According to Forbes, a new billionaire was minted every 17 hours in 2020.
Despite Covid-19 plunging the global economy into the worst recession of our lifetime and the financial fallout expected to long outlive the impact of the health crisis itself, the world’s wealthiest are $5 trillion richer than they were last year.
Forbes reports: “There were rapid-fire public offerings, surging cryptocurrencies and skyrocketing stock prices. The number of billionaires on Forbes’ 35th annual list of the world’s wealthiest exploded to an unprecedented 2,755--660 more than a year ago.”
With Amazon and Tesla shares spiking in 2020, it is no surprise that outgoing founder and CEO Jeff Bezos retained his top spot for the fourth year running with a net worth of $177 billion, and Elon Musk is following close behind as the second richest person in the world, worth $151 billion.
From the 2,755 on the Forbes World’s Billionaires List, here’s who is on the 2021 rich list from the fintech industry. Notable figures include John Collison, who was named the youngest person on the list in 2017, Revolut's Nik Storonsky and the Robinhood co-founders Baiju Bhatt and Vlad Tenev.
| | Rank | Name | Worth | Business |
| 1 | 20 | Michael Bloomberg | $59bn | Bloomberg |
| 2 | 26 | Jack Ma | $48.4bn | Ant Group |
| 3 | 33 | David Thomson | $41.8bn | Thomson Reuters |
| 4 | 83 | Pierre Omidyar | $21.4bn | PayPal |
| 5 | 173 | Jack Dorsey | $12.5bn | Square |
| 6 | 216 | Qi Shi | $10.4bn | East Money Information |
| 7 | 262 | Guillaume Pousaz | $9bn | Checkout.com |
| 8 | 274 | Sam Bankman-Fried | $8.7bn | FTX |
| 9 | 404 | Brian Armstrong | $6.5bn | Coinbase |
| 10 | 539 | David Velez | $5.2bn | Nubank |
| 11 | 622 | Luis Frias | $4.6bn | PaySeguro Digital |
| 12 | 680 | Scott Cook | $4.2bn | Intuit |
| 13 | 859 | Jim McKelvey | $3.5bn | Square |
| 13 | 859 | Arnout Schuijff | $3.5bn | Adyen |
| 13 | 859 | Thomas Secunda | $3.5bn | Bloomberg |
| 14 | 891 | Chris Larsen | $3.4bn | Ripple |
| 15 | 925 | Vyacheslav Kim | $3.3bn | Kaspi Bank |
| 16 | 956 | John Collison | $3.2bn | Stripe |
| 16 | 956 | Patrick Collison | $3.2bn | Stripe |
| 16 | 956 | Mikhail Lomtadze | $3.2bn | Kaspi Bank |
| 17 | 1008 | Cameron Winklevoss | $3bn | Gemini |
| 17 | 1008 | Tyler Winklevoss | $3bn | Gemini |
| 18 | 1064 | Chad Richison | $2.9bn | Paycom |
| 19 | 1174 | Victor Jacobsson | $2.7bn | Klarna |
| 20 | 1205 | Steven Sarowitz | $2.6bn | Paylocity |
| 20 | 1205 | Pieter van der Does | $2.6bn | Adyen |
| 20 | 1205 | Charles Zegar | $2.6bn | Bloomberg |
| 21 | 1249 | Andre Street | $2.5bn | StoneCo |
| 22 | 1299 | Eduardo de Pontes | $2.4bn | StoneCo |
| 22 | 1299 | William Stone | $2.4bn | SS&C |
| 23 | 1362 | Vikay Shekhar Sharma | $2.3bn | Paytm |
| 23 | 1362 | Jared Isaacman | $2.3bn | Shift4 Payments |
| 23 | 1362 | Michael Saylor | $2.3bn | MicroStrategy |
| 24 | 1444 | Max Levchin | $2.2bn | Affirm |
| 24 | 1444 | Sebastian Siemiatkowski | $2.2bn | Klarna |
| 25 | 1580 | Jed McCaleb | $2bn | Mt Gox; Ripple; Stellar |
| 26 | 1664 | Fred Ehrsam | $1.9bn | Coinbase |
| 26 | 1664 | Changpeng Zhao (CZ) | $1.9bn | Binance |
| 27 | 1750 | Anthony Eisen | $1.8bn | Afterpay |
| 27 | 1750 | Nick Molnar | $1.8bn | Afterpay |
| 28 | 1833 | Philip Fayer | $1.7bn | Nuvei |
| 28 | 1833 | Eric Jing | $1.7bn | Ant Group |
| 29 | 1931 | Barry Silbert | $1.6bn | DCG |
| 29 | 1931 | David Zalik | $1.6bn | Greensky |
| 30 | 2035 | Tim Draper | $1.5bn | Draper Fisher Jurvetson |
| 30 | 2035 | Duncan MacMillan | $1.5bn | Bloomberg |
| 30 | 2035 | Matthew Roszak | $1.5bn | Bloq |
| 31 | 2263 | Chris Britt | $1.3bn | Chime |
| 31 | 2263 | Shao Xiaofeng | $1.3bn | Ant Group |
| 31 | 2263 | Ye Qiongjiu | $1.3bn | Hithink RoyalFlush Information Network |
| 32 | 2378 | Ronald Clarke | $1.2bn | Fleetcor Technologies |
| 32 | 2378 | Simon Nixon | $1.2bn | MoneySupermarket |
| 32 | 2378 | Ronald Slabke | $1.2bn | Hypoport SE |
| 32 | 2378 | Nik Storonsky | $1.2bn | Revolut |
| 33 | 2674 | Baiju Bhatt | $1bn | Robinhood |
| 33 | 2674 | Vlad Tenev | $1bn | Robinhood |
Check out the full list on Forbes here. If you think we missed anyone relevant, add a comment below.