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August 9 - This Week in Alternative Investments
Adam Katz
August 09, 2024
Brought to you by CaskX, where you can invest in award winning bourbon barrels
Headlines
Crypto falls, then rises
Are housing prices falling?
Kobe’s $2.9 million locker
Thrive’s $5B fund
Plus: Deadpool’s debut, startups hauling in defense dollars, politicians courting crypto, more big AI raises, and much more.
On Monday we debut Alternative Investing Report, our new private markets daily.
Sports Investing Event
Sports clubs have been among the best performing assets over the past few decades. On August 15 at 2 PM ET, join our sports business panel with Slava Rubin of Vincent, Andrew Durgee of Republic and Stuart Goldfarb of SKI Partners, as they talk about team economics and look at the pros and cons of getting involved in the asset class.
Performance
Bitcoin | Liv-Ex Fine Wine 1000 |
FTSE VC Index | FHFA House Price Index |
*as of close of market August 8
Partner
Whiskey Barrels: Your Hedge Against Stock Market Volatility
With everything going on in the world today, it’s time to look beyond stocks, bonds and “traditional assets.” Now is the perfect time to profit from investing in a product you love already… Whiskey.
And not just bottles of whiskey, but full barrels. That’s right, you can add strength to your portfolio by purchasing aging barrels that quietly grow in value as they mature inside the distillery rickhouse.
Boasting a strong history of capital growth under all economic conditions, whiskey can be a powerful strategy to insulate your wealth from the whims of the market.
Market Updates
Bitcoin dropped below $50,000 for the first time since February. Amid a broad global sell-off, the crypto market saw a big drop earlier this week. Bitcoin’s 20% crash on Monday was its biggest since 2022, though it recovered in the past two days and now sits above $60,000. Other major cryptocurrencies like Ethereum, Solana and Ripple also saw declines of 20% or greater in the past seven days before also seeing recoveries. Crypto was created and championed as a way to stay insulated from the wider global market, but as it has become a tool for major financial players, it seems to be moving in concert with macro trends, though with greater volatility. If it continues to correlate with public markets, investors need to consider that it may not be an effective hedge.
Price cuts on homes hit a 2-year high, and listing prices fell. The share of listings on Realtor.com with price cuts increased to 18.9%, with Tampa, Phoenix, Charlotte seeing the largest increases among major metro areas. The median listing price dropped from $445,000 to $439,950, and is slightly down when compared to this time last year. With inventory rising and sales stagnating, sellers are finally giving in and cutting prices. This could be a time for potential buyers to start looking, as mortgage rates have also declined and could drop further after a September rate cut.
(Sotheby’s)
The Staples Center locker that belonged to Lakers great Kobe Bryant sold at Sotheby’s for $2.88 million. This result far exceeded the pre-auction estimate of $1-$1.5 million. Used by Kobe from 2004-2016, it was nearly discarded after the 2018 renovation of the Lakers’ arena, but was saved by a maintenance worker, and later photo-matched extensively by authentication service MeiGray. Kobe is a legend and this is a one-of-a-kind item, and it prompted a bidding war between 18 competitors that boosted the price.
Thrive Capital, a New York-based VC firm, raised a $5B fund. This is its largest fund to date, and just the latest big raise from a major firm. Other big name firms like Andreessen Horowitz, Kleiner Perkins, Norwest Venture Partners and TCV have raised more than $15B so far in 2024. We are seeing a “flight to quality” as investors go with known entities instead of emerging funds, which have raised just $8.6B so far this year.
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More stories worth checking out
📝 Top Stories
Cropland values’ steady rise: Average cropland value rose 4.7% last year and is up 37% since 2020, according to the USDA’s 2024 Land Values Summary. Values in 2023 rose the most in Appalachia and the Southeast, and the least in the Northeast.
OpenAI enabling cheating?: One of the major concerns of the AI era is how to tell whether content is AI-generated and how to catch students using it to cheat. OpenAI disclosed that it has a tool to detect cheating, but it has not released it, perhaps due to finding that 30% of its ChatGPT users would stop using the service if it were to “watermark” output.
🎨 Art
(Heritage Auctions)
Deadpool’s debut: The original cover artwork for 1991’s New Mutants #98, the first appearance of Deadpool, is up for sale at Heritage Auctions for a fixed price of $7.5 million, which would shatter the current record for original comic book art of $3.8 million.
⚾ Collectibles
McDonald’s Collector’s Meal: The fast-food chain is releasing a set of six exclusive cups featuring iconic Happy Meal toys from the past, such as Beanie Babies, Hot Wheels and more. The Collector’s Meals will be available August 13 and the cups will unlock access to exclusive benefits in Los Angeles and New York.
Willie Mays rookie card record: Just months after the baseball legend’s passing, bidding for a 1951 Bowman card at Robert Edwards Auctions has surpassed $300,000 and looks poised to set the record for any Mays rookie card.
🪙 Crypto
Crypto for Harris: A Democratic advocacy group is planning to host an event next week with Mark Cuban, Anthony Scaramucci and other notable crypto backers, as it tries to win over crypto-focused voters.
Trumpcoin?: Meanwhile, Donald Trump Jr. promised a “huge” announcement about crypto later this week, with some speculating that the Trump campaign might launch its own cryptocurrency.
Not Trump’s coin: A rumor that RTR - a Trump-themed token - was officially backed by the former President caused prices to spike before falling by 95% after the story was denied by Eric Trump. As always, be wary of any memecoin that can see wild swings in both directions.
💵 Private Credit
Risky bets: Prospect Capital’s $8 billion private credit fund could be in trouble as more borrowers are making interest payments by taking on additional debt.
🏡 Real Estate
Department store woes: While retail and shopping malls have made impressive post-pandemic comebacks, department stores are still struggling as specialty stores and discount competitors eat into their market share.
Migration to disaster-prone areas: Thanks in part to large net inflows to Texas and Florida, more Americans are moving to counties at high risk of fire and floods.
Stricter lending guidelines: Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are tightening restrictions, which could slow down dealmaking activity in a space already struggling with limited demand.
🚀 Venture Capital
Groq raises $640M: The AI chip startup secured a massive Series D at a $2.8B valuation, led by BlackRock, as it looks to compete with Nvidia.
Another AI unicorn: Placer.AI, a location data startup, raised $75M at a valuation of $1.5B, up nearly 50% from its last funding round.
Anduril worth $14B: The defense tech startup raised a whopping $1.5B round at 65% increase to its last funding round in late 2022.
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