Like high-yield savings accounts that accrue interest, proof of stake blockchains like Ethereum encourage users to lock away their cryptocurrency for the sake of the network's security in exchange for more of the currency over time. It's a process called staking, but the caveat is that getting the ether back out can be a long and unpredictable process. Mara Schmeidt, 29, wants to solve this problem with her software company Alluvial. Alluvial works with clients like Coinbase, Bitcoin Suisse, Figment and six other crypto platforms to stake ether for their users. Thanks to Alluvial, ether owners are able to sell their cryptocurrency to users on competing platforms--increasing the pool of potential buyers. "Visa was a company that was built in collaboration with competing companies," she says. "We have the same model. We connect many different platforms together to build that market, and that is really hard to do." This also means users can un-stake their ether on a moment's notice--Alluvial provides them a receipt instead of the actual ether, which they can then use to buy or sell with others. Coinbase and Figment are also investors in Alluvial, which has raised $18 million to date.
