Blockstream is a private, for profit, blockchain technology company, that has played a key role in helping to develop, and fund, many of the key features of the Bitcoin Core platform. Blockstream is focused on developing bitcoin applications and has raised significant funding from several large investment funds. The company also employs several developers that are very influential within the Bitcoin Core development project. This, as well as being of Bitcoin's largest donors, has led to some criticism about conflicts of interest.
Blockstream is developing a number of Bitcoin applications that are intended to encourage adoption and improve transaction times on the bitcoin network. Their primary focus is on Sidechains, which are are extensions to existing blockchains that improve their functionality. The company is also working closely with industry leaders to create the Bitcoin Lightning system that will support higher trading volume and faster transactions on the bitcoin network. Blockstream is also developing a data feed, satellite network, and other applications that they hope will make blockchain more accessible.

Emercoin is a blockchain-based development platform. It has developed a range of easy-to-use dSDKs (Decentralized Software Development Kits) that can be used to more easily build DApps. This set of software development tools allow the creation of blockchain-based software and services.
Emercoin's dSDKs have been implemented in several innovative DApps and provide developers with solutions for a variety of functionalities. Some of the dSDK's that Emercoin offers are specifically geared for decentralized DNS, SSH, SSL, and DPO solutions.
Emercoin has a hybrid consensus mechanism that combines elements of Proof-of-Stake (PoS) with a Proof-of-Work (PoW) algorithm that is merge-mined with Bitcoin. The network is powered by the EMC coin.

Namecoin is a blockchain-based DNS that allows users to register domain names with a ".bit" domain. Namecoin was the first fork of the Bitcoin protocol and it aims to remove centralized control over domain registration. It was the first cryptocurrency to use Auxiliary Proof of Work (AuxPoW) as a consensus mechanism,
where a child blockchain is dependent on the Proof-of-Work consensus of the parent blockchain. This allows for Namecoin and Bitcoin to be mined simultaneously, and when a new block is created on Bitcoin, it will also be added to the Namecoin blockchain.
Namecoin is a very important project that represents one of the best use cases of blockchain technology in protecting free speech and resisting censorship on the internet. It is powered by the NMC coin. The decentralized DNS provides more security from hackers and government intervention.