Hello and welcome to Alts Cafe
The most important alternative investing stories each week,
Totally customized to your liking.
Best enjoyed over a cup of coffee.
Highlights:
- Classic Cars: Classic cars over 25 years old are “fully exempt from the 25% tariff” on imported passenger vehicles and light trucks.
- Crypto: Trump family takes 20% stake in new Bitcoin mining company
- Luxury Goods: Prada Group announced plans to acquire Versace and Jimmy Choo.
- Precious Minerals: President Trump signed an executive order to boost US mineral production.
- Collectibles: Chewbacca’s Bowcaster from Star Wars sold for $768,600.
- Private Equity: PE exit values doubled to $194 billion in Q1 2025.
- Real Estate: Two California cities’ luxury home sales surged 82%
Let’s go.
Table of Contents
Macro View
Bullish news
- US hiring surged with 228,000 jobs added in March, while wages grew 3.8% year-over-year.
- President Trump called for the Fed to cut interest rates.
Bearish news
- President Trump announced sweeping tariffs up to 54% on imports from 180 countries.
- Hedge funds are hit with the steepest margin calls since Covid
- China announced additional tariffs of 34% on all US products starting April 10.
- Multiple companies, including StubHub, Klarna, and Chime, have halted IPO plans.
Classic Cars
Bullish news
- Classic cars over 25 years old are “fully exempt from the 25% tariff” on imported passenger vehicles and light trucks.
- A rare 1989 RUF CTR “Yellowbird” sold for $6.05 million at Gooding & Company’s auction, one of only nine finished in Blossom Yellow.
- A 1912 Rolls-Royce Silver Ghost Tourer was restored with $600,000 in improvements.
Bearish news
- The collector car market dropped to its lowest rating since November 2020, with Hagerty’s March rating falling to 60.39.
Startups
Learn more
How Do stock markets influence classic car prices?
This privately published paper investigates the connection between the classic car market and financial markets globally.
Using a 23-year monthly database, the author applies cointegration analysis to answer the question.
(Note: This requires an All-Access pass)
Crypto
Bullish news
- Trump family takes 20% stake in new Bitcoin mining company
- PayPal expanded its US crypto offerings by adding support for Solana and Chainlink tokens.
Bearish news
- Per Rural Mainstreet Index, two-thirds of bankers expect farm income to decline in 2025
- Crypto hacks reached $1.63 billion in Q1 2025, a 131% increase from Q1 2024.
Join the Discussion
Eric and Don Jr. now own 20% of American Bitcoin, a mining venture powered by Hut 8’s 61,000 rigs. It’s their third crypto move, following launches in stablecoins and memecoins.
The firm aims to go public and build a private Bitcoin reserve—raising concerns over ethics, as Trump pushes pro-crypto policy while his family expands its digital asset empire.
This is definitely something to watch closely.
Collectibles
Bullish news
- Chewbacca’s Bowcaster from Star Wars sold for $768,600.
- A rare 1950s Chief Oshkosh beer can sold for $111,150, setting a new record for beer memorabilia.
- Caitlin Clark’s Indiana Fever rookie card sold for $366,000, breaking the previous women’s sports card record.
Bearish news
- eBay removed a replica of a Roman dodecahedron after complaints.
Join the Discussion
Christian Braun has some choice words about the collectibles.com data breach
I don’t like to kick somebody when they are down. You gotta secure your databases…But now having looked, I have no idea of why anybody would bother with this site.
International Investing
Bullish news
- Euro area annual inflation decreased to 2.2% in March.
- India’s manufacturing sector reached an 8-month high in March.
- Turkey’s annual inflation rate dropped to 38.1% in March.
Bearish news
- Canada announced plans to match Trump’s 25% auto tariffs on US vehicles.
- Over 100 developing nations faced unsustainable public debt, with 65% held by private lenders.
Learn more
Two years ago, we collaborated with our friends at Tech Safari on what many Alts readers consider one of their favorite issues: Investing in Rwanda 🇷🇼 Yesterday, we teamed with Tech Safari once again to explore the bull market in African address & identify verification.
Startups
Bullish news
- The ISS National Lab announced a $500,000 accelerator program for six space startups.
- KingsCrowd, the Bloomberg terminal for startups, is raising a round of funding themselves.
Bearish news
- Sydney venture capital firm EVP discovered StrongRoom AI fabricated revenue numbers after investing $10.4 million. StronomRom claimed profitability but was actually losing $800,000 per month.
- African startup funding plummeted to $50 million in March 2025.
- Palantir filed a lawsuit against Y Combinator startup Guardian AI for alleged trade secret theft.
Join the Discussion
In a stunning lapse of due diligence, Sydney venture capital fund EVP has contacted police and is trying to recoup a clumsy $10m investment it made.
In March 2025, EVP’s Opportunities Fund (launched in July 2024) led the investment in StrongRoom AI, a medication management software startup.
Just weeks later, EVP identified “financial irregularities” within StrongRoom AI, and reported the matter to law enforcement.
StrongRoom has now moved into administration, and EVP has informed investors about “pursuing all available avenues for recovery.”
There’s not a ton of precedence for situations like this.
Will LPs get their capital back?
Music and Film
Bullish news
- Texas Senate approved $500 million in film incentives.
- Sony Pictures Classics acquired worldwide rights to the Tony Award-winning Broadway revival of “Merrily We Roll Along”.
Bearish news
- Merlin sued TikTok rival Triller for $2.55 million in unpaid licensing fees and stock warrants.
- Netflix director Carl Rinsch faced fraud charges for allegedly scamming $11 million while producing nothing.
Investment Update
With Village Roadshow’s recent bankruptcy and general market chaos, it’s right to check how our Film I investment is doing.
Chris posted this thoughtful response earlier in the week.
I also dove into the situation and concluded that Film I is well-placed to take advantage of the new dynamic in Hollywood.
Private Equity & Private Credit
Bullish News
- PE exit values doubled to $194 billion in Q1 2025.
- The Virginia Retirement System allocated $675 million to private market strategies.
Bearish News
- Morgan Stanley and JPMorgan’s attempt to refinance $5 billion of Finastra’s private credit debt has failed.
- Vista Equity Partners shelved plans to refinance $6 billion in debt.
Join the Discussion
The Boston Celtics are set to be sold to a PE firm in a record-breaking $6.1 billion deal.
This purchase price marks the highest valuation ever for a North American sports franchise, surpassing the $6.05 billion sale of the Washington Commanders in 2023.
This acquisition underscores the increasing role of private equity in professional sports, as investors recognize the growing value of major franchises.
Artwork
Bullish news
- Gagosian announced a major Willem de Kooning exhibition spanning five decades.
- Basquiat’s “Sabado por la Noche” sold for $14.5 million at Christie’s Hong Kong.
- Tate Modern received its largest donation since 1969: a 6-metre Mitchell triptych from billionaire Jorge M Pérez.
Bearish news
- Texas proposed penalties up to $500,000 per artwork for museums displaying “obscene material”.
- The Van Gogh Museum rejected claims of authenticity for a painting purchased for $50 that was valued at $15 million.
- President Trump’s executive orders forced the shuttering of DEI offices at the Smithsonian and National Gallery of Art.
Join the Discussion
An artwork by M.F. Husain just sold for $13.8 million at Christie’s, shattering the auction record for Modern Indian Art
Farmland
Bullish news
- USDA released $537 million in HBIIP funding for 543 projects across 29 states to upgrade rural fuel stations.
- China announced plans to develop 90 million hectares of high-standard farmland by 2030.
Bearish news
- The USDA cut $1 billion from local food programs (while expediting $10 billion to large commodity farmers.)
- Delaware’s Farm to Community Program, serving 4,000 individuals and 19 family farms, lost federal funding.
Wine, Whiskey & Spirits
Bullish news
- Colorado passed a bill protecting craft distillers by limiting liquor sales at grocery stores.
Bearish news
- European brewers warned that President Trump’s proposed beer tariffs could cost 100,000 jobs across Europe.
Invest in Scotch Whiskey casks
Scotch distillers have a cashflow hangover, creating a special opportunity for investing in casks.
Vintage Acquisitions has proven experience in this market and provides a secure and fully managed investment process.
They mitigate investment risks through strict HMRC compliance, secure storage, and strategic exit planning.
Luxury Goods
Bullish News
- Prada Group announced plans to acquire Versace and Jimmy Choo.
- Fendi celebrated its 100th anniversary with a commemorative stamp issued by the Italian Ministry.
- Luxury goods insurance startup Grace secured a $6.4 million seed round.
Bearish News
- Rolex prices could increase by 31% after Trump’s new Swiss tariffs.
Metals and Gems
Bullish News
- President Trump signed an executive order to boost US mineral production.
- Gold hit a new record of $3,139.90 per ounce, with central bank buying emerging as a primary price catalyst.
- The White House exempted gold and silver bullion from new reciprocal tariffs.
Bearish news
- Silver prices dropped to eight-week lows at $31.00 an ounce.
- A $2.6 million jewelry heist at a Beverly Hills luxury store resulted in the theft of 20 watches.
- Silver Elephant Mining initiated arbitration proceedings against Andean Precious Metals for failing to pay contractual obligations.
Join the Discussion
Following a 27% surge in 2024, gold prices are up another 14% this year as investors have sought a safe-haven asset amid a tariff-induced stock market slide.
Are you buying gold?
Real Estate
Bullish news
- San Francisco and San Jose luxury home sales surged 82% in March.
- Senior housing demand reached record levels as occupancy rates increased to 87.4%.
Bearish news
- Jacksonville homes face $435 billion in climate risk, with wind damage threatening $254.3 billion in property value.
- A Utah real estate firm allegedly defrauded investors of $10.3 million by selling property at 4x its market value.
- RealPage software and nine landlords faced legal action for allegedly conspiring to inflate rent prices across 800,000 Washington leases.
Websites and Domains
Bullish news
- Hyundai acquired Pleos.com for $55,000 to support their new software launch.
Bearish News
- Adobe faced a class action lawsuit over privacy violations from its extensive web tracking tools across thousands of websites.
- NOAA announced that multiple research websites would go dark due to canceled AWS contracts.
That’s all for this week
Cheers,
Wyatt
Disclosures
- Altea has no holdings in any companies mentioned in this issue
- This issue was sponsored by KingsCrowd
- This issue contains no affiliate links
