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☆ Who is DCG's Barry Silbert, the crypto baron in the crosshairs of the Winklevoss twins over 'bad faith' business practices?
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-09 | by ( Morgan Chittum | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Barry Silbert is the CEO of Digital Currency Group, the crypto conglomerate that owns Genesis and Grayscale. In 2015, the 46 year old started Digital Currency Group (DCG), the $10 billion parent company that controls industry giants like crypto brokerage Genesis and digital asset manager Grayscale. The conglomerate also owns trade publication Coindesk, crypto mining firm Foundry Services, crypto index provider TradeBlock, and digital asset platform Luno Global. Cameron Winklevoss blasted Silbert for "bad faith" business practices last week, alleging the crypto baron owes the digital asset exchange's customers $900 million. Prior to launching DCG, Silbert went to Emory University's Goizueta Business School and began his career as an investment banker at Houlihan Lokey.

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☆ U.K. Property Funds Extend Withdrawal Limits
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-06 | by ( Julie Steinberg | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

In the U.S., Blackstone’s giant real-estate fund aimed at wealthy individuals has said it would limit redemptionsLONDON—Some large U.K.-focused property funds are limiting withdrawals, extending restrictions that began in the fall, as investors such as pension funds pull back from the sector. BlackRock Inc. is deferring meeting third-quarter requests for redemptions from a fund that would ordinarily have been paid at the end of December, said a person familiar with the matter.

☆ Factbox: From BlockFi to Genesis, crypto firms reel from exposure to FTX
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-05 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +5 min

Jan 5 (Reuters) - After the collapse of major cryptocurrency exchange FTX, the industry has felt a ripple effect due to the exposure of many companies to FTX and its affiliated trading firm Alameda Research. Here are some firms that have given information about their exposure to FTX. The crypto lending arm of U.S. digital asset broker Genesis Trading suspended customer redemptions last month, citing the sudden failure of FTX. Genesis said in a tweet on Nov. 10 that its derivatives business has approximately $175 million in locked funds on FTX. COINSHARESCrypto asset manager CoinShares has $30.3 million worth of exposure to crypto exchange FTX, it said in a statement on Nov. 10.

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Property investment in November fell the fastest since the statistics bureau began compiling data in 2000, down 19.9% on year. "Although property sales and starts will likely be slightly weaker than in 2022, property will be much less of a drag on the economy than in 2022." Reuters GraphicsHOUSING DEMANDShares in embattled Chinese property developers have gained 86% since the trough in October, buoyed by a string of property easing measures and the COVID policy u-turn. "We may be close to see some bottoming out in housing demand …but I don't think we're quite there yet," he said. The latest China Beige Book private economic survey was more blunt: "But forget a return to days of old: it will take considerable policy support in 2023 just to pull property out of the gutter."

☆ Crypto lender Genesis Trading lays off 30% of workforce
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-05 | by ( Rohan Goswami | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +1 min

Genesis had already laid off 20% of its workforce and last year replaced its CEO. Silbert's crypto conglomerate, which includes the Grayscale Bitcoin Trust (GBTC) and mining company Foundry, was hit by the market tumult of 2022 and the bankruptcy of crypto hedge fund Three Arrows Capital. The Wall Street Journal reported earlier on the cuts. Genesis engaged bankruptcy professionals shortly after the collapse of crypto exchange FTX and its sister hedge fund Alameda Research. The Wall Street Journal reported that Genesis had sought an emergency loan of $1 billion shortly after the implosion of Alameda, which was a major Genesis client.

LONDON, Jan 4 (Reuters) - U.S. funds giant BlackRock (BLK.N) will defer third-quarter redemptions from its 3.5 billion pounds ($4.2 billion) BlackRock UK Property Fund, a source told Reuters, in the latest sign of strain in Britain's real estate market. BlackRock's UK property fund will defer withdrawals that were originally due to be paid at the end of December, a person familiar with the situation said, asking not to be named. As of November, funds overseeing around 17 billion pounds in UK real estate assets were restricting redemptions to prevent firesales. A spokesperson for Legal & General Investment Management said on Wednesday that its Managed Property Fund was no longer deferring redemptions. M&G, Columbia Threadneedle, Schroders and CBRE did not immediately confirm to Reuters whether redemption deferrals were still in place for their UK property funds.

☆ Wall Street's competitive and rigorous internship process could use a facelift
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-04 | by ( Dan Defrancesco | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

Wall Street's version of the Hunger Games — nabbing a summer internship at an investment bank — is about to kick off. Thousands of college students are eagerly refreshing investment banks' careers pages awaiting applications to open for internships for the summer of 2024. (Yes, you read that right, this summer's internship spots have already been wrapped up for a while.) It's a process that results in young people making decisions that will set them on a certain path for years to come. Despite a difficult end to the year for the bank thanks to a costly fine, Wells' investment bank was actually among the top 10 advisors in M&A in 2022, Bloomberg reports.

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☆ University of California to Invest $4 Billion in Blackstone’s BREIT Real-Estate Vehicle
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-03 | by ( Miriam Gottfried | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

A Blackstone real-estate vehicle aimed at individual investors will get an investment from the University of California. The University of California is putting $4 billion into a Blackstone Inc. real-estate vehicle aimed at individual investors, providing crucial ballast for a fund that has been beset by a wave of redemptions. The investment will come in the form of common equity in Blackstone Real Estate Income Trust Inc., known as BREIT, and will be subject to the same fees and terms the vehicle’s other shareholders get, Blackstone executives said. The typical BREIT investor has the option to sell shares monthly, but University of California manager UC Investments will effectively be committing to hold its shares for six years.

☆ University of California to invest $4 bln in Blackstone real estate fund
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-03 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

Jan 3 (Reuters) - University of California's fund manager said on Tuesday it will invest $4 billion in Blackstone Inc's (BX.N) real estate fund, barely a month after the asset manager limited withdrawals from the fund due to a surge in redemptions. REITs, one of the core strategies that helped Blackstone become the world's biggest alternative asset manager, suffered a setback in December as investors concerned about China's economic prospects and turmoil in the Asian markets withdrew money at a frenetic pace from the real estate fund. The investment in Blackstone Real Estate Income Trust is through UC Investments, which manages a portfolio of nearly $152 billion, according to its website. UC Investments can redeem its holdings over two years after January 2028 and will get an 11.25% minimum annualized net return on its investment, partially supported by a $1 billion commitment from Blackstone. Reporting by Niket Nishant in Bengaluru; Editing by Subhranshu Sahu, Shinjini Ganguli and Shounak DasguptaOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ Inside DCG, the crypto conglomerate led by billionaire Barry Silbert that's come under fire from the Winklevoss twins
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-03 | by ( Morgan Chittum | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Gemini cofounder Cameron Winklevoss blasted Digital Currency Group CEO Barry Silbert for "bad faith" tactics in an open letter. Both executives' respective companies have locked horns over a business disagreement, where Winklevoss alleges that DCG owes Gemini nearly $1 billion. Gemini cofounder Cameron Winklevoss blasted Digital Currency Group (DCG) founder and CEO Barry Silbert in a public letter on Monday, accusing the billionaire of "bad faith" business practices. Winklevoss says that DCG and Genesis owe the crypto exchange and its customers $900 million. How did DCG, Genesis and Gemini get wrapped up in the alleged debt-based scandal?

☆ Gemini's Winklevoss accuses crypto mogul Silbert of 'bad faith stalling tactics' over frozen funds
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-03 | by ( Ryan Browne | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +4 min

Tyler Winklevoss and Cameron Winklevoss (L-R), co-founders of crypto exchange Gemini, on stage at the Bitcoin 2021 Convention in Miami, Florida. He also alleged that Digital Currency Group and Genesis are "beyond commingled." Digital Currency Group (DCG) — of which you are the founder and CEO — owes Genesis (its wholly owned subsidiary) ~1.675 billion," Winklevoss said. watch nowIn addition to Genesis, Digital Currency Group also owns Grayscale, the embattled digital asset manager. "DCG did not borrow $1.675 billion from Genesis," Silbert said in reply to Winklevoss' tweet Monday.

☆ VanEck is winding down its Russia ETFs after invasion froze U.S. investing in Moscow
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-29 | by ( Jesse Pound | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +1 min

Russian President Vladimir Putin chairs a meeting with members of the Security Council at the Novo-Ogaryovo state residence outside Moscow, Russia November 25, 2022. VanEck is liquidating its Russia-centric exchange-traded funds after the ongoing war in Europe has effectively severed the Russian market from Western investors. Russia ETFs plunged after the country's army invaded Ukraine. VanEck's Russia ETFs — the VanEck Russia ETF (RSX) and VanEck Russia Small-Cap ETF (RSXJ) — were effectively frozen after March 4. VanEck's move follows similar announcements by Franklin Templeton last week and BlackRock in August about their Russia ETFs.

☆ The Winklevoss twins and their cryptocurrency exchange Gemini are being sued for fraud by investors
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-29 | by ( Morgan Chittum | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

Crypto exchange Gemini is facing a class action lawsuit over its interest-bearing accounts. Investors are accusing Gemini — along with founders Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss — of fraud, per a complaint filed on Tuesday. Gemini's Earn Program attracted customers because it offered up to 7.4% interest. Gemini Earn Program, which offered customers up to 7.4% interest, abruptly halted its offering last month, "effectively wiping out" customers who still had holdings in the program. Gemini "refused to honor any further investor redemptions, effectively wiping out all investors who still had holdings in the program," the complaint reads.

☆ Same Building, Different Prices: a Two-Speed Property Market Can’t Last
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-27 | by ( Carol Ryan | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

If identical side-by-side houses had different asking prices, home buyers would be understandably confused. In recent weeks, private property funds like Blackstone’s nontraded, semiliquid BREIT vehicle have had to explain their jarringly strong performance relative to listed stocks. BREIT has reported returns of 8.4% so far this year, compared with around minus 25% for publicly traded U.S. real-estate investment trusts. The fund was forced to freeze redemptions after a number of clients asked to cash out at its seemingly rosy valuations. Another big nontraded fund, Starwood Real Estate Income Trust, has also closed its gates.

☆ Brazil's record 2023 bond bill underscores rising debt burden
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-26 | by ( Marcela Ayres | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

Redemptions on the LFT bonds, which are linked to benchmark interest rates, will reach 464 billion reais ($89 billion) in 2023, with 178 billion reais due in March and 286 billion in September. Former Treasury Secretary Mansueto Almeida pointed to real interest rates - adjusted for inflation - of above 6% over the longer term. "If the next government doesn't present and clarify a new fiscal rule soon, we'll be left with this very high interest rate," said Mansueto, now chief economist at BTG Pactual. Otherwise, it will hurt private investment a lot and lead to a very worrying trajectory of public debt growth." Brazil's public debt is expected to close this year at around 74% of GDP, its lowest since 2018.

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☆ Factbox: Russian gold taken out of exchange-traded fund stockpiles
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-21 | by ( Peter Hobson | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

In an analysis about investors shunning Russian gold, Reuters examined lists of gold bars owned by eleven large funds. By late November, the proportion of Russian gold in the stockpiles of eight had fallen. SPDR Gold MiniShares, whose gold is stored by ICBC Standard, saw an almost 50% fall in the amount of Russian gold it holds. Russian gold bars refined before March 7 this year are still eligible to own and trade, it said. GRANITESHARESGraniteShares said it did not distinguish between different brands of good delivery gold including pre-war Russian gold, and that it had not asked its custodian, ICBC Standard, to reduce its holdings of Russian bullion.

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☆ Buyout barons will court the panicking masses
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-20 | by ( Jonathan Guilford | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

Since they’ve already scoured traditional funding sources like pension funds and insurers, they’ll make a priority of tapping wealthy individuals in 2023. Even those slower to embrace the trend, like Carlyle (CG.O), are getting about 10% of inflows from individuals. Pension plans and other stalwarts have seen their stocks and bonds slump in value, potentially leaving them overexposed to buyout funds, private credit, real estate and infrastructure. These investors don’t always have the resources or stomach to lock up their money for half a decade or longer. Third-party platforms like Moonfare are proliferating, pooling retail capital into vehicles that buy stakes in buyout funds.

☆ Turnover surges as funds rush to exit private equity stakes
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-19 | by ( Rae Wee | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +5 min

Conceived as an illiquid but lucrative method of accessing unlisted companies, private investments are typically structured into funds run by buyout firms. Investment firm Hamilton Lane says an unprecedented $224 billion in private equity stakes have been offered in the secondary market this year to mid-November. Others want to deploy their capital elsewhere - a sign that private equity funds are no longer so highly regarded. The need to sell to rebalance can occur when, as this year, private equity funds have outperformed public markets. On paper, plenty of private investments, which are typically valued quarterly, appear to have done very well this year.

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☆ Blackstone drops as the SEC looks into real estate fund redemptions
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-16 | by ( Melissa Lee | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: 1 min

In this videoShare Share Article via Facebook Share Article via Twitter Share Article via LinkedIn Share Article via EmailBlackstone drops as the SEC looks into real estate fund redemptionsBX was down another 4% this week as BREIT draws SEC interest. With CNBC's Melissa Lee and the Fast Money traders, Tim Seymour, Dan Nathan, Guy Adami and Bonawyn Eison.

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