Axios

U.S. financial technology startups are losing investment share, while it's becoming easier for Asian fintech startups, as noted in a TechCrunch post by Israel-based financial analyst Nikolai Kuznetov.

It's been a steep plunge: U.S. fintech startups last year secured 37.5% of the $2.4 billion invested into the sector, but the number of companies dropped by 68%, according to KPMG. Investments (by amount invested) in Asia grew 150% from Q2 2016 to Q4 2016 as the U.S. dropped consistently.

We're losing to Asia: The five largest investments in the last five quarters were all in Asia. Plus, for the last two quarters, Asian fintech companies attracted about $700 million more in VC funding than did U.S. fintech companies.

Part of the problem: The two states — New York and California — that host the most U.S. fintech startups, ranked last on a recent British Treasury list of places with friendly policies toward fintech companies. Consider this: the EU, China, and India each recently eased laws and regulations that would have limited fintech companies.

Why this matters: This is likely to ring alarm bells for Donald Trump, who despises falling behind, and especially despises falling behind Asian countries. It also could be a symptom of the expected hike in interest rates in the U.S. and the belief that banks are going to grow their bottom line and are less inclined to invest in fintech.

Japan is planning to speed up its warship building program that will make two frigates a year to patrol the perimeters of the East China Sea north of Taiwan, an area that both Japan and China claim island ownership, reports Reuters.

Japan — which was originally building one 5k-ton class destroyer a year — will now make two 3k-ton class ships a year starting in April 2018. The country is also planning to produce a fleet of eight smaller, cheaper vessels, which may have mine-sweeping and anti-submarine capabilities.

Note: This is not the same thing as the South China Sea dispute.