News
Each day, DailyAlts tracks major developments across the alternative investment world. Our content is procured from primary contacts in the industry and secondary sources across the web. Our goal is to give readers the most up-to-date news and engaging experience to open new doors and areas of knowledge. Our stories cover nine separate verticals of the alternative investment industry.
Top Story
Chipmaker AMD (NASDAQ: AMD) has unveiled a range of innovative AI solutions spanning from data centers to personal computers. The AMD Instinct MI300 Series features data center AI accelerators, while the ROCm 6 open software stack introduces new features supporting Large Language Models (LLMs). Additionally, the Ryzen 8040 Series processors come equipped with Ryzen AI capabilities.
Get Daily Updates
Subscribe to DailyAlts Today to get Alternative Investment news, insight, and commentary delivered straight to your inbox every day.
More Stories on News
FinTech: MoneyGram Offers Money Transfers In Real-Time In Europe
Moneygram’s (NASDAQ: MGI) highly successful cross-border transfer service from the United States using Visa (NYSE: V) Direct, which launched in 2019, is now rolling out in Europe. Customers in 25 European countries can now use Moneygram’s website or mobile app to transfer funds instantly to Visa debit cards.
Alternative Investments/Digital Assets: Valkyrie Joins The Race To Launch A Bitcoin ETF
Valkyrie Digital Assets LLC, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Valkyrie Investments Inc., has thrown its hat in the ring to obtain SEC approval for the launch of a bitcoin ETF. On Friday, Valkyrie submitted its application to the regulator for the “Valkyrie Bitcoin Fund,” to be listed on the New York Stock Exchange.
Artificial Intelligence: Satellites And AI Track African Elephants
Scientists from the University of Bath, University of Oxford, and the University of Twente in the Netherlands have demonstrated the successful use of satellite cameras with deep learning algorithms to monitor the location and number of African elephants.
FinTech: China Tightens Antitrust Regulatory Screws On Fintechs
The People’s Bank of China published a draft set of rules on Wednesday for anti-trust regulation of the non-bank payment providers in the fintech sector. The draft is in the public opinion domain until February 19.
Digital Assets: BlackRock Dips Its Toes In Bitcoin Waters
Filings out Wednesday show that the BlackRock Strategic Income Opportunities Portfolio and BlackRock Global Allocation Fund may invest in cash-settled bitcoin futures, among other assets. BlackRock (NYSE: BLK), the world’s largest asset manager with $7.8 trillion in assets, said in the filings that certain of its funds “may engage in futures contracts based on bitcoin.”
Artificial Intelligence: AI Helping Manage Wind Farms By Forecasting Wind Conditions
AI is playing an increasingly bigger role in the management of wind energy, wind farms, and the maintenance of wind turbines through machine condition monitoring systems. Google (NASDAQ: GOOGL) predicts wind conditions and production for the next day for its 700 MW wind energy resources, gaining an edge in its power market operations. In Europe, the SmartWind project seeks to cut costs and optimize revenues, while a German company is using big data and AI for fault diagnosis of wind turbines.
Alternative Investments/ESG: Harvest Portfolios Launches The Harvest Clean Energy ETF
Harvest Portfolios Group Inc. completed last week the initial offering of Class A Units of the Harvest Clean Energy ETF (TSE: HCLN). The units of the ETF commenced trading on the Toronto Stock Exchange on January 14.
Venture Capital: Travel And Spend Management Platform TripActions Scores $155M Round
TripActions, a cloud-based solution for business travel and expense management utilized by 4,000 companies across the globe, announced Thursday its Series E funding of $155 million. The round was co-led by existing investor Andreessen Horowitz; Addition, founded by Lee Fixel; and investor Elad Gil. Existing investors Zeev Ventures, Lightspeed Venture Partners, and Greenoaks Capital also participated.
FinTech: TransferWise Appoints Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley For IPO
According to an exclusive report by Sky News, Wall Street investment banks Goldman Sachs (NYSE: GS) and Morgan Stanley (NYSE: MS) will lead the floatation of Transferwise’s IPO in London.
Venture Capital: iSTOX Scores $50M In Series A Round To Democratize PE Investing
iSTOX, a digital securities platform announced today that it closed a Series A round of $50 million that included commitments from two new government-backed investors from Japan. The company will use the money to expand its operations across the globe and to broaden the scope of its investment offerings.
Artificial Intelligence: Prostate Cancer Diagnosis Now More Accurate With AI
Current methods detect prostate cancer with only 30% accuracy and require invasive surgery for a final determination through biopsies. This is highly inconvenient and often results in complications such as bleeding and pain. Prostate cancer is the most common cancer in men. A team from the Korea Institute of Science and Technology (KIST) uses AI on urine samples to detect prostate cancer.
Digital Assets: Celsius Network’s Assets Under Management Up 10X In 2020
Celsius Network announced Wednesday that it holds over $5.3 billion of cryptocurrency assets on a platform that allows consumers to earn crypto rewards and access or lend loans. It said 2020 had been somewhat of a watershed year for growth on many parameters, aided by the substantial growth of the crypto industry itself. It is now the second-largest digital asset manager in the world.
Alternative Investments/Digital Assets: “An Anti-Asset Like Bitcoin Can Be a True Diversifier” (Ruffer)
In its six-month review for the period ended December 31, 2020, British investment management firm Ruffer threw light on its investments in bitcoin. Interestingly, it has positioned the cryptocurrency as an “anti-asset” within its portfolio, calling it a diversifier.
Alternative Investments: Investors Turn To Alternatives For ‘A.I.D.’ (JPMorgan Report)
The events of 2021 forced us all to reconsider what the “essentials” in our lives are: Health professionals, our family, our health, home, friends, and a good internet connection. The third annual Global Alternatives Outlook by J.P. Morgan Asset Management recommends you add another item to that list of essentials – alternative investments.
FinTech: Jack Ma is Back! Alibaba Stock Soars 8.52% In Hong Kong
Fears that Jack Ma, the billionaire co-founder of Alibaba Group Holding (NYSE: BABA) was missing were laid to rest after he participated in the online ceremony of the annual Rural Teacher Initiative event today, January 20.
Digital Assets: Joker’s Stash, The Infamous Site For Stolen Cards, To Shut Down
Joker’s Stash, one of the oldest dark web marketplaces, operated its shop for stolen card data with impunity since 2014. After a highly profitable run, during which the site allegedly chalked up a profit of over $1 billion in bitcoin, the site has decided to call its quits. It announced Friday that on February 15, 2021, “we will wipe all our servers and backups and Joker will fade to dark, forever.”
Artificial Intelligence: After Gebru, Google Has A Brush With Second AI Researcher
Margaret Mitchell, the leader of Google’s (NASDAQ: GOOGL) Ethical AI team, has seemingly run into problems with the company. Like her erstwhile Black colleague Timnit Gebru, who departed last month in controversial circumstances, Mitchell too is an outspoken critic at the company. Gebru revealed in a tweet Tuesday that Google had locked Mitchell’s corporate access.
Venture Capital: EV Startup Rivian Rakes In $2.65B At A $27.6B Valuation
Electric truck maker Rivian, which is backed by Amazon (NASDAQ: AMZN) and Ford (NYSE: F), announced it has received funding of $2.65 billion. The company, which is starting production this summer, said funds and accounts advised by T. Rowe Price Associates, Inc. led the round. Fidelity Management and Research Company, Amazon’s Climate Pledge Fund, Coatue, and D1 Capital Partners as well as several other existing and new investors also took part.
Digital Assets: Iran Cracks Down On Illegal Crypto Miners
Iran, which is facing severe energy shortages during the cold months, has been forced to implement rolling power cuts across the nation. In these circumstances, in a sudden action, police seized 45,000 bitcoin mining rigs on the charge of illegally drawing and consuming subsidized power.
Venture Capital: Bill Gates-Backed, CleanTech VC Raises $1B
Breakthrough Energy Ventures (BEV) is a venture capital firm that invests in cleantech. The term describes companies (or technologies) that aim to improve environmental sustainability including the negative impact of conventional technologies such as coal-fired power. It was established in 2015 by Bill Gates and a coalition of private investors concerned about climate change. The firm has just raised $1 billion (its second raise of that amount) from unnamed investors.
Alternative Investments/Digital: The Coinshares Physical Bitcoin (BITC) ETP To Trade On SIX Swiss Exchange
European digital asset manager Coinshares is launching a new ETP product, the physically backed CoinShares Physical Bitcoin (Ticker: BITC) on the SIX Swiss Exchange today. The ETP enables investors to gain exposure to the price of bitcoin on a regulated European stock exchange.
FinTech: On Rebound From Failed Gojek Merger, Grab Mulls $2B U.S. IPO
Reuters said in an exclusive report on Monday that Southeast Asian ride-hailing, food delivery, and fintech giant Grab was considering a US IPO this year. The news agency quoted three sources familiar with the matter, saying the IPO could be worth as much as $ 2 billion.
Artificial Intelligence: Let AI Take Over The Painful Job Of Training Your Dog
Researchers at Colorado State University have designed an artificial intelligence (AI) system that can help train dogs when their owners are away. Such a situation may well come around soon as people return to offices after vaccination against the coronavirus and life returns to normal.
Alternative Investments/AI: AI Becomes NVIDIA’s Largest Business; ETFs Holding NVDA
Three very significant events took place in 2020. First, the aggregate market cap of the computer chip industry overtook that of the oil industry. The top 30 semi-conductor companies are together valued at $2.5 trillion, while the 30 biggest oil firms are $1.7 trillion. Second, NVIDIA (NASDAQ: NVDA) knocked Intel (NASDAQ: INTC) off its pedestal as America’s biggest chipmaker. Third, AI vaulted to become the biggest business at NVIDIA.