Alternative Investing Report - June 3, 2025

*as of 6/2; Sources: S&P, BTC, FTSE, DJRE, CL50

The evolution of crypto exchange-traded funds (ETFs) could take another step forward with the advent of “staking” ETFs, which would offer yield to its investors. Staking is a mechanism that allows crypto investors to earn rewards on the tokens they hold, similar to interest payments. The Rex-Osprey Ethereum and Solana ETFs would be the first to include staking components, but the SEC has raised concerns about whether they qualify as ETFs. Another option for yield would be an ETF of a yield-bearing stablecoin, which are becoming increasingly more popular.

➨ TAKEAWAY: If companies can figure out a way to gain SEC approval for a staking ETF, it could create significant demand for investors who want passive income and crypto exposure without having to actually custody the assets themselves. However, the yields would have to be significantly higher than risk-free rates to attract investors who might be crypto-skeptical.

Wall Street banks have increased the volume of their loans to private credit funds by 145% in the past five years as they benefit from the growth of the private credit market without having to lend directly to borrowers. Now Apollo Global Management is working with five Wall Street banks to build a secondary marketplace for private credit deals. The private credit firm Antares Capital also just raised a $1.2 billion private credit continuation fund to help provide liquidity to investors.

➨ TAKEAWAY: A more robust secondary market for private credit will increase liquidity and allow lenders to originate more and bigger loans. It also paves the way for more participation in the market by individual investors, who tend to have higher liquidity needs than institutional investors.

🤖 xAI share sale: The Elon Musk-led AI startup - that also owns social media platform X - is planning a $300 million share sale that values the company at $113 billion, which would solidify the valuation Musk put on the companies when xAI acquired X in March.

🏡 All-time record inventory: Nearly $700 billion of U.S. homes are for sale, up 20.3% year-over-year and the highest dollar amount ever recorded for the aggregate listings on the market.

🏀 Haliburton record: Fresh off leading the Indiana Pacers to the NBA Finals for the first time in 25 years, star point guard Tyrese Haliburton’s 2020 Panini Prizm Black 1/1 sold for just under $120,000, setting a new record for his cards. In the past month, sales volume of Haliburton cards is up more than 400%.

🏢 Class B industrial booming: Q2 has seen 46% of industrial sales in modern buildings come from Class B properties, as investors are looking for value-add deals, particularly in secondary markets such as Austin, Phoenix, and Charlotte.

🚀 Biggest raises of the week: The AI writing assistant Grammarly led the way with its $1 billion raise, as AI continued to dominate the VC ecosystem. A number of biotech companies also executed large raises, including Elon Musk’s Neuralink.

🪙 Ross Ulbricht auction: Personal belongings from the recently-pardoned founder of the illicit Silk Road marketplace fetched more than $1.8 million at auction, including $1.1 million (11 Bitcoin) for his prison ID card.

Located just over an hour from Salt Lake City, the biggest house in Utah is on the auction block - all 70,000 square feet of it, with 40,000 in the main house and 30,000 in the unfinished pool house. The five-level main house has 10 bedrooms, 14 bathrooms, Disney-themed rooms, a Star Wars-themed theater, and a dining room with a 42-person table. The 154-acre property had originally been listed for $35 million last December, but the opening bid is an affordable-by-comparison $8 million — or you can buy it now for $19.5 million. Bidding starts on Thursday and closes June 18.