In 2025, you may have lost track of where crypto is in its hype cycle. But innovative things are definitely happening in fintech and on the blockchain. From building firewalls and AI agents to fighting deepfakes and armies of bots, these companies are using cutting-edge tech to manage some of the internet’s most important work.
Check Point Software Technologies
For building a firewall for the blockchain
In the 1990s, Check Point invented the first internet firewall. Now, with blockchain tech (Web3) out of infancy, it needs its own firewall—and Check Point is trailblazing again. The blockchain’s lack of central authority and so-called immutability is a boon to the internet’s bad actors, but Check Point detects suspicious logic and risky payloads and can break the kill chain before threats become casualties. The firewall’s machine learning–powered engines predicted the February Bybit hack—which looted $1.5 billion in Ethereum tokens—six months before it occurred.
Memcyco
For outsmarting scammers in real time
Generative AI has made phishing attacks more potent by supercharging impersonation. Memcyco fights back with a three-pronged defense system that battens down in the heat of attack—an advance on other cybersecurity systems that only catch fraud after the fact. Memcyco’s “nano-defenders”—lightweight agents hidden in a client’s website—can track if consumers are redirected to clone websites meant for phishing. If a consumer is then tricked into logging in, the system quietly swaps the consumer’s credentials with decoy data, so phishers don’t see the real passwords. Founded in 2021 by Israeli tech veterans, the company says it helped a top-10 North American bank cut incidents by 65%, saving nearly $18 million.
Swear
For thwarting deepfakes with digital fingerprints
In the age of AI, deepfakes can be weaponized to sway elections, disrupt stock markets, or spark wars. Swear takes aim at such manipulation with “digital DNA mapping,” which cryptographically fingerprints every frame, pixel, and sound bite of a photo or video as it’s captured, creating a permanent record of its original structure on the blockchain. If that content is ever contorted into misinformation by a bad actor, any third party—such as a journalist, a judge, or the public—could uncover the counterfeit by comparing it to the original DNA. Swear is most promising where integrity is paramount: Think body cams, drones, and voting machines. Since the tech’s 2024 launch, it’s won awards from SXSW, CES, and the Security Industry Association.
Tools for Humanity
For offering “proof of human” in an era of robots
Ever heard of the dead internet theory? It warns of a future when online forums are just bots talking to other bots. In 2019, Sam Altman founded Tools for Humanity to prevent his other venture, OpenAI, from effecting such a dystopia. Funded by its cryptocurrency, Worldcoin, Tools for Humanity touts privacy-preserving “proof of human” technology. Rolling out across the U.S. in 7,500 gas stations, bodegas, and shopping malls this year, its Orb device scans your iris and spits out a 12,800-digit binary number: your “World ID.” The company’s World App, once just a digital wallet for crypto, now lets developers leverage World ID to verify that their platforms are, in fact, populated by humans. Tools for Humanity has 28 million World App users, $244 million from investors such as a16z and a Visa partnership.
Zip
For creating hyper-specific AI agents
Zip works with businesses, helping clients such as AMD, Coinbase, Reddit, and Sephora make multibillion-dollar purchasing decisions. In 2023, the company introduced an all-purpose chatbot—but then concluded that it wasn’t all that helpful. So it asked itself: What if instead of creating a single jack-of-all-trades AI we trained many AIs to become masters of one task? By stripping its generalist model for parts, Zip created 50 hyper-specific AIs. One of them analyzes how tariff policies affect vendor pricing, another researches market rates, and yet another flags regulatory exposure. Deployed this year, the new class of AI specialists have won praise from early users OpenAI and Wiz.
The companies and individuals behind these technologies are among the honorees in Fast Company’s Next Big Things in Tech awards for 2025. Read more about the winners across all categories and the methodology behind the selection process.
