Alternative Investing Report - March 25, 2026

*as of 3/24; Sources: S&P, BTC, FTSE, DJRE, GOLD

The Senate introduced a bipartisan bill to ban sports betting on any platform regulated by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), which includes prediction markets Kalshi and Polymarket. This initiative follows Arizona’s move last week to bring criminal charges against Kalshi for allowing illegal gambling in the state. Investors and partners seem undeterred, as Kalshi just raised $1 billion while doubling its valuation, and Polymarket is reportedly about follow suit. Polymarket also just signed an exclusive partnership with Major League Baseball.

➨ TAKEAWAY: With their explosive growth trajectory, it was only a matter of time before prediction markets attracted legislators’ attention, especially with the bottom lines of casinos and traditional sportsbooks threatened. Potential investors in Kalshi and Polymarket should note that this legislation represents an existential threat to their business, as a significant amount of their action comes from sports contracts. However, the CFTC is claiming jurisdiction and will seemingly fight any Congressional oversight. With a friendly administration currently in power, expect the legal battles to drag on.

💵 Apollo limits withdrawals: The asset manager’s $15 billion private credit fund received withdrawal requests totalling more than 11% of the entire fund, and is only redeeming 45% of that, sticking to its 5% quarterly cap. The fund is down 1.2% over the past three months.

🪙 Morgan Stanley Bitcoin ETF: The Wall Street bank is trying to become the first major bank to have its own crypto ETF, which will have the ticker MSBT if the SEC approves its application.

🏡 Record seller gap: There are now 46% more home sellers than buyers in the U.S, the largest gap since at least 2013 and up from 29% last year. For context, when there are 10% more sellers than buyers on the market, that’s enough to classify it as a buyer’s market, so the current situation is extremely tilted towards buyers.

🤖 AI-focused funds: Venture capital firm Kleiner Perkins announced a $3.5 billion fundraise for two separate AI-focused funds, one for early-stage companies and one for growth stage investments, as institutional interest in the sector shows no signs of slowing down.

🏢 Rent growth slowing: National multifamily rents rose 1.2% year-over-year In February, a slower pace than January. Virginia Beach, San Francisco, and Chicago showed the highest gains, while Florida and Texas markets continued to bring up the rear.

⚾ Six-figure Mantle sale: A $101,475 sale of a 1952 Topps Mickey Mantle card headlined the most recent auction at Robert Edwards Auctions, setting a record for a card with its grade and continuing the positive momentum for vintage cards.

Remember Worldcoin? The Sam Altman-founded crypto project made headlines a few years back when it was scanning people’s eyeballs in exchange for tokens, leading to privacy and legal concerns worldwide. Once worth $9.50 per token two years ago, the price has slowly fallen, reaching its all-time low last week below $0.31 per token. The company still wants to create a way to use the blockchain to verify humans online to counter possible fraud by AI agents — a problem that coincidentally is partially the responsibility of its co-founder. The price plummeted in the last week as the team in charge of Worldcoin sold 117 million tokens ($38 million) in advance of a major token supply unlock in July. Unless the project gains traction quickly, that unlock is likely to only send prices falling further.