Grayscale wins Spot Bitcoin ETF case at DC Federal Court of Appeals

by Zain Jaffer A three judge panel of the DC Federal Court of Appeals ruled in late August 2023 that the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) did not have a legal basis to reject Grayscale’s proposed spot Bitcoin ETF. Grayscale runs the $16B Grayscale Bitcoin Trust (GBTC) which they hope to convert it into […]

Swimming in Debt

by Zain Jaffer Most people these days who keep abreast of the business and political news have probably heard of the large $32T US government deficit that keeps growing daily. They’ve also heard as well that the Fed overnight lending rate went up from just above zero to now around 5.5% in a span of […]

BRICS and the US Dollar

by Zain Jaffer Recently in August 2023 representatives from Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa, (BRICS) and other interested countries met in South Africa to strengthen the BRICS alliance. It was announced in the meeting that six new countries would officially join the BRICS alliance in January 2024. These six new countries include Saudi Arabia, […]

Seller financing of real estate

by Zain Jaffer After a year of Fed rate hikes on the overnight lending rate, plus a credit rating downgrade of the US Government by Fitch Ratings, we can expect that the high interest rate regime will be with us for a while. When the Fed rate was just in the one percent range prior […]

NY Federal Court decides that Ripple XRP is not a security

Companies and individuals who have been considering the use of cryptotokens for funding, marketing, or even customer rewards programs have been following the SEC vs. Ripple XRP case for some  time. Finally last mid-July 2023, Judge Analisa Torres of the Southern District of New York Federal Court released her decision on the case. Basically the […]

Investing in a 224-Unit multifamily in Missouri

First published in Medium We recently purchased a 224-unit apartment complex in Springfield, Missouri called Sherwood Village Apartments. This 2003/2006 vintage sits on almost 5 acres of land and is expected to generate a 14% net IRR for our LPs. The acquisition was made via Blue Field Capital where I’m a General Partner. One of our specialties […]

Resuming school payments cuts discretionary spending further

Recently in early July 2023, the US Supreme Court ruled that student loan forgiveness by the Biden administration was unconstitutional.[1] Even Congresswoman Nancy Pelosi once remarked that Biden could not do it without an enabling law from the US Congress, and this was even used by the SC Justices to justify their ruling.  Biden’s new […]

Buying a house is a good investment

Buying a home is a good investment in general. That might seem obvious, but during uncertain times like these, that advice is sometimes worth repeating. Much has been written about how the commercial real estate market will be the next crisis to hit, assuming we make it through the situation with the banks, the high […]

Shiny Boomer rocks?

Ask most kids these days if they want to receive gold as a gift, you may get some to say yes. But some may say to just give them some Bitcoin or crypto or some type of digital item like a game, or something they can use. Somehow the allure of this precious metal isn’t […]

Should you buy gold and silver now?

During times of crisis, gold and silver often regain their popularity as a safe haven for investors. Both have been considered precious metals since ancient times. At the moment, gold’s price has increased and is hovering for extended periods above or just below the $2,000 per ounce price point, which was previously a ceiling for […]

A $32T bar tab

Imagine you know someone who keeps ordering drinks from a bar, and issuing IOUs for each drink. The bar and its bartender have an understanding to accept those IOUs. So several times a week, your friend keeps ordering drinks. Normally the bar wouldn’t complain if your friend settled his tab perhaps once a month, but […]