Alternative Investing Report - March 3, 2025
Vincent Alternative Investments
Keep up-to-date on the latest alternative investing news and insights in less than 5 minutes per week.
Happy Monday. News about a crypto reserve jolted the market, Austin’s rents keep falling, there was another strong contemporary art auction, and AI saw an all-time high in VC investment in Q4. Let’s dive in!
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?? WEEKLY MARKETS
?? CRYPTO RESERVE
President Trump named the five cryptocurrencies he intends to include in a U.S. strategic reserve - Bitcoin, Ethereum, Solana, Ripple, and - in the biggest surprise - Cardano. Immediately, the prices of all five rose sharply, with Cardano seeing the biggest gain, in excess of 60%. On the whole the crypto market jumped more than 10% on the day, which came at the end of a week where values had dropped significantly.
? TAKEAWAY: The crypto market was waiting for a catalyst to shake it out of its slump, and the strategic reserve announcement delivered. For example, Bitcoin had dipped below $80,000 for the first time in months but has now rebounded more than 15% to surpass $92,000. There are still big questions about what a strategic reserve could look like and the legal mechanisms necessary to establish one. There are also concerns about crypto, which was originally meant to be a decentralized alternative to central banking, becoming so intertwined with the government. While this was a short-term boost, the fact that a single announcement can swing the market to this extreme shows how risky the asset class remains.
?? NOTABLE NEWS
?? Strong auction results: Christie’s Post-War to Present auction netted $21.3 million in sales, led by Helen Frankenthaler's “Concerto",” which sold for $2.1 million, three times its high estimate of $700,000. The auction performed similarly to last year’s version, but with 10% fewer lots.
?? AI’s record quarter: Q4 saw the most VC investment ever to AI startups, with the sector accounting for more than half of all funding in the quarter.