Secret Service seizes $400M in crypto, cold wallet among world’s largest

The post BlackRock boosts AI and US equity exposure in $185 billion models appeared on BitcoinEthereumNews.com. BlackRock is steering $185 billion worth of model portfolios deeper into US stocks and artificial intelligence. The decision came this week as the asset manager adjusted its entire model suite, increasing its equity allocation and dumping exposure to international developed markets. The firm now sits 2% overweight on stocks, after money moved between several of its biggest exchange-traded funds. This wasn’t a slow shuffle. Billions flowed across multiple ETFs on Tuesday as BlackRock executed the realignment. The iShares S&P 100 ETF (OEF) alone brought in $3.4 billion, the largest single-day haul in its history. The iShares Core S&P 500 ETF (IVV) collected $2.3 billion, while the iShares US Equity Factor Rotation Active ETF (DYNF) added nearly $2 billion. The rebalancing triggered swift inflows and outflows that realigned investor exposure on the back of performance data and macroeconomic outlooks. BlackRock raises equities on strong US earnings The model updates come as BlackRock backs the rally in American stocks, fueled by strong earnings and optimism around rate cuts. In an investment letter obtained by Bloomberg, the firm said US companies have delivered 11% earnings growth since the third quarter of 2024. Meanwhile, earnings across other developed markets barely touched 2%. That gap helped push the decision to drop international holdings in favor of American ones. Michael Gates, lead portfolio manager for BlackRock’s Target Allocation ETF model portfolio suite, said the US market is the only one showing consistency in sales growth, profit delivery, and revisions in analyst forecasts. “The US equity market continues to stand alone in terms of earnings delivery, sales growth and sustainable trends in analyst estimates and revisions,” Michael wrote. He added that non-US developed markets lagged far behind, especially when it came to sales. This week’s changes reflect that position. The move was made ahead of the Federal…

The post Alameda Research recovers 500 BTC, still holds over $1B in assets appeared on BitcoinEthereumNews.com. Alameda Research is sitting on over $1B in crypto assets, even after the latest repayment to creditors. The fund’s wallets received another 500 BTC valued at over $58M.  Alameda Research, the defunct quant and hedge firm linked to FTX, received another 500 BTC in one of its main wallets. Following the latest inflow, and with additional SOL unlocks, Alameda Research once again sits on over $1B in assets.  The BTC inflow came from an intermediary wallet, labeled ‘WBTC merchant deposit’, from Alameda’s involvement with the WBTC ecosystem. The 500 BTC were moved through a series of intermediary wallets, showing activity in the past few weeks.  The funds were tracked to deposits from QCP Capital, which started moving into Alameda’s wallets three weeks ago. The wallets also moved through Alameda’s WBTC Merchant addresses. During its activity period, Alameda Research had status as an official WBTC merchant, meaning it could accept BTC and mint WBTC tokens. The WBTC was still issued by BitGo, while Alameda was not the custodian.  The current tranche of 500 BTC returning to Alameda’s wallet may come from its own funds, unwrapped from the tokenized form. In any case, Alameda is now the full custodian of the 500 BTC.  The small transaction recalls previous episodes when Alameda withdrew assets from FTX in the days before its bankruptcy. WBTC was one of the main inflows, as Alameda used its status as WBTC merchant to unwrap the assets and switch to BTC. Due to the rising BTC market price, the recent inflow was even larger than the withdrawals at the time of the FTX bankruptcy.  Alameda inflows arrive just before the next FTX distribution The transfer into Alameda’s wallets has not been moved to another address, and may not become a part of the current FTX distribution at this stage. …

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