Alternative Investing Report - March 17, 2025

*as of 3/16; Sources: S&P, BTC, FTSE, DJRE, CL50

Swedish fintech startup Klarna took the next step towards its highly anticipated IPO by officially filing to go public on the New York Stock Exchange. The “buy-now, pay later” company is seeking to raise $1 billion at a $15 billion valuation, below the $46 billion valuation it hit at its peak, but well above its post-bubble price of $6.7 billion. The company saw 24% revenue growth and reported a profit in 2024, a strong financial turnaround from previous years.

➨ TAKEAWAY: Along with the CoreWeave IPO, this filing now makes it likely that two significant upcoming tech IPOs will test the market, which itself has been floundering in recent weeks. Market volatility and uncertainty could cause these IPOs to underperform, or potentially push these companies to delay their offerings. If they do perform well in spite of market headwinds, that would be a very good signal for other prominent startups to explore their own public offerings.

The long-standing legal fight between the SEC and the crypto company Ripple is reportedly coming to a close after more than four years of litigation. Ripple had been accused of an unregistered sale of securities related to its native token XRP, and was ordered to pay a $125 million fine. The SEC may be willing to declare XRP a commodity rather than a security, which would be a big win for Ripple. In response, XRP climbed from $1.90 per token to nearly $2.50, before falling back to $2.35.

➨ TAKEAWAY: While the crypto market overall has plunged in recent weeks, this is an example of how the crypto-friendly stance of the new administration can benefit investors. The SEC has already backed off of enforcement actions against a number of crypto companies, and less regulation will generally lead to less investor uncertainty and one less aspect to worry about in the otherwise volatile crypto market.

🤖 New AI agent: Manus, the invite-only Chinese AI agent that was released last week, got a lot of media coverage after demos were released of it independently completing tasks such as building a website and creating trip itineraries. AI agents are likely to be the next big thing in the industry, and any company that develops a truly effective one will be poised for massive growth.

📊 Net worth record high: U.S. household wealth rose by 0.1% in Q4, spurred mostly by the post-election rise in equity prices, and deposits held by households and non-profit organizations rose by the highest amount since 2021. However, the stock market in Q1 has given back a lot of gains, so the next report may not be so rosy.

🏡 D.C. inventory spikes: In the midst of the mass layoffs targeting government workers, the for-sale inventory in Washington D.C. rose by 11% weekly, and other metro areas with large shares of government workers, such as Virginia Beach and Oklahoma City, could see similar trends going forward.

🪙 Binance and Trump: Rumors that the Trump family is in talks to buy a stake of the U.S. arm of the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange was a large reason why its native token, BNB, was up 13% last week.

🏢 Data center rent surge: Average rents for data centers rose by 12% year-over-year, as vacancy rates fell to a record-low 2.6% in North America.

🤔 Michael Jordan-shaped Cheeto: Following in the footsteps of a $87,000 Cheeto shaped like the Pokemon Charizard, a Cheeto shaped like Michael Jordan is now up for sale at Goldin Auctions and has already passed $5,000 in bids.

This week: March Madness is here - the men’s and women’s NCAA basketball tournaments begin this week. Also, Nvidia is hosting a weeklong AI conference, featuring thousands of speakers and information sessions.

Today: Homebuilder confidence index released; The Los Angeles Dodgers and Chicago Cubs kick off the MLB season in Tokyo.

Tuesday: Housing starts and building permits reports released.

Wednesday: The Fed announces its interest rate decision and is widely expected to keep rates at the same level.

Thursday: Existing home sales report; Fanatics Collect’s Premier Auction, featuring a 1 of 1 Paul Skenes rookie card that could hit seven figures.