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.
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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.
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FinTech: Robinhood’s Outages on Two Historic Trading Days – Lawsuits Emerge
Robinhood, the broking startup that amassed millions of users through its offers of commission-free, no-minimum-balance trading, has been slapped with a lawsuit. The lawsuit relates to Robinhood’s system outage on March 2, 2020, the day when the Dow added a record 1,200 points. It was the Dow’s largest one-day point gain — throughout its entire 124-year history.
DailyAlts Playbook: Bond Downgrades, the ETF bomb, Bitcoin’s Bust, Blackstone’s Credit Lines, and Oil Slumps.
Today, the DailyAlts Playbook talks about Bond Downgrades, the ETF bomb, Bitcoin’s Bust, Blackstone’s Credit Lines, and Oil Slumps.
Artificial Intelligence: Chinese Economy Getting Back on Its Feet Say AI and Big Data
The AI Moonshot Team at China’s WeBank, a private Chinese online banking company founded by TenCent, combined big data and AI to check on the impact of the coronavirus in Chinese manufacturing. They innovatively processed satellite, GPS and social media data and found that the Chinese economy may be getting back on its feet after the coronavirus disaster.
Digital Assets: Crowdfunding Via Blockchain to Transform Japanese ‘Ghost’ Dwellings
Two companies are collaborating to revitalize the market for Japanese homes.
A blockchain-powered solution may be the answer to the problem of millions of abandoned homes in Japan. Known as ‘akiya’ these ghost dwellings numbered about 8 million in 2013. This number has now ballooned to 10 million by 2020, and is on track to comprise 30% of all Japanese homes by 2033. Real estate crowdfunding via the blockchain may give these properties a new lease of life, according to Securitize.
Liquid Alternatives: The HDIV ETF – Artificial Intelligence Picks High Dividend Stocks With Upside
Qraft Technologies, a South Korean artificial intelligence firm, just launched its third ETF in the US. The Qraft AI Enhanced US High Dividend ETF (HDIV) targets high dividend US stocks selected through a proprietary AI system. Qraft Technologies has brought the ETF to market in collaboration with Exchange Traded Concepts, a white label ETF provider.
Venture Capital: Life Sciences Partners Raises $600M in Record European VC Haul
Venture capital group Life Science Partners (LSP) just closed its sixth investment fund targeting European life science companies. The $600 million (€529 million) raising is said to be the largest of its kind in Europe. Certainly, it is large enough to be 80% of the combined size of LSP’s five previous funds.
The DailyAlts Playbook: Coronavirus Stimulus, Biblical Warnings, Vertical Hedge Fund Neighborhoods, and Why Kyle Bass is Sitting on the Sidelines Right Now.
Today, the DailyAlts Playbook talks about Coronavirus Stimulus, Biblical Warnings, Vertical Hedge Fund Neighborhoods, and Why Kyle Bass is Sitting on the Sidelines Right Now.
Liquid Alts: IMF Warns About ETF Liquidation
Call it the great bust of passive investing?
The IMF warned Wednesday that regulators and authorities need to start watching asset managers and ETFs over the threat that they could start liquidating assets. The IMF wrote this in a blog post on Wednesday.
The ESG Data Market Will Be Worth $1 Billion Next Year
A new report from Opimas states that the value of ESG data could top $1 billion by next year. The firm’s newest report ESG Data Market: No Stopping Its Rise Now, says that the market topped $617 million in 2019. The research group projects annual growth of 20%, and 35% growth for ESG indexes.
Artificial Intelligence: Banjo, the Startup That is Utah’s All-Seeing Eye-in-the-Sky
This Small Company Is Turning Utah Into a Surveillance Panopticon
Venture Capital: African Startups’ Identity Crisis
More and more African founders are choosing to incorporate their startups outside Africa. Which raises the question: Can a startup founded and operating in Africa but domiciled abroad be called an African startup? Tom Jackson explores this issue in an article published in DISRUPT-Africa.
Artificial Intelligence: How Machine Learning Algorithms are Helping Amputees
Researchers at the University of Michigan created an RPNI by cutting an amputee’s peripheral nerve and stitching it to a muscle. The subsequent healing in the area helps develop new nerves and blood vessels over three months. Nerve signals landing here from the brain are amplified and become strong enough (in millivolts) to transmit to the artificial limb.
Liquid Alternatives: ETFs to Trade Market Volatility
Investors can use these ETFs to trade VIX, the “fear gauge” of the market.
Savvy investors can take advantage of market panics that stem from black swan events like the coronavirus. The fallout from the virus outbreak on oil prices, and thereafter on global equity markets, was on full display on Monday. The CBOE VIX index spiraled higher.
FinTech: Payments Startup Finix Gains $21M as Investor Sequoia Walks Away
In a somewhat dramatic turn of events Sequoia has bailed from its Finix investment, on grounds of conflict of interest with its investment in payment processor Stripe. Sequoia’s action is especially significant given that it has never backed out of a committed investment in its 48-year history.
Digital Assets: Now Use Cryptos to Privately Play (And Win) International Lotteries
Cryptos have crashed the global lottery party. Bitcoin.com announced Tuesday its partnership with Canadian gaming and lottery giant Bravio Technologies. Bitcoin.com will now have access to international lotteries, a highly lucrative and popular industry.
Hedge Funds: Coronavirus Hits Point72 Management
Coronavirus has hit one of Wall Street’s top financial shops. Multiple media outlets report that an employee at Point72’s Hudson Yard’s office has contracted Covid-19. The Wall Street Journal was the first to report the news, citing an internal email from the fund.
DailyAlts Playbook: NBC News’ Remarkable Debt Coverage, Corona CAPE Shiller, and Why Just Six States Will Decide This Election
Goldman Sachs had a call on Monday that features health and economic experts on the state of the Coronavirus outbreak. The call indicated that China is no longer the driving force behind the spread of the virus. China is getting back to business – that’s evident with solid resumption rates in its National Grain Processing and Railway Cargo Loading. That said, its national logistics are still sitting at just 60%. Auto traffic remains low in major cities, And passengers are still avoiding intra-city transport. Finally, its property transaction market has slowed to a crawl.
Alternative Investments: U.S. Prosecutors Oppose Release of Bernie Madoff
U.S. prosecutors said Wednesday that they oppose the release of Bernie Madoff from prison even if he is dealing with kidney disease. In a statement, prosecutors said that Madoff has failed to show remorse or accept responsibility for his massive Ponzi Scheme. They also said that denying Madoff’s request to return home would uphold victims’ rights and boost confidence in the U.S. justice system.
Digital Assets: BitGo Flags Off Crypto Lending to Institutions
BitGo, one of the oldest and largest custodians of digital assets, is taking the plunge into lending cryptocurrencies to institutions, it announced Thursday. (BusinessWire)
“With our lending service, we are melding the best of Wall Street’s sophisticated understanding of how to work with institutional investors and the best of Silicon Valley’s technology and innovation,” said Mike Belshe, CEO, BitGo.
Liquid Alternatives: NUSI – A Safe-Haven ETF for Risk Managed Income
Nationwide’s recently launched Nationwide Risk-Managed Income ETF (NYSEARCA: NUSI) helps investors find safe-haven fixed-income assets in the face of steadily declining Treasury yields. In the relentless rush to earn yield, investors may be turning to alternatives such as high dividend stocks, REITs, emerging market debt, high-yield bonds, preferred stock, and MLPs. However, investors may not be considering the attendant risks of such investments, according to Jonathan Molchan, Executive Director and Portfolio Manager, Harvest Volatility Management. He warns that these could come with risks attached such as interest rate, duration, inflation, commodity exposure, and leverage.
Digital Assets: Oil Transmits Corona Jitters to Cryptos; Bitcoin Slumps 10%
The coronavirus set off a price war in oil as OPEC failed to reach consensus on a production cut and Saudi Arabia slashed prices. At one stage WTIC crude oil futures were down over 33% to a low of $27.34 today. In a continuing sell-off, S&P futures were down nearly 5% to 2817. The reverberations from oil’s ‘slash-and-burn’ and stock rout were felt in cryptocurrencies too, which lost more than $26.43 billion in a seeming flash crash.
Venture Capital: Tech Startups – 2020 Will Separate the Men From the Boys
As this is being written, markets are in a blue funk from the global coronavirus epidemic. US markets are not yet open, but a black and bloody Monday is already on the cards. Bitcoin is down nearly 9% to $8,000, crude oil at one point was down over 30% to $28, and S&P500 futures are down nearly 5% to 2,817. Global markets are in crisis mode.
Tech startups will now have to confront a new reality stemming from the coronavirus and its black swan impact. A venture environment without the tailwinds from ebullient financial markets.
FinTech: Challenger Bank Chime’s Latest Raising Stands at $700 Million
Neo, or ‘app-only’ bank Chime is a new breed of ‘zero-fees’ fintechs that are giving traditional banks a run for their money.
Branchless, fintech startup Chime is enjoying startling growth in the number of customer accounts. It’s no surprise that it’s also well-funded. Its latest funding round that commenced in November 2019 has secured $700 million from 25 investors.
Artificial Intelligence: Customer Service and AI – Together, a Win-Win
The report “Jobs of Tomorrow: Mapping Opportunity in the New Economy” by the World Economic Forum finds that, as a fallout from the adoption of new technologies, demand for both “digital” and “human” factors is driving growth in the professions of the future. These high-growth professions include artificial intelligence specialists, medical transcriptionists, data scientists, customer success specialists, and full-stack engineers. An article by Brad Birnbaum in Forbes looks at the intersection between two such professions: AI and customer success.