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BFD Expert Voices - Fintech Deals

BFD Expert Voices

Sept. 12 — One-click checkout company Bolt has said it will no longer acquire Wyre, the crypto payments company that it agreed to buy for about $1.5 billion back in April, Brady Dale and Lucinda reported.

Why it matters: This would have been the largest-ever crypto merger not involving a SPAC. Now it's just part of 2022's growing scrapheap of broken deals, and another false start for the crypto-as-payment movement, our colleague Dan Primack wrote following the news.

1. Bolt bolts from Wyre deal 

Sept. 13 — Titan, a managed investment portfolio app for retail investors, is adding alternative assets to its platform through partnerships with two of the biggest names in real estate and private equity, the company told Ryan.

Why it matters: The app enables retail investors to access asset classes that previously were available only to high-wealth, accredited investors or people with private wealth managers. 

2. Titan teams with titans Carlyle and Apollo

Sept. 14 — Ethic, the socially responsible investing startup backed by Prince Harry and Duchess of Sussex Meghan Markle, has raised $50 million in Series C funding, the company told Lucinda exclusively. 

Why it matters: The funding round highlights the continued inflows into value-based investing even in a market downturn. It also shows how the new era of wealth management tech has turned to automating work for advisors rather than replacing them with robo-advisors.

3. Ethical investing gets royal treatment

Sept. 15 — The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is planning to regulate "buy now, pay later" lenders the same as it does credit card companies, and it is looking into limiting how personal data is used by such businesses, the agency said on Thursday.

Why it matters: Firms in the BNPL space are facing regulation both as financial companies and as tech businesses. How the CFPB decides to further regulate the space will have implications for all companies offering fintech apps and services, Lucinda wrote. 

4. BNPL regulation move 

CFPB head Rohit Chopra. Photo: Getty Images

Sept. 15 — M&A in the wealth management space was a popular topic of conversation at the Future Proof Festival in Huntington Beach, California, this week, Ryan wrote.

Why it matters: While other sectors of the M&A market may have slowed down due to macroeconomic concerns, the pace of dealmaking between RIAs and broker-dealers still seems brisk.

5. Future Proof Festival outtake: Wealth Management M&A

Happy Friday fintechy friends! The weekly digest here. 

Situational awareness: Axios' Hope King will host an invitation-only event on Sept. 22 in New York City around the 77th session of the UN General Assembly. Topics include financial security and inclusion. Sign up here. 

🎙 Check out "How it Happened: Elon Musk vs. Twitter" — Axios' new podcast docu-series about how Musk built his empire, the rise of Twitter and what the collision between the two could mean for us all. Listen here.

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September 16, 2022

1. Bolt bolts from Wyre deal