Originally Added On: August 4th, 2020]
- College disinvites conservative speaker over 'issues' with his 'values' - Campus Reform [Last Updated On: August 5th, 2020] [Originally Added On: August 5th, 2020]
- Jewish woman released from ICE custody following national outcry - Forward [Last Updated On: August 6th, 2020] [Originally Added On: August 6th, 2020]
- Why Extreme 5G Conspiracy Theories Have Gone Viral in the Age of COVID-19 - Observer [Last Updated On: August 7th, 2020] [Originally Added On: August 7th, 2020]
- Delaware to require teaching of the Holocaust, genocide - Forward [Last Updated On: August 7th, 2020] [Originally Added On: August 7th, 2020]
- Adin Steinsaltz, acclaimed scholar who made the Talmud more accessible, dies at 83 - Forward [Last Updated On: August 7th, 2020] [Originally Added On: August 7th, 2020]
- Deplatforming Works - Vice [Last Updated On: August 7th, 2020] [Originally Added On: August 7th, 2020]
- Deplatforming Works, Just Ask David Icke HAMZALA Inc. [Last Updated On: August 9th, 2020] [Originally Added On: August 9th, 2020]
- Cancel culture and conservative glass houses - The Week [Last Updated On: August 10th, 2020] [Originally Added On: August 10th, 2020]
- Are We Witnessing the Fall of Far-Right Figurehead 'Tommy Robinson'? - VICE [Last Updated On: August 15th, 2020] [Originally Added On: August 15th, 2020]
- Antifa Unsuccessfully Tries To Protest The Sturgis Motorcycle Rally - AmmoLand Shooting Sports News [Last Updated On: August 20th, 2020] [Originally Added On: August 20th, 2020]
- It's time to cull and reform our sham, woke universities - Reaction - Reaction [Last Updated On: August 20th, 2020] [Originally Added On: August 20th, 2020]
- Twitter Bans Babylon Bee, Then Claims It Was An Innocent Mistake - The Federalist [Last Updated On: August 20th, 2020] [Originally Added On: August 20th, 2020]
- E-Viction sex work event sheds light on digital gentrification by self-destructing when its over - The Daily Dot [Last Updated On: August 20th, 2020] [Originally Added On: August 20th, 2020]
- Against de-platforming and other stunts - DiEM25 [Last Updated On: August 20th, 2020] [Originally Added On: August 20th, 2020]
- The Big-Name Conservatives Bankrolling This Far-Right Troll's Run for Congress - VICE [Last Updated On: August 21st, 2020] [Originally Added On: August 21st, 2020]
- Roaming Charges: Great Balls of Ire at the RNC - CounterPunch [Last Updated On: September 3rd, 2020] [Originally Added On: September 3rd, 2020]
- Three thinkers on when we should call out harmful speech - Big Think [Last Updated On: September 3rd, 2020] [Originally Added On: September 3rd, 2020]
- Joe Rogans Spotify Debut Sparks Speculation Over Missing Episodes - Forbes [Last Updated On: September 3rd, 2020] [Originally Added On: September 3rd, 2020]
- Here's what LinkedIn is doing to Support Safe Conversations on its Platform! - Digital Information World [Last Updated On: September 21st, 2020] [Originally Added On: September 21st, 2020]
- The push for content moderation legislation around the world - Brookings Institution [Last Updated On: September 26th, 2020] [Originally Added On: September 26th, 2020]