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Big news arrived from CoinDesk this morning regarding JP Morgan’s preparation to launch its first actively managed Bitcoin fund for its private wealth clients by this summer.

What a difference a week can make! The SPAC deal pipeline continues to fill, while Wise tested the mettle of the LSE in a post-Brexit world and the Nasdaq provided a Shanghai surprise. One major Wall Street firm made a bullish call on a fintech consumer lending platform. Google is on the fintech prowl in Japan while the banks look on, plus traditional lenders are upping the ante to compete with their tech-savvy rivals.

As I reviewed our columns going back to the first of the year, it was abundantly evident that the deal sizes have ratcheted up as the year has progressed. I'll also admit, it felt weird to leave out deals in the $500M - $600M range. But those did not make the list, incredibly.

There are no summer doldrums for the wealthtech space, as market participants continue to expand through acquisition, hire new talent, upgrade tech and more.

This week, 3 of the top 5 deals were international - out of South Korea, Holland and China; The Chinese deal received funding from a Canadian teacher's pension fund - we thought that was interesting and rather unusual; In America, the two firms who made our list this week were in auto finance and wealthtech - two strong areas of financing in our country.

The deal pipeline is filling in the fintech space, chief of which includes Visa flexing its muscle in Europe’s open banking industry. Kids are gaining access to financial apps sooner than later, thanks to one UK-based challenger bank. In addition, a couple of German fintech startups are looking to gain a foothold in the US market while the IPO pipeline keeps growing. Andreessen Horowitz has made a key hire and is doubling down on crypto despite a murky regulatory environment.

Friends, today we're launching another new column - Real Clear Crypto - where our readers will be able to learn more about cryptocurrencies and blockchain technology. We also have a new term for you to check out - FUD - in Bill Taylor's post on Jamie Dimon and bitcoin, plus our other great weekly columns - filled with the latest industry news for you! Read up!

The fintech ecosystem has expanded to include offshoots, such as insurtech and auto fintech, for example. It gives companies a unique calling card, and it seems everybody wants a slice of the fintech pie these days. You can’t blame them, given the rate at which fintechs are reaching unicorn status as Silicon Valley and Wall Street alike pile into these names. This past week was no different.

Friends, today we have a highly entertaining post comparing the current players in bitcoin to the WWF(!), we delve into more sector VC deals with one topping out this week at $900M and queue up a new podcast for you covering the SPAC sector. Read up!

We're back in lofty heights this week with all five deals exceeding $100M and one deal just shy of $1B USD. How many times have I said this now-practically every week. The dollars in the VC sector going into fintech are enormous. Methinks maybe just a wee bit of inflation in there rearing it's usgly head in the sector as well - whattya think?