Stripe, Ripple, Blockchain.com and OpenSea Make Forbes’ Top-10 Fintech List

Forbes included five cryptocurrency projects in the top ten most innovative private fintech companies of 2023.

The industry was represented by the payments infrastructure provider Stripe, the blockchain project Ripple, the exchange and cryptocurrency wallet operator Blockchain.com, the NFT marketplace OpenSea, and the blockchain infrastructure provider Alchemy.

The ranking is as follows:

• Stripe ($50 billion);
• Chime ($25 billion);
• Ripple ($15 billion);
• Blockchain.com ($14 billion);
• Plaid ($13.4 billion);
• OpenSea ($13.3 billion);
• Brex ($12.3 billion);
• GoodLeap ($12 billion);
• Bolt ($11 billion);
• Alchemy ($10.2 billion).

The leading figure for the current and previous year’s ranking — Stripe — fell by 47%, to $50 billion. The startup Klarna, which had been in second place, slid 85% to $6.7 billion and dropped out of the top 10.

The situation was worse for FTX, which had held third place. On November 11, 2022, the company filed for bankruptcy protection under Chapter 11 of the U.S. Bankruptcy Code. The U.S. prosecutors indicted former CEO Sam Bankman-Fried on 13 criminal counts. He pleaded not guilty to none of the counts.

Forbes noted that the valuations of the startups, excluding Stripe, may not reflect reality, as they are based on the latest funding rounds closed under more favourable market conditions.

As a telling example they pointed to the NFT marketplace OpenSea. In December 2021 it was valued at $13.3 billion. Since then it has ceded leadership in the segment, and its monthly NFT transaction volume plummeted from $4.81 billion to $191 million.

Most of the companies on the list have begun cutting costs, including layoffs. Stripe, Plaid, Brex, Bolt, Blockchain.com, OpenSea and GoodLeap took such steps.

In the first quarter of 2023, the so-called “unicorns” list expanded by only one startup versus 31 a year earlier. Total fintech firms raised $15 billion in this period (of which $6 billion was Stripe). In January–March 2022 the figure reached $28 billion.

In Forbes’ updated “30 Under 30” list, the founders of Uniswap Hayden Adams and Avalanche Kevin Sekniqi were included. Almost half of the young financiers recognized in North American finance were connected to cryptocurrencies.