Cogint, Inc. & Dragonchain alliance targets asset tracking, identity verification and fraud prevention services for enterprise clients.

Amid the violently moody crypto markets, it’s easy for the casual observer to slide into skepticism about blockchain’s future, and lose sight of very tangible (though perhaps more mundane) markets the technology is poised to envelop. Enterprise clients, with businesses that utilize asset tracking, identity verification and fraud prevention — essential elements for the mature information age — are likely to be some of the first to embrace blockchain.

Gaining early market share with blockchain solutions in these areas will be fundamental towards establishing market leadership ahead of broader adoption. Dragonchain’s recent strategic alliance with data intelligence giant Cogint, Inc. announced earlier this month, targets exactly this area in a big way.

Though not a household name to most, Cogint, Inc. (NASDAQ: COGT), is a leading provider of information and performance marketing solutions for a variety of enterprise clients. Generating nearly $60mil. in quarterly revenues as of 3Q 2017, the publicly traded company offers an array of data-driven services through three main brands. These brands are geared towards a few broad segments — marketers seeking business intelligence (FLUENT); businesses or institutions needing fraud prevention/due diligence (IDI); and, businesses or institutions with need of security/ID verifications for purposes ranging from the safety of field personnel to financial KYC.

“For the last two decades, our management team has delivered identity verification and other risk mitigation solutions to industries including banking and financial services, insurance, government and law enforcement,” said Derek Dubner, CEO of Cogint.

The new collaboration with Dragonchain seeks to extend these capabilities and will focus on the integration of Cogint’s proprietary databases and business applications with the secure, serverless and scalable Dragonchain blockchain platform. According to Dubner this will help provide an easy migration for Cogint’s current customers seeking blockchain’s efficiencies and security, and help drive blockchain’s adoption overall.

“We believe that combining Cogint’s differentiated abilities to deliver asset tracking, identity verification, fraud prevention, and secure transactions with the Dragonchain blockchain platform will accelerate adoption of the platform by enterprises, as well as instill confidence in counterparties and the investing public in not only Dragonchain but the emerging blockchain and cryptocurrency industries,” said Dubner.

The alliance with Dragonchain represents part of a larger effort by Cogint to align itself with the blockchain era. Indeed, Cogint also announced the formation of a new blockchain-focused division in January, as well the appointment of blockchain and cryptocurrency expert David Drake as Chairman of the division’s Strategic Advisory Board. Called Red Violet Blockchain and Analytical Solutions, the new division will provide cloud-based identity verification and Know Your Customer (KYC) solutions to the rapidly growing number of blockchain ICOs.

Dragonchain’s currency agnostic, secure hybrid public-private architecture offers a unique advantage for Cogint in appealing to the variety of enterprise clients it serves.

“We find ourselves in the enviable position of not having to choose any certain blockchain technology over another,” said Dubner. “But rather having the ability to provide mission-critical business applications to essentially any enterprise-oriented blockchain with the need to mitigate risk.”

In describing some of the core synergy, Eileen Quenin, VP Strategic Partnerships at Dragonchain puts it this way, “We strive to implement privacy, trust and security. This alliance represents Dragonchain and Cogint’s belief that such elements should be incorporated early in the development cycle to accomplish our clients’ objectives.”