Alternative Investing Report - March 4, 2026

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

The ongoing conflict in Iran, in addition to major geopolitical and humanitarian consequences, is exerting profound effects on markets across all asset classes. The major U.S. equities indices all fell sharply yesterday but made up some of the losses by the end of the day, with all of them dropping roughly 1%. The commodity most directly affected by the war is oil, and its prices have surged by 17% in the past five days. The crypto market shot up quickly after the start of the conflict, playing into the idea of it being a safe haven, but has given back some of those gains. Gold followed a similar trajectory and lost more than 3% of its value yesterday. Even the real estate market has been impacted, with mortgage rates rising in concert with bond yields, as investors retreat to more stable assets.

➨ TAKEAWAY: Markets don’t like uncertainty, and the world is in a very uncertain place right now. There is no clear end in sight to this war, and everyone is concerned, with good reason, that it could drag out and become a protracted quagmire. The Korean stock market just hit a 17-year low in response, and the longer the war in Iran continues, the more likely other markets will follow. Expect investors to continue to pursue “safer” assets, though it is unclear what those might be outside of bond markets, and whether crypto or gold prices will benefit.

Vincent's Slava Rubin and Sacra's Jan-Erik Asplund take an in-depth look at the Healthtech sector, and key startups Oura, Abridge, and Open Evidence, as well as OpenAI's impact on the industry.

🚀 Nvidia eying photonics technology: The most valuable company in the world is investing $2 billion each in public companies Lumentum and Coherent, a strong signal for the sector, which includes prominent startups such as Lightmatter and Ayar.

🏡 Supply gap widens: Home completions slowed significantly in 2025, particularly in the multifamily sector, as the housing supply gap grew to more than 4 million homes. With housing demand growing and new construction slowing, the gap will only continue to grow.

🤖 Reflection AI fundraise: The AI startup that is developing “open” AI models is reportedly seeking a $2 billion fundraise at a $20 billion valuation, more than double its $8 billion valuation last October, and nearly 40 times higher than its $545 million valuation from October 2024.

🦖 Triceratops skeleton sale: The 17-foot long Triceratops named “Trey” is coming up for auction later this month at Joopiter with an estimated price tag of $4.5 million - $5.5 million, as dinosaur fossils continue to attract attention from investors.

💵 Private credit woes: Shares of major private credit managers such as Blackstone and Blue Owl fell significantly yesterday and both are down more than 50% from their all-time highs as retail investors continue to flee the sector.

🎨 AI art copyright: Computer scientist Stephen Thaler has failed in his attempt to secure copyright protection for art created by his AI system “DABUS” after the Supreme Court chose not to hear his appeal.

We covered River, the native token of the multi-chain stablecoin platform of the same name, in January, and highlighted its wild price swings while urging caution. At the time, the token was worth around $70, after jumping quickly from $5. Since then, it fell again — all the way back down to around $8 — before doubling again over the past week. There remain strong concerns about the concentration of its token supply in few hands, which makes price manipulation easier. That combined with a token unlock that is coming later this month points to a price drop coming, which would follow a pattern set with its last token unlock in late January - when the price skyrocketed and then fell precipitously.