Alternative Investing Report - November 5, 2024

*as of 11/4; Sources: S&P, BTC, FTSE, DJRE, CL50

After a long campaign season, Election Day is finally upon us. Whatever your political affiliation, please get out and vote - you can find your polling location and a list of when the polls close in every state.

➨ TAKEAWAY: As they all are, this is a consequential election for many reasons, and it will certainly have an effect for investors across asset classes regardless of who wins. We wrote about this very topic last month, so check out “The Election’s Effect on Markets”. Learn about how each candidate could affect private markets like real estate, venture capital and crypto, and how different asset classes perform during and after election years.

In this episode of Smart Humans, SkyBridge Capital’s Anthony Scaramucci joined Vincent co-founder Slava Rubin to discuss the upcoming election and his investment predictions, including how high he thinks Bitcoin will go.

A 2018 Bowman Chrome Shohei Ohtani Autograph Orange Refractor sold at Goldin auctions for $553,140, a new record for any Ohtani baseball card. It is one of 25 Orange Refractors and is the only one to carry a perfect BGS 10 Black Label grade. In the same auction, Ohtani’s 51st home run ball from this season sold for $427,000, significantly less than the $4.4 million his historic 50th home run ball sold for, but still a hefty sum.

➨ TAKEAWAY: These sales come on the heels of Ohtani’s first World Series victory with the Dodgers and his breakout as a true global superstar. Because of the timing and circumstances, it could be the case that these sales represent the top of the market, as excitement generally dies down in the baseball offseason. Still, Ohtani memorabilia and cards have seen high demand and he is clearly the biggest draw in baseball at the moment.

🚜 Bowery farming shuts down: The indoor farming company was once worth $2.3 billion, and raised $94 million in funding a year ago. It follows other indoor farming companies including Aerofarms, AppHarvest, and Kalera into bankruptcy, as rising energy costs and reduced VC funding have hit the industry hard.

🪙 Solana funding: The Solana blockchain ecosystem saw $173 million in funding in Q3 over 29 projects, a 54% gain over Q2 which included expanded investment by Visa, Paypal and Franklin Templeton.

🥃 Glenlivet 55: The Glenlivet 55 - 200th Anniversary is a special 1 of 1 bottle produced in partnership with Sotheby’s and is the oldest whiskey ever released by the distillery. It goes under the hammer at 10 AM ET today and carries a high estimate of $90,000.

🏢 Self-storage conversions: Urban centers such as Chicago, New York City and Philadelphia are leading the way in self-storage inventory that has been converted from commercial or industrial space, as developers repurpose existing buildings.

🚀 VC fundraising downturn: More than half of the top 50 biggest venture capital firms reported that their five-year fundraising totals declined or were flat compared to the prior period, as even some of the biggest names in the industry have struggled to raise funds.

🏡 Luxury real estate auctions: The majority of luxury properties sell for less than their original listing price at auction, with an average discount of 46% at the 51 auctions last year at Concierge auctions, and a 26% average discount at InterLuxe auctions.

This is not exactly a listing, but just in case the election doesn’t go the way you want, the idea of moving to Canada could always enter the picture. U.S. visitors to Canadian real estate brokerage Royal LePage more than doubled in the last week, a predictable spike before the election. To get started on your potential search, here’s a list of the five Canadian cities where luxury homes can be purchased for less than $100,000, led by Thunder Bay, Ontario and Saint John, New Brunswick.