10 Investment Must Reads for This Week (Feb. 4, 2025)10 Investment Must Reads for This Week (Feb. 4, 2025)

Memecoin ETFs and Other Crypto News: What Investors Should Know “The combined market value of these three cryptocurrencies is about $60 billion—equivalent to Target TGT or General Motors GM—but they have no underlying business or intrinsic value. Bitcoin ETFs already stretched the definition of capital markets, but memecoins stretch the definition of investment to the snapping point.” (Morningstar)

BlackRock Opens Chicago Wealth Office “BlackRock's U.S. wealth advisory business manages the firm's relationships with U.S. retail investors and financial advisors. It offers a full range of investment strategies, including model portfolios, alternatives, SMAs and sub-advisory services.” (FundFire)

Trump's Tariff Talk Shakes Up ETF Sectors, Assets Classes “Among exchange-traded funds, the volatility hit the broad equity market indexes with unbiased force, driving the SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust (SPY) and the iShares Russell 2000 ETF (IWM) down more than 1.3% at the opening bell. Both ETFs pared their deepest losses after several hours of trading, particularly after the U.S. and Mexico agreed on a one-month delay to the duties around 10:30 a.m. ET.” (ETF.com)

Goldman Sachs slashes investment minimum for new alumni fund “The latest vehicle, like its predecessor, is a fund of funds that will invest across multiple private market vehicles managed by Goldman’s asset management division. However, this time Goldman has reduced the investment minimum from $250,000 to $25,000. A little over half of former Goldman partners invested in the original 1869 fund, the people said, raising about $1bn.” (Financial Times)

DeepSeek Marks The End Of The First Phase Of The AI Investment Boom “Whatever about efficient markets, the advent of DeepSeek is a reminder of how the cycle of innovation in economies works, and will have some commentators rushing for their Schumpeter.” (Forbes)

SEC Committee to Continue Discussing Challenges Facing Emerging Fund Managers “In an upcoming meeting on Feb. 25, 2025, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission’s Small Business Capital Formation Advisory Committee will continue discussing capital raising challenges facing emerging fund managers and hurdles experienced by small public companies not listed on a national securities exchange.” (The DI Wire)

Blackstone Says Private Wealth Channel Enjoys Strong "Momentum" “The US-listed group, which, like its peers KKR and Carlyle, has built out wealth channels to tap HNW and UHNW demand for its services, said $28 billion was raised via its wealth arm in 2024, including $23 billion for the perpetual vehicles – nearly double what was raised from individuals in those strategies in 2023.” (Family Wealth Report)

Apollo Tokenizes Credit Fund with Securitize “ACRED is initially available on the Aptos, Avalanche, Ethereum, Ink, Polygon, and Solana networks, includes Ethereum ecosystem support from Etherealize, and investment from Coinbase Asset Management and Kraken, amongst others.” (Markets Media)

New Mountain Capital launches wealth solutions team and platform “New Mountain Wealth Solutions is led by industry veteran Raleigh Peters, who serves as head of wealth solutions and is responsible for helping to build and lead New Mountain’s business serving the private wealth industry. Prior to joining New Mountain, Peters worked at Blackstone as head of global strategic partnerships within private wealth solutions.” (Real Assets Advisor)

KKR Names Melissa Kivett as Head of Defined Contribution “Alternative investment manager KKR & Co. has appointed Melissa Kivett as the firm’s first head of defined contribution, a spokesperson for KKR said.” (Chief Investment Officer)