Page 76 - Forbes - USA (March 2020)

T H E FO R B E S F I N T EC H 5 0

layer atop it for transactions, much the way a
quiescent base of vault currency and Federal Re- PAYO N E E R Ì P R O P E L Ì
serve deposits supports a torrent of checks and
NEW YORK CITY NEW YORK CITY
electronic payments in the banking system. The
PAYMENTS PERSONAL FINANCE
other is to create new digital currencies built
Enables third-party sellers Its Fresh EBT mobile app al-
with transaction speed in mind. Among the ones
and hosts on marketplaces like lows food-stamp recipients to
Coinbase supports are litecoin and bitcoin cash.
Amazon, Walmart.com and check balances, clip store cou-
In December, Coinbase got a first-of-its-kind
Airbnb to accept payments in pons and search job listings.
74 authorization from Visa to issue debit cards that foreign currencies. Has start-
allow holders to make purchases at the 46 mil- ed lending to Amazon and FUNDING: $18 million; latest
1
valuation of $55 million
lion locations (including ATMs) that accept Visa, Walmart sellers.
T BONA FIDES: Users doubled to
S and have the money drawn from a Coinbase ac- 2 million in 2019
I FUNDING: $270 million; latest
L count holding cryptocurrencies. Initially, these 1
valuation of $1 billion FOUNDER & CEO:
E
H debit cards will be available to residents of 29 BONA FIDES: Four million Jimmy Chen, 32
T countries, but not the U.S. Still, Coinbase could customers in 150 countries;

• net profit margins north of 5%
eventually develop its Visa authorization into yet
E
D another business line: issuing credit cards on be- FOUNDER & PRESIDENT: Yuval
I Tal, 54 CEO: Scott Galit, 49
U half of other crypto exchanges.
G
Banks, meanwhile, aren’t missing the oppor-
T
N tunity to redesign payment networks using old- P L A I D
E
M fashioned dollars. Zelle, an instant-payment sys-
T tem run by a consortium of big banks, ran $187 SAN FRANCISCO
S
E billion of traffic last year, putting it well ahead of PAYMENTS
V
N PayPal’s Venmo. Zelle is mostly aimed at retail Making its fifth—and, assuming
I its pending acquisition by Visa JIMMY CHEN
clients doing things like splitting dinner tabs, but
has handled transactions as large as $3.2 million. goes through, last—appearance
on this list, Plaid connects pay-
No question, disruptive technology is coming ment apps like Square Cash
to the banking system, and Coinbase will be a and personal-finance apps like R I P P L E
part of it. It is the only outfit to appear on both Acorns to users’ bank accounts SAN FRANCISCO
the Forbes Fintech 50 and Blockchain 50 lists. to transfer and track funds. BLOCKCHAIN & BITCOIN
But Armstrong is going to have plenty of com- FUNDING: $310 million; Visa Its blockchain-based global
petition, starting with central banks, which are agreed to pay $5.3 billion settlements network is used
plotting their own digital currencies. Facebook BONA FIDES: 2,600 customers, by some 300 institutions.
hasn’t given up on Libra, which is intended to be including Venmo, Robinhood It also lets companies make
and Coinbase
a globally accessible digital currency backed by payments in XRP, the crypto
COFOUNDERS: CEO Zach Perret, created by its founders.
assets like dollars and euros.
32, and former CTO William
Let a thousand flowers bloom, says Arm- Hockey, 30 FUNDING: $293 million; latest
strong. “When I started Coinbase, most people valuation of $10 billion
thought [blockchain] was crazy. Governments BONA FIDES: Still holds $12 billion
and the old guard, the blue chips, are now in- P L A ST I Q Ì of XRP in escrow and has used
XRP sales to fund expansion
vesting in this technology. So let’s just say that’s a SAN FRANCISCO COFOUNDERS: Chris Larsen, 59;
very good thing.” Jed McCaleb, 45; Arthur Britto
PAYMENTS
CEO: Brad Garlinghouse, 49
For a 2.5% fee, lets small busi-
nesses use a credit card to pay
expenses (e.g., rent) for which ROOFSTOCK
cards usually aren’t accepted.
Money Moves 2020 Typical clients are restaurants, OAKLAND, CALIFORNIA
OWN UP TO YOUR CRYPTO TRADING HABIT doctors’ offices and construc- REAL ESTATE
tion firms. Digital real estate marketplace
The new Schedule 1 of the IRS’ 1040 form asks wheth-
er you had any transactions in virtual currencies last FUNDING: $140 million; enables investors to purchase
year, so forgetting to report sales is no longer an latest valuation of $700 single-family rental properties
option for people who want to avoid jail. But being to $800 million in 25 states.
honest may in fact save you money: As with other BONA FIDES: More than 50,000
kinds of property, capital-gains tax on a crypto- customers; processing nearly FUNDING: $133 million; latest
currency investment is due only when you sell. Sell- $4 billion in transactions a year valuation of $550 million
ing just your losing positions generates capital loss-
es that can be put to use absorbing gains elsewhere COFOUNDER AND CEO: Eliot BONA FIDES: Has sold $2 billion
(such as from stocks and bonds). Crypto, moreover, Buchanan, 30, started Plastiq of real estate
is exempt from the wash-sale rule that limits capi- after his attempt to pay his COFOUNDER AND CEO:
tal loss deductions for securities positions that are Harvard tuition with a credit Gary Beasley, 54
card was rejected
quickly reestablished. —W.B.

F O R B E S . C O M Ì NEW TO LIST M A R C H 2 0 2 0
1 According to PitchBook