Ren, previously known as the Republic Protocol, is a decentralized dark pool exchange protocol; designed to support large volume trades, without effecting the prices of the assets being traded. The blockchain-based, dark pool protocol has built in privacy mechanisms and is provably fair. It uses secure multi-party computation (sMPC), and a network of Darknodes, to match orders without exposing their volume or price. Their private order book will also enable cross-chain trades of tokenized assets. The Singapore based company is also developing RenX, a decentralized dark pool exchange, built with the Republic Protocol. REN is the network's utility token. It provides security to the network, and is staked to enable the operation of a Darknode in the network.

BitShares is a blockchain platform designed to assist the unbanked. It offers both banking and exchange services. Bitshares was originally launched in 2014 by Dan Larimer, an influential blockchain developer that has also worked on EOS and Steemit. It is a community run open source project.
Bitshares' goal is facilitate greater access to financial services. The Bitshares exchange is a decentralized platform that was designed to be scalable and ensure low transaction fees.
Bitshares has a delegated Proof-of-Stake (PoS) consensus algorithm. Aside from a decentralized asset exchange, it also offers users the ability to issue their own assets, price-stable digital currencies, and flexible crypto payment options.
The Bitshares decentralized exchange and banking ecosystem is powered by the BTS token.