Forbes recently published its Forbes Fintech 50 top, a top of the Most Innovative Fintech Companies In 2020 and six blockchain companies are in it.
The Forbes top 50 has 19 companies listed as first-timers on the annual Forbes Fintech top. Forbes is definitely more inclined to include startups with good ideas, no matter how small.
The fintech market is growing as the values of the companies are exploding. The proof is indisputable. The 2020 top includes 13 companies valued at more than $2 billion. Last year’s top included only eight companies which were worth that much.
What do all these companies included in the Fintech 2020 top have in common? They are all enabling faster and cheaper financial services, and they all operate in the US as private companies.
Who rules the cryptocurrency world?
According to Forbes, these six companies are leading the crypto space worldwide.
Coinbase
Coinbase aims to “bring about more economic freedom, innovation, efficiency, and equality of opportunity in the world”.
To this day, Coinbase is probably one of the easiest to use crypto exchange platform and digital currency wallet. Coinbase is the perfect exchange to start learning about digital currency like Bitcoin, Ethereum and Litecoin.
We included Coinbase in the top of crypto exchanges for beginners. If you don’t have a crypto wallet in Coinbase, join now to get $10 in Bitcoin when they buy or sell $100 or more on Coinbase!
Funding: $525mn from Andreessen Horowitz, Tiger Global Management, Union Square Ventures and others
Latest valuation: US$8.1bn
Founded: June 2012
HQ: San Francisco, California
CEO: Brian Armstrong, 37
Fact: Coinbase Custody now holds $8bn in assets for 200 institutional clients.
Ripple
Ripple uses an open-source protocol to instantly transfer funds anywhere in the world.
Ripple aims to help improve the current complex global payment system, which is unreliable, pricey and sluggish, and to eventually replace it with its platform, which has its own cryptocurrency.
Funding: $293mn from Accenture, Andreessen Horowitz, Google Ventures and others
Latest valuation: US$10bn
Founded: 2012
HQ: San Francisco, California
CEO: Brad Garlinghouse, 49
Fact: Ripple works with initiatives and organisations to advance socially responsible uses of blockchain.
MakerDAO
MakerDAO is an Ethereum based financial platform that enables its customers to loan cryptocurrency. The platform’s token, the Dai, it’s an ERC 20 token, pegged to the US dollar. They refer to Dai as being the world’s first decentralized stable digital cash.
Funding: $63mn from Andreessen Horowitz, Dragonfly Capital, Polychain Latest.
Latest valuation: US$500mn
Founded: 2014
HQ: New York
CEO: Rune Christensen, 29
Fact: MakerDAO is a community project that has already attracted more than 400 outside developers; last year it generated $10mn in interest.
Axoni
Axoni is a company offering distributed ledger blockchain solutions for post-trade data management for credit and equity swaps. Axoni has implemented its solutions in partnerships with global banks and financial providers.
Axoni’s portfolio includes distributed-ledger technology deployments, bespoke smart contract development, and analytics tools.
Funding: US$59mn
Latest valuation: $171mn
Founded: 2015
HQ: New York
CEO: Greg Schvey, 33
Fact: Axoni has deployed its distributed ledger into the world’s most complex asset classes with proven results.
Chainalysis
Chainalysis is a blockchain analytic tool used by government agencies, exchanges and financial institutions in over 40 countries. Its aim is to “create transparency for a global economy built on blockchains” and to provide guidelines on how to use best this technology.
Funding: $45mn from Accel, Benchmark, and others.
Latest valuation: US$266mn
Founded: 2014
HQ: New York
CEO: Michael Gronager, 49
Fact: The company’s customers include bitpay, Barclays, Square and the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime.
Everledger
Everledger is a company that used the blockchain, AI and IoT to track goods, from production material to their selling point. This feature aims to build up the confidence of consumers in the marketplace and focuses on sustainability.
Funding: $20mn from Tencent, Graphene, Rakuten and others.
Latest valuation: US$100mn
Founded: 2015
HQ: London, UK
CEO: Leanne Kemp, 47
Fact: Everledger pursues the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals, particularly around gender equality, economic growth and responsible consumption and production.