When the first cryptocurrency, bitcoin, was proposed in 2008, the goal was simple: to create a digital currency free from banks and governments. Over time, that idea evolved into something much bigger: decentralized finance, or DeFi. With decentralized finance, people trade, borrow and earn interest on crypto assets without relying on traditional intermediaries. DeFi services run on blockchains, which are essentially ...

The current push to realign the global trade landscape is sitting on top of longer-term trends of how we invest in real estate — and, fundamentally, what real estate is. And let’s not forget the effects of data science and artificial intelligence on the way we work and make decisions. In this environment, access to complete and valid information, or market intelligence, is ...

America’s global power has always been tied to its ability to produce, secure and control energy. In 2025, that connection is clearer than ever. With the federal government reversing course on restrictive climate policies and reasserting energy dominance as a national priority, we are entering a new era — one where U.S. oil and gas is again at the ...

Larry Fink, CEO of BlackRock, commenting in European red tape: “Capital can’t fuel growth if it’s trapped in bureaucracy. Yet the E.U. operates under 27 different legal systems. And even if you navigate that red tape and decide to invest — say, in an energy company — it can take 13 years just to permit a power line. You might back that project to meet soaring demand from data centers, but if those centers are training artificial intelligence, it triggers an entirely new layer of regulation. The result is paralysis.”

In January 2024, the developer Scot Matteson of Matteson Capital announced his intention to erect a 1,907-foot skyscraper in Oklahoma City. If completed, it would be the tallest building in North America, and among the top 10 tallest in the world. Its height was chosen for symbolic reasons — 1907 was the year that Oklahoma was admitted to the union. Whether the tower is completed at its announced height remains to be seen. However, the developer’s success thus far suggests an interest in seeing it built, as it will serve as a beacon of OKC’s growth.

President Donald Trump’s first overseas trip since returning to the White House turned a lot of heads across the aerospace, defense and semiconductor industries. Over the course of a few days, he visited three key Persian Gulf states — Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) — where a cascade of economic agreements potentially totaling in the trillions of dollars was unveiled. One of the marquee announcements was ...

The year 2025 has been uneven for investors, featuring tenacious wars and geopolitical tensions, sluggish global growth, and vacillating trade policies from Washington, D.C. In the United States, market denizens each passing quarter are warned an economic recession is imminent. As of mid-year, interest rates were creeping higher, not easing, as hoped for in January forecasts. Investors of all stripes are ...

Consider the following scenario: You’ve carefully selected private equity investments for your IRA, excited about the potential for tax-advantaged growth. The investments perform well in the first year, generating substantial returns. Then, unexpectedly, you receive a tax notice. Your IRA owes significant unrelated business income tax, drastically reducing your returns. Despite the investment meeting performance targets, your after-tax returns fall short of projections. You now face the difficult decision of liquidating the investment early or accepting ...

The Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC) potential reevaluation of the assets under management (AUM) threshold that distinguishes state-registered investment advisers from their federally registered counterparts warrants monitoring. Acting SEC chairman Mark Uyeda’s recent statements at a joint conference with the North American Securities Administrators Association (NASAA) have sparked important discussions within the RIA community.

Roughly a dozen years ago, Cathie Wood started looking to the future and didn’t see herself there. She didn’t see oblivion either. Far from it. What she could not envision was a future at her current place of employment, the Wall Street asset management house of AllianceBernstein, where she had logged a dozen years serving as CIO of global thematic strategies, managing more than $5 billion in investor capital. It had nothing to do with job performance or any acts of malfeasance. Rather ...

As energy demand grows, particularly driven by data centers and AI applications, the small modular reactor (SMR) nuclear pipeline surged 42 percent from the previous quarter to reach 47 gigawatts in first quarter 2025, according to a new report from Wood Mackenzie. According to the firm’s report, titled SMR nuclear market update: Q1 2025, the pipeline ...

When it comes to retirement planning, self-directed individual retirement accounts are a strong option. They let investors diversify beyond stocks and bonds. As someone who has worked in the space for years, I’ve seen firsthand how digital assets are transforming retirement accounts. Including XRP, HBAR and other cryptocurrency investments in your retirement strategy offers new possibilities for growth and diversification that were unthinkable only a decade ago.

All investments have impact. They may impact society, the economy, infrastructure or the shape of an industry. Investors are increasingly focused on putting their financial assets to work for more than financial return. Over the past two decades, impact investing has evolved from a niche concept to a movement, with more than $1 trillion earmarked for investing with an intention for impact. This evolution represents a shift in the way some investors are thinking about the role of ...

As a February report from McKinsey & Co. observed: “The defense ecosystem today is at a critical junction, ripe with opportunity for private capital, the traditional defense industrial base and other commercial players such as hyperscalers to take critical roles in leading disruption within the innovation pipeline.” Geopolitical shifts are reinforcing the urgency. As the Trump administration attempts to recast the United States’ role in NATO and broker a peace deal with Russia, European governments are also planning to ...

There’s no denying that alternative investments have entered a new era, one where interest is no longer limited mostly to institutions and elite investors, as it once was. In fact, high-net-worth (HNW) and ultra-high-net-worth (UHNW) individuals are embracing them at a rapid rate, with private wealth allocations in the area expected to triple over the next decade, per research from BNY. Yet, new research shows ...

Micro-apartments were practical before they were cool. Once a spot-on solution for factory workers and new arrivals to big cities, they’ve evolved into a trendy lifestyle choice for recent grads, young professionals and empty nesters embracing urban living. Today, small homes offer the best of both worlds — not only aesthetic appeal, but a ...

In an age when environmental, social and governance (ESG) screens dominate due diligence checklists and headlines are filled with the promise of net-zero revolutions, few asset classes draw more skepticism or misunderstanding than oil and gas. For registered investment advisers (RIAs) committed to building durable, tax-efficient portfolios for sophisticated clients, the hydrocarbon sector may seem like a legacy play best left in the past. But this view misses a deeper opportunity.

Many people reason that “water is the new oil.” If you are so inclined, a new white paper from AllianceBernstein titled Water Risks: An Investor’s Guide to Navigating Sustainable Water Management might be for you.

A modest allocation to bitcoin would have significantly improved returns on the traditional 60/40 portfolio, according to a research paper from Bitwise, a crypto index fund manager. For example, adding a 2.5 percent bitcoin allocation with quarterly rebalancing would have improved the cumulative return of the portfolio to ...

How has the SEC marketing rule changed the way alternative investment firms approach marketing? The SEC’s updated marketing rule has reshaped how firms communicate, especially those marketing to RIAs or using 506(c) structures. While the rule technically applies to ...