Since cryptocurrency is such a hot sector, we created a separate offshoot of our Fintech Unicorn list tracking crypto/blockchain startups involved in financial services (see definitions below).
We have not included all crypto companies, only those that have financial services activity as a core part of their offering (eg., crypto exchange, lender, accounting, blockchain infrastructure, and so on). Conversely, crypto must be the core of what the company does. For example, we haven’t included Square Block because crypto is currently less than 50% of its revenue (47% in Q3 2021).
What’s not included:
- No pure-play coins such as Bitcoin because they are primarily assets, not financial services
- No pure-play mining companies
Definitions will evolve, and we may include or exclude certain categories in the future.
Company age:
- 5 companies founded in past 3 years (2019 to 2021)
- 19 companies founded 4 to 6 years ago (2016 to 2018)
- 10 companies founded 7 to 9 years ago (2013 to 2015)
- 6 companies are 10+ years old (2011 or 2012)
Note: The top company, Binance has no public information about its financing. So we are using a $100B estimate based on what we’ve seen discussed online. It may have dropped in parallel with the sell-off of Coinbase in the past few months.
Table: Crypto Unicorns Providing Financial Services
| Rank | Company | Value ($B) | Value Date | Founded | Country | Type |
| 1 | Binance | $100 | Estimate | 2017 | Malta | Exchange |
| 2 | Coinbase | 52 | 1 Feb 2022 | 2012 | USA | Exchange |
| 3 | FTX Exchange | 32 | Jan 2022 round | 2012 | USA | Exchange |
| 4 | Ripple | 10 | Dec 2019 round | 2012 | USA | Payments |
| 5 | Bullish | 9.1 | July 2021 SPAC (proposed) | 2021 | Cayman Islands | |
| 6 | Circle Internet Financial | 9.0 | July 2021 SPAC (proposed) | 2013 | USA | Payments |
| 7 | Fireblocks | 8.0 | Jan 2022 round | 2018 | USA | Infrastructure |
| 8 | Gemini | 7.1 | Nov 2021 round | 2014 | USA | Exchange |
| 9 | NYDIG | 7.0 | Dec 2021 round | 2017 | USA | |
| 10 | Blockchain.com | 5.2 | Mar 2021 round | 2011 | UK | |
| 11 | Chainalysis | 4.2 | June 2021 round | 2014 | USA | Security |
| 12 | Bitpanda | 4.1 | Aug 2021 round | 2014 | Austria | |
| 13 | Kraken | 4.0 | 2019 round (per Fortune) | 2011 | USA | |
| 14 | FalconX | 3.8 | Aug 2021 round | 2018 | USA | |
| 15 | MoonPay | 3.4 | Oct 2021 round | 2019 | USA | Payments |
| 16 | Blockdaemon | 3.3 | Jan 2022 round | 2017 | USA | Payments |
| 17 | Blockstream | 3.2 | Aug 2021 round | 2014 | Canada | |
| 18 | Anchorage Digital | 3.0 | Dec 2021 round | 2017 | USA | |
| 19 | BlockFI | 3.0 | Mar 2021 round | 2017 | USA | Lending |
| 20 | Celsius Network | 3.0 | Oct 2021 round | 2017 | UK | Lending |
| 21 | Amber Group | 3.0 | June 2021 round | 2017 | Hong Kong | Exchange |
| 22 | Paxos | 2.4 | April 2021 round | 2012 | USA | |
| 23 | Bitso | 2.2 | May 2021 round | 2014 | Mexico | |
| 24 | Mercado Bitcoin | 2.1 | June 2021 round | 2013 | Brazil | |
| 25 | Coinswitch Kuber | 1.9 | Oct 2021 round | 2017 | India | Exchange |
| 26 | Coinlist | 1.5 | Oct 2021 round | 2017 | USA | Investing |
| 27 | Ledger | 1.5 | June 2021 round | 2014 | France | |
| 28 | Figment | 1.4 | Dec 2021 round | 2018 | USA | Staking |
| 29 | iTrustCapital | 1.3 | Jan 2022 round | 2018 | USA | Investing |
| 30 | Lukka | 1.3 | Jan 2022 round | 2014 | USA | Infrastructure |
| 31 | TaxBit | 1.3 | Aug 2021 round | 2018 | USA | Tax |
| 32 | Cointracker | 1.3 | Jan 2022 round | 2017 | USA | Accounting |
| 33 | Phantom Technologies | 1.2 | Jan 2022 round | 2021 | USA | Wallet |
| 34 | CoinDCX | 1.1 | Aug 2021 round | 2017 | India | |
| 35 | MobileCoin | 1.1 | Aug 2021 round | 2017 | USA | |
| 36 | Bitkub | 1.0 | Nov 2021 round | 2018 | Thailand | Exchange |
| 37 | Liquid | 1.0 | Apr 2019 round | 2013 | Japan | |
| 38 | MatrixPort | 1.0 | Aug 2021 round | 2019 | Singapore | |
| 39 | Worldcoin | 1.0 | Oct 2021 round | 2019 | USA | Payments/Identity |
| 40 | Crypto.com | 1.0 | Nov 2021 estimate | 2016 | Singapore | Exchange |
Source: FintechLabs.com, 22 Feb 2022 based on news reports
Graphic: Coingeek
