“About the only common element in the wave of initiatives has been a reluctance to use bitcoin,” details Lionel Laurent for Bloomberg. Meanwhile, blockchain pursuits by multinational corporations and financial institutions have garnered much criticism for being nothing more than “regulator-friendly shared databases.”

In the first half of 2014, as bitcoin consolidated and retraced the steps of its monumental 2013 all-time highs, R3CEV co-founders David Rutter and Todd McDonald were surveying the cryptocurrency space for startups in which to invest. By 2015 Mr. McDonald casually maintained the company’s blog, even mentioning MLB pitcher Bartolo Colon’s first major league home run which has been called “one of the great moments in the history of baseball.”

In its earliest internet mentions, R3CEV doesn’t mention blockchain. “We specialize in advising clients including global banks, interdealer brokers, exchanges, trading systems and more across the globe,” the company explains. R3 currently runs its subsidiary, Liquidity Edge, which offer US Treasury trading over a peer-to-peer market.

Additionally, the blockchain consortium sought to raise $200 million last summer. Sources claimed that a European bank was not happy about R3’s terms, and two other banks were also said to have concerns. Sources say banks dislike their lack of shares in the intellectual property developed by R3 lab, despite contributing resources for the experiments. Banks also reportedly held reservations over how much R3 wished to raise.

Ripple received $55 million in September from major banking partners. CEO Chris Larsen promptly left thereafter, citing a desire to spend more time with family. Ripple has noted to email subscribers it will highlight in 2017 its native digital token, XRP. The Linux Foundation’s Hyperledger, partnered with IBM, continues pursuing distributed ledger solutions and adding new members.

Ref: https://news.bitcoin.com/reluctance-to-use-bitcoin-could-haunt-blockchain-labs/