Dozens of publicly traded companies incorporate blockchain into their operations, offer blockchain-related services to customers, or play a role in the cryptocurrency industry. Some are exclusively focused on blockchain innovation and/or cryptocurrencies, while others are using blockchain-related products and services to complement existing successful business.

With that in mind, here's a list of seven excellent blockchain companies you may want to consider if you want exposure to this exciting technology in your stock portfolio.

NVIDIA (NASDAQ:NVDA) is the leading manufacturer of graphics processing units (GPUs), which are essential components in such important technological arenas as artificial intelligence, autonomous vehicles, and gaming. In addition, GPUs are key hardware components of cryptocurrency mining. In a nutshell, "miners" use specialized GPUs to process transactions on the blockchain and are rewarded with newly minted digital coins. At present mining hardware isn't a major revenue source for NVIDIA, but if cryptocurrency prices shoot higher, it could create renewed interest in mining, and NVIDIA would be a big beneficiary.

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME) is the world's largest futures and options exchange, offering derivative securities for stocks, indexes, foreign exchange, and more. It also is the only exchange that creates a market for bitcoin futures contracts. If bitcoin interest soars, CME Group stands to see revenue rise, as the company gets a small fee for every transaction made on its exchanges. Volume rose significantly as bitcoin's price soared in 2019, and if cryptocurrency prices rise significantly in the years to come, it could certainly translate into a nice additional revenue stream for CME Group.

Payment technology company Square (NYSE:SQ) has two main components to its business -- its payment-processing ecosystem for small businesses and its Cash App person-to-person payment platform. It also has operations in business lending, a stock trading platform, and several other adjacent businesses.

Square is a blockchain stock in two main ways. For one, Cash App allows users to buy and sell bitcoin quickly and easily, and with over $500 million in bitcoin sales on its platform in 2019, this is a significant part of the company's business. Also, Square has its own team of bitcoin developers, known as Square Crypto, that has several exciting projects of its own.

Although IBM's (NYSE:IBM) performance in recent years hasn't been stellar, the company has made some big moves recently to try to jump-start growth. For example, its $34 billion acquisition of Red Hat gives it lots of cross-selling opportunities with its enterprise clients. On the blockchain side of things, IBM Blockchain has already provided transformative solutions for clients such as Kroger (NYSE:KR), True Tickets (a ticket authentication company), and many others, and it could have a major growth runway if blockchain-based solutions gain more traction in the years to come.

Payment processing giant Mastercard (NYSE:MA) has grown tremendously for several years as the trend towards a cashless economy has led to increasing volumes of debit and credit card transactions. Blockchain technology has the potential to transform the cashless payment space, particularly when it comes to cross-border money transfers, which have historically been slow and costly. And in late 2019 Mastercard announced a partnership with blockchain technology company R3 to develop a new cross-border payment system, which could ultimately give the company a major competitive advantage in the industry by eliminating the major pain points of sending money internationally.

DocuSign (NASDAQ:DOCU) is the undisputed market leader in e-signature technology, and it's not hard to see why this industry has exploded in recent years. Electronic signatures save time and money for companies and individuals -- an estimated $36 reduction in the cost of doing business per transaction, according to the company. DocuSign actively uses blockchain technology in its business, allowing customers to record their agreements on the Ethereum blockchain, and CEO Dan Springer has talked about how important blockchain will be for the future of DocuSign's business.

In addition to operating the world's largest e-commerce platform, Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN) also operates the leading cloud infrastructure service, Amazon Web Services. The AWS platform offers Amazon Managed Blockchain, which allows customers to create and manage their own blockchain networks. Plus, there's definite potential for Amazon to eventually incorporate blockchain technology into its massive e-commerce business. Blockchain currently makes up a minuscule percentage of Amazon's revenue, but as the technology evolves, there's potential for much more.

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Best Blockchain Stocks to Buy in 2020 - The Motley Fool