It is not hard to envision how distributed-ledger technology could streamline some financial industry operations that are in dire need of modernization. Implementation is another matter, requiring an early start in wrangling the necessary partners and teams, agreeing on technology approaches, funding system development, and taking the proverbial arrows in the back for trying to lead the pack. David Rutter has been through all that since co-founding R3 CEV in 2014. Adopting a consortium financing and development model that has attracted more than 80 banks, asset managers, clearinghouses, and others, the blockchain startup appeared to hit a rough patch late last year. Members including Banco Santander, Goldman Sachs Group, and Morgan Stanley pulled out. In April, JPMorgan Chase & Co. followed suit, reportedly preferring its own initiative, Quorum. But on May 23, R3 said it had raised $107 million in Series A funding from Bank of America Merrill Lynch, BNP Paribas, Ping An of China, and 36 other participants in "the world's largest distributed-ledger technology investment to date." The firm expects to bring in more in an additional tranche, which will be open to R3 members and nonmember institutional investors, later in the year. "R3 has proven the collaborative model can successfully drive innovation in financial services to a degree never before seen," Rutter, 54, former CEO of Prebon Energy and former CEO of ICAP Electronic Broking, said in the funding announcement.
 1. Adena Friedman NASDAQ  2. Catherine Bessant Bank of America Corp.  3. Robert Goldstein BlackRock  4. Jeffrey Sprecher Intercontinental Exchange  5. Lance Uggla IHS Markit |
 6. Shawn Edwards & Vlad Kliatchko Bloomberg  7. David Craig Thomson Reuters  8. Michael Spencer NEX Group  9. Don Callahan Citigroup  10. Elisha Wiesel Goldman Sachs Group |
 11. Michael Bodson Depository Trust & Clearing Corp.  12. Terrence Duffy CME Group  13. Charles Li Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing  14. Sean Belka Fidelity Investments  15. Chris Concannon CBOE Holdings |
 16. Guy Chiarello First Data Corp.  17. Steven Lieblich Citadel  18. David Rutter R3CEV  19. Blythe Masters Digital Asset Holdings  20. Alfred Spector Two Sigma Investments |
 21. Neil Katz D.E. Shaw Group  22. Lee Olesky Tradeweb Markets  23. Richard McVey MarketAxess Holdings  24. David Gledhill DBS Bank  25. Seth Merrin Liquidnet Holdings |
 26. Antoine Shagoury State Street Corp.  27. Peter Brown & Robert Mercer Renaissance Technologies  28. Lou Eccleston TMX Group  29. Peter Cherecwich Northern Trust Corp.  30. Mike Chinn S&P Global Market Intelligence |
 31. Chris Corrado London Stock Exchange Group  32. Neal Pawar AQR Capital Management  33. Gary Norcross Fidelity National Information Services  34. Steven O'Hanlon Numerix  35. Sebastián Ceria Axioma |
 36. Brian Conlon First Derivatives and Kx Systems  37. Tyler Kim MaplesFS  38. Michael Cooper BT Radianz  39. Robert Schifellite Broadridge Financial Solutions  40. Jim Minnick eVestment |