Hey fintech friends,

Before we dive into fintech activity in Q2, some major headlines over the past quarter:

• The GENIUS Act passed in the US Senate, setting standards for 1-to-1 stablecoin reserves, monthly attestations, national licensing, and barring interest payments on USD-denominated stablecoins.
• Basel III Endgame took effect on July 1, tightening bank capital requirements that, in turn, are set to hike up the cost of bank loans and debt securitization.
• European Digital Identity Wallets received a second set of implementing regulations to help all EU countries roll out Digital Identity Wallets to their citizens by 2026.
• Open Banking faces a major setback in the US as the CFPB looks to kill the Dodd Frank Section 1033 rule adopted under the Biden administration.
• Anthropic put an AI agent in charge of a vending machine, and the report on its performance is nothing short of incisive and hilarious. 

For new readers, Signals is the premium subscriber edition of TWIF designed to get you away from the headlines and to explore the larger trendlines. Each quarter, we break down four key questions on fintech activity:

1. Which concepts are getting funded? 
2. Where are exits, M&A, and SPACs concentrated? 
3. Which firms are raising debt and venture funds for fintech? 
4. Which products were launched over the last quarter? 

Signals quarterly roundups are possible thanks to Hayden Hill, who collates insights from TWIF's newsletters into a comprehensive data dashboard each quarter.

If you haven’t already, subscribe to future editions here!

Overall activity

Fintechs raised a total of $8.57 billion in Q2, down 3% from the prior quarter but flat Year-over-Year. The number of equity raises was down 9% QoQ (⬆️11% YoY), and average deal size was up 14% QoQ (⬆️15% YoY).