The Linux Foundation has announced that 10 new participants join its open source blockchain project Hyperledger. An ex-J.P. Morgan top officer Blythe Masters is appointed the chair of its governing board.

Among the new members of the project are named the blockchain developer Blockstream, blockchain services providers Bloq and Gem, software developer eVue Digital Labs, itBit bitcoin exchange, consultancies Milligan Partners and Tequa Creek Holdings, payment software developer Montran Labs, multicurrency wallet Ribbit.me and the multinational corporation Thomson Reuters. The total number of Hyperledger members now equals 40.

The project’s governing board chaired by now Digital Asset Holdings CEO Blythe Masters includes representatives of IBM, Intel, R3, Deutsche Börse, J.P. Morgan, DTCC, CME Group, Accenture, Fujitsu, SWIFT and other prominent players in the industry.

“The Hyperledger Project is gaining traction on a daily basis, displaying how vital this effort is in advancing distributed ledger technology,” said Masters as quoted by the press release. “Uniting the industry to drive this initiative forward is paramount to the success of distributed ledger technology. The Linux Foundation and its members are collaborating on an open source infrastructure that will increase privacy and scalability, among many other benefits.”

It is worth to mention that the brand name Hyperledger initially belonged to Digital Asset until the company granted it to the project.

The primary objectives of Hyperledger are the promotion of the blockchain technology, development and support of open-source distributes ledgers which are regarded as an alternative to the bitcoin blockchain. The participants intend to create cross-industry standards and individual solutions for the application of blockchain in a variety of fields, including banking, industry, insurance, proprietary rights, energy, civil contracts and the Internet of Things.

The project was launched in December 2015 and over a few months has gathered many world’s leading companies in the spheres of finance, software development and engineering.

“There is no other effort advancing an open blockchain with this level of broad industry representation and level of leadership,” says Jim Zemlin, executive director at The Linux Foundation. “The Hyperledger Project is among our fastest growing projects at The Linux Foundation. The opportunity is great. This leadership team and the community investments among members across industries put the project in the best position possible to accomplish its mission.”

Elena Platonova