The research will identify fintechs disrupting the giants of finance with services that are faster, cheaper and more accessible — from established firms in payments and digital banking, to rising stars in emerging fields like cryptocurrency.

In 2022, the fintech world took a beating. Some of the world’s most richly valued companies saw their valuations slashed as investors reexamined the sector against a backdrop of climbing interest rates, higher living costs, and the prospect of stricter regulation.

But innovation is still happening — with a vengeance. The rising cost of living has opened opportunities for firms to develop tools that can help people navigate economic uncertainty — whether through better budgeting and financial planning, or education on how to manage money.

That has made the need for a transparent overview of the top fintech companies more important than ever.

As part of the research, we are inviting entries from eligible fintech companies to register their interest in being considered for the list. To qualify, a fintech — defined as a company that provides innovative, technology-based and finance-related products and services — must have successfully completed at least one Series A funding round.

Firms will be required to submit information on their business model and certain key performance indicators.

If you would like your company to be considered for this research, please click on this link, which will take you to the short application form hosted by Statista. Further information about the project can be found here.

Some of these companies have turned to crypto-friendly Swiss banks, flooding them with requests for banking services, according to multiple industry insiders who spoke to CNBC.

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Typically, the crypto industry has found it difficult to access banking services from traditional lenders, who don’t want to touch anything that does not have a clear regulatory framework. This has included blockchain and crypto firms, who have instead had to turn to specialist banks.

But with two of the biggest lenders, along with SVB, now out of the picture, cryptocurrency firms have turned to Switzerland, which has sought to market itself as a crypto hub with solid regulation.

“We have been inundated with requests,” said an advisor at a private Swiss bank, who preferred to remain anonymous due to the sensitive nature of the matter.

The advisor said on the Monday after Silvergate and Signature Bank’s winddown this month, the private lender had more requests in a single day than ever before.

“It is just nuts,” the advisor said.

Filming from Washington, D.C., Chew emphasized the large scale of TikTok users, small and medium-sized businesses and its own employees based in the U.S. that rely on the company. The message may preview his appeal to lawmakers Thursday, where he will be faced with questions about the ability of its Chinese parent company ByteDance, and the Chinese government, to access U.S. user information collected by the app.

TikTok says it has worked to create a risk mitigation plan to ensure that U.S. data doesn’t get into the hands of a foreign adversary through its app. The company has said U.S. user data is already stored outside of China.

But many lawmakers and intelligence officials seem to remain unconvinced that the information can be safe while TikTok is owned by a Chinese company. TikTok said last week that the Committee on Foreign Investment in the U.S., which is reviewing risks related to the app, is pushing for ByteDance to sell its stake or face a ban.

Chew disclosed in the video that TikTok has more than 150 million monthly active users, or MAUs, in the U.S., representing massive growth from August 2020, when it said for the first time that it has about 100 million MAUs in the country. That number includes 5 million businesses that use the app to reach their customers, with most of those being small or medium-sized businesses. He also said TikTok has 7,000 U.S.-based employees.

“This comes at a pivotal moment for us,” Chew said, referencing lawmakers’ threats of a TikTok ban. “This could take TikTok away from all 150 million of you.”

Chew then appealed to users directly to share in the comments what they want their representatives to know about why they love TikTok.

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