In 2015， Nick Molnar was living with his parents in Sydney， Australia， and selling jewelry from a desktop computer in his childhood bedroom. Hocking everything from ＄250 Seiko watches to ＄10，000 engagement rings， the 25-year-old had gotten so good at online marketing that he had become Australia＇stop seller of jewelry on eBay， shipping thousands of packages a day.
2015年，尼克·莫尔纳和父母一起住在澳大利亚悉尼。他在儿时的卧室里，用台式电脑销售珠宝首饰，从250美元的精工手表到1万美元的订婚戒指，各种饰品应有尽有。当年25岁的莫尔纳非常擅长网络营销，他那时已经成为易贝网上澳大利亚最大的珠宝卖家，一天能发出几千个包裹。
That same year， he teamed up with2）Anthony Eisen， a former investment banker who was 19 years his senior and lived across the street. They cofounded Aepy Afterpay， an online service that allows shoppers from the U.S.， U.K.， Australia，New Zealand and Canada to pay for small-ticket items like shoes and shirts in four interest-free payments over six weeks. ＂I was a Millennial who grew up in the 2008 crisis， and I saw this bigshift away from credit to debit， ＂the now 30-year-old Molnar says today.Either lacking credit cards or fearful ofracking up＇high-interest-rate debt ontheir credit cards， Molnar＇s generation was quick to embrace this new way to buy and get merchandise now， whilepaying a little later.
同年，莫尔纳开始与前投资银行家安东尼·艾森合作艾森比他年长19岁，住在街对面。他们共同创建了支付平台。通过这种在线服务，美国、英国、澳大利亚、新西兰和加拿大的消费者可以享受六周内零利息分四期付款，则买鞋子、衬衫等小额商品现年30岁的莫尔纳说:“我是在2008年金融危机中成长起来的千禧一代，目睹了从信贷到借贷的巨大转变”莫尔纳这一代人要么没有信用卡，要么担心累积起信用卡的高息欠款，他们很快就欣然接受了这种先买后付的新型支付方式。
Five years later， Molnar and Eisen，who each own roughly 7％ of the company， have become billionaires during a pandemic. After initially tanking at the start of lockdowns， shares of Afterpay are up nearly tenfold， thanks to a surgeABep in business tied to e-commerce sales. In the second quarter of 2020， it handled S3.8 billion of transactions， an increaseof 127％ versus the same period a year earlier.
五年后，各自拥有公司约7％股份的莫尔纳和艾森，情期间成了亿万富豪。疫情防控初期，ABe＝y的股价大幅下跌。之后，由于电子商务销售量剧增，公司股价猛涨至近10倍。2020年第二季度，Afterpay处理了38亿美元的交易，比上年同期增长127％。
Buy now， pay later
They are not the only ones whose fortunes have taken off in the last fewmonths. According to Forbes＇analysis， at least five fintech entrepreneurs including the two Aussies have been vaulted＇ into the billionaire rankingsChime by the pandemic. Others include Chris Britt， founder of digital bank Chime，and Vlad Tenev and Baiju Bhatt， the co-CEOs of ＂free＂ stock trading app Several other founder som sucn companies as Klarna have also gotten boosts and are suddenly approaching billionaire status.
先买后付
在过去的几个月里，不程仅是莫尔纳和艾森实现了财富飙升。据《福布斯》报告，包括这两个澳大利亚人在内，至少有五位金融科技企业家因疫情面财富激增，荣登亿万富豪排行榜。另外三位是数字银行的创始人克里斯·布里特，以及“免费”股票交易应用程序 Robinhood联合首执行官弗拉德·特湿夫和拜珠巴特。 Klarna等几家公司的创始人也身家大涨，陡近亿万。
For a sizable crop of consumer-facing and payments-related fintechs the virus has delivered a gust of growth，just as it has for e-commerce behemoth Amazon and work-from-home players Zoom， Slack＇ and DocuSign.
对于一大批面向消费者的支付类金融科技公司而言。新冠疫情带来了强势发展机遇，正如电子商务巨头亚马逊与提供居家办公软件服务的公司Zoom、 Slack和 DocuSign因疫情而得到迅猛发展一样。
Consumer fintech adoption was already strong prepandemic， especially among the 20s to early-40s age group，＇says Victoria Treyger， a general partner who leads fintech investing at Felicis Ventures. ＂The pandemic has become agrowth rocket， fueling the rapid acceleration of adoption across all age groups，including 40- to 60-year-olds.＂
“在新冠疫情暴发之前，消费者对金融科技的接受度就已经很高，尤其是20多岁至40岁出头的人群。”法利思创投负责金融科技投资的普通合伙维多利亚·特雷格表示，“疫情就像催化剂，让所有年龄段的用户更快接受了金融科技，其中包括40至60岁的人群。”
Several Covid-driven developments are helping specific types of fintech players. For example， consumers＇shift to more online spending and delivery services is a boon to certain companies powering payments. The ＄2 trillionplus CARES Act Congress passed in March， with its S1，200-per-adult stimulus checks， student loan payment and （now expired） S600-a-wee unemployment supplements， helped many Amenicans keep financially abovewater-and some digital banks like Chime to prosper.
新冠疫情带来的某些影响，正在助推特定类型的金融科技公司发展。例如，消费者更加青睐于线上消费和快递服务，这对某些支付公司而言是利好消息。2020年3月，美国国会通过了拨款总额超过2万亿美元的《冠状病毒援助、救济和经济安全法》.为每个符合条件的成年人提供1200美元的刺激补助金，允许学生暂停偿还助学贷款，还有向失业人员发放每周600美元的补美国人维持基本生活一也促进了 Chime等数字银行企业蓬勃发展。
Debit it！
In the second quarter of 2020， amid Covid lockdowns and fears， consum-ers slashed spending on travel， restau rants and luxury items they usually2020 put on their credit cards， but continued to spend on necessities and smaller items-the sort of things they＇re more likely to pay for with debit cards. And debit cards（rather than checks or credit cards）are the spending vehicle most frequently offered by fintech neobanks like SoFi， Dave and MoneyLion.
借贷年第二季度，疫情防控形势严峻，人们恐慌不安大大削减了外出旅游、餐馆就餐和购买奢侈品的支出，这些消费通常用信用卡支付。但是他们仍会购买生活必需品和小件商品，这些东西则更可能用借记卡支付。借记卡（而非支票或信用卡）是SoFi、Dave等金融科技新生代银行最常提供的消费工具。
San Francisco-based digital bank和 MoneyLion Chime， in particular， has used the stimulus payments to its advantage. In mid April， about a week before the ＄1，200行 Chime government-stimulus checks started hitting Americans＇accounts， the company advanced customers that money，eventually extending over ＄1.5 billion.＂Following the stimulus advance， wehad the largest day for new enrollments in the history of the company，＂Britt reports.
总部位于旧金山的数字银就利用政府的经济刺激计划为自己赢得了商机。2020年4月中旬，在美国人收到1200美元政府经济刺激补助前一周左右，向客户预付了这笔钱，最终发放金额CEO超过15亿美元。首席执行官布里特称:“提前支付补助金后我们迎来了公司历史上新增注册人数最多的一天。”
