Forbes’ 201 “Fintech 50” list of the world’s leading financial technology companies, published on February 4, includes six blockchain companies, just over half of the amount listed in the 2018 edition.
Launched in February of last year, the list “Fintech 50” of Forbes contained 11 companies related to blockchain and crypts.
In the introduction to this fourth edition of the list, the Forbes writers point out that while “the crypto prices and the ICOs collapsed, the total investment in Fintech increased in 2018”, stating that “the great Fintechs are growing”. The introduction also notes that 20 of the new companies are appearing on the list for the first time.
The list of companies included “Crypto and Blockchain” as one of their categories. However, the first company on the list that dealt with these technologies, Axoni, was classified in the “Wall Street” category.
This company, according to Forbes, uses “blockchain-based smart contracts to review the back office of the world’s largest derivatives markets.” In addition, Axoni uses a distributed ledger so that counterparts can immediately see payments, calculations and other data.
As Cointelegraph reported in August 2018, the company has raised USD 32 million in a financing round led by Goldman Sachs along with other banks and venture capital investors.
Bitfury, the largest non-Chinese company specializing in the development of blockchain software Bitcoin (BTC) – also a consulting company – appears again on the list.
Another company related to the crypts is Circle, a service to make instant money transfers that also offers a secured bitcoin wallet. The company announced for the first time the launch of its USDC stablecoin in May of last year. In January of this year, Circle published its third reserve audit report that attests to the reserves of the stablecoin.
The Coinbase cryptocurrency exchange was also included in the list. In 2018, Coinbase began to increasingly target institutional investors: in July, the exchange announced that its digital asset custody solution had launched over-the-counter (OTC) trade for institutional clients in November.
The Gemini cryptocurrency exchange is also on the Forbes fintech list. The founders of this company, the Winklevoss twins, recently confirmed their commitment to a Bitcoin ETF and stated that “Bitcoin is very likely to be the long-term winner.”
Also in the top 50 is Ripple, the company behind the second largest crypto-active, XRP, whose potential for cross-border payments has recently been recognized by Japanese financial giant SBI Holdings in a financial report.
A company that does not necessarily count as related to the crypts in the list is Robinhood, the zero-rate exchange that -among other types of assets- allows its users to trade with crypts.
According to a Cointelegraph report, Robinhood received a BitLicense license to operate in New York this January.
Also published on Medium.