Alternative Investing Report - September 2, 2025

*as of 9/1; Sources: S&P, BTC, FTSE, DJRE, GOLD

Over the last week, Ethereum-based investment funds saw $1.4 billion in net inflows, nearly double the $748 million in net inflows that Bitcoin investment products registered. For August in total, Ethereum funds had nearly $4 billion in net inflows, while Bitcoin funds actually had $300 million in net outflows. Solana and XRP investment products also outpaced Bitcoin with $177 million and $134 million in net inflows, respectively.

➨ TAKEAWAY: Bitcoin still makes up nearly 58% of the total market cap of the entire crypto market, so any reports of it losing dominance would be premature, but its biggest rivals are catching up. While BTC is up 18% YTD, ETH has risen 31% and XRP climbed more than 35%. Bitcoin’s volatility has also decreased in 2025, which should make it more attractive to institutional investors. But in the crypto market, where everyone seems to be chasing the next big thing, it seems that interest has dropped in the last month.

In this episode of Smart Humans, Slava Rubin talks with EquityZen CEO Atish Davda about his market predictions, investment strategies, the evolving landscape of pre-IPO investing, and the hottest sectors.

🚀 New design unicorn: Framer, a competitor of the newly public Figma, announced a $100 million funding round that values the company at $2 billion. It counts companies like Scale AI and Perplexity as enterprise customers.

⚽ $1 million Messi card: A 2004 Lionel Messi rookie card sold in a private sale for more than $1 million, setting a new benchmark for any Messi card and becoming the 2nd most expensive soccer card of all-time.

🤖 Builder.AI collapse: The story of the once-prominent AI startup that saw its valuation drop from $1.5 billion to zero holds valuable lessons for investors, as startups race to call themselves AI companies even if that label is misleading.

🪙 Web3 funding rises: Q2 saw $9.6 billion in fundraising for Web3 startups, the 2nd biggest quarter on record, even as deal count fell to a 2-year low, as the size of deals increased at every stage of funding.

🏡 Best market for renters: Richmond, VA, topped the list of the best markets in the U.S. for renters, based on the local economy, quality of life, and other factors. It was followed by Raleigh, NC, Salt Lake City, UT, Boise, ID, and Honolulu, HI.

🎨 Weis collection at Christie’s: An art collection featuring works by Rothko, Picasso, Matisse, and others, is coming to auction at Christie’s in November and is expected to fetch more than $180 million in total.

The “Little Lake Lodge” in Aspen, CO is now up for sale, and don’t let the name fool you, it’s hardly a lodge, and it’s definitely not little. The property is less than one mile away from downtown Aspen and contains four residences comprising more than 27,000 square feet on 74 acres of land with a 6 acre private lake. Altogether there are 18 bedrooms and 20 bathrooms, plus a 80-foot infinity pool and parking for more than forty cars. The price for the mountain estate? $300 million, making it the most expensive listing currently in the U.S.