As our world has become increasingly digitized and globalized, fintech companies have taken over the role filled traditionally by large institutional banks. Instead, fast-moving fintech banks, fintech lending companies and other fintech financial services are the name of the game for new generations and digital natives.

As previously mentioned, before fintech companies took the main stage in our financial system, you had large institutional – and in some cases, centuries-old – banks running the show. But with the introduction of the internet, that all began to change in the late 20th century.

One of the first movers in the space with which most are undoubtedly familiar was PayPal, a company still making headlines today with its latest innovations and updates to its core services. Then came Square and Stripe in the late 2000s and Robinhood in the 2013 – three companies that completely shifted the trajectory of finance

Jack Dorsey’s Square and later competitors made it easier and faster for small businesses to make and receive digital transactions in-person by sliding cards in their proprietary square card reader. Today, the company is worth more than $100 billion.

Founded in Ireland, Stripe allows small e-commerce companies to collect digital payments via secure APIs online. Many of today’s largest direct-to-consumer brands’ payments are powered by Stripe. Now, Stripe is worth around $100 billion, similar to Dorsey’s Square.

Finally, through its mobile platform and application, Robinhood has made investing accessible to populations traditionally left out of the conversation. Their mission to “democratize finance for all” has certainly made an impact with more than 22 million users trading stocks and cryptocurrencies on the platform as of Q2 2021.

These fintech giants have dominated the last decade but it’s a new sector that’s gotten most of the attention the last year.

In 2008 Satoshi Nakamoto created a new currency called Bitcoin, which has resulted in an entirely new intersection and wave of innovation between finance and technology called cryptocurrency. And in the 2020s inspired by the advancements in computer science, many traditional banks and financial institutions have made the foray into cryptocurrency by allowing their customers to invest and save in the different models.

Founded in 2012 by Brian Armstrong, Coinbase has emerged as the leading exchange for cryptocurrencies large and small. In June 2021 they announced they had accrued more than 20 million users in the previous six months, for a total of almost 70 million individuals on the platform buying, selling and trading tokens.

As you’ll read, cryptocurrency is a growing movement within finance and demands your attention.

It’s difficult to say exactly where the finance and fintech environments are heading. In the last few decades our world has seen so much change in the seemingly traditional space that makes even the simplest predictions challenging.

However, you can bet your bottom dollar that the advancement toward equal access and opportunity for all will only accelerate with the help of technology and computer science. Thanks in part to innovations made by pioneers in the fintech space like PayPal, Square, Stripe, Robinhood and Coinbase in addition to cryptocurrency and its contributors.

Keep reading to learn which fintech companies are poised to steal the show and where you may have the best opportunity to make a great impact on the future of finance.

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You’ve learned about the biggest fintech companies like PayPal, Square, Stripe, Robinhood and Coinbase, and their contributions to the fintech environment. But, there are so many more top fintech companies making waves in the space. They’re making financial products accessible to third world countries, improving financial literacy and education for women, and disrupting traditional financial systems with bold, new ideas and algorithms.

Let’s take a glance at the top fintech companies in 2020 and 2021 and how they might grow beyond this point.

First, one of the most watched trends in the fintech world has been buy-now, pay-later (BNPL) companies like Klarna and Affirm. Instead of users having to pay all of an item’s cost upfront, BNPL services allow them to receive the product with a promise of paying back the cost over the next few months. BNPL companies often partner with larger outlets like Amazon, Walmart and Target for access to exclusive access to their shops and customers.

Founded in Sweden, Klarna has made its way around the world. They offer both B2B options where large retailers can partner with the BNPL company or B2C feature, where individuals can simply download the mobile app or browser extension and make four monthly payments for products instead of paying the cost upfront.

On a related note, Silicon Valley-based Affirm offers similar services to its retail partners and individuals.

Just as BNPL options have swept Silicon Valley, so too has cryptocurrency.

Shifting gears to the fast-moving cryptocurrency space, exchanges are positioned to witness incredible growth in the 2020s. Just as Coinbase has grown considerably in the last twelve months, Kraken & Gemini are right on its tail.

Headquartered in San Francisco, Kraken was one of the first companies to offer trading to crypto enthusiasts. The Winklevoss twins Cameron and Tyler, made famous from their legal battle with Mark Zuckerberg over the inspiration behind Facebook, started their own cryptocurrency exchange in 2014 to compete with the likes of Coinbase and Kraken.

Today, Coinbase, Kraken and Gemini lead cryptocurrency companies in terms of users.

As we look toward the future in finance and technology, it seems as if cryptocurrency will almost certainly play a role.