Seth Priebatsch’s Post

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Real Estate, AI, Blockchain

An election just happened, and there were some outcomes. You probably already have thoughts on some of them. I’m going to keep this thread narrowly focused on areas that I and Groma focus on: real estate, digital assets, and Boston 🧵: DIGITAL ASSETS The area with the clearest shift is digital assets. The digital assets industry had, to put it mildly, a difficult experience with the Biden/Harris administration. SEC chair Gary Gensler has waged a campaign of unpredictable and capricious enforcement against firms in the industry, chilling innovation and investment. Even crypto-skeptic financial commentator Matt Levine said that “it sure looks to me, and everyone, like the SEC’s goal is not to protect crypto investors but to prevent crypto investment.” Crypto advocates have looked to Congress to provide clearer guidance to the SEC, but minimal progress has been made in recent years. The FIT21 market structure bill came close, passing the house, but didn’t make it through the Senate, and Biden vetoed a bipartisan bill to repeal SAB 121. The turnover of the presidency and the Senate are likely to change this. Trump has stated his intention to replace Gensler as SEC chair and to push for greater self-custody rights. Meanwhile, with crypto-skeptic Senate banking chair Sherrod Brown having lost his seat and likely to be replaced by pro-crypto Tim Scott, the prospects for pro-crypto legislation have improved immensely. REAL ESTATE The outlook for real estate is more complicated. If the Trump administration is able to act on its promise to deport large numbers of illegal immigrants (and that’s a big if, as it’s likely that a variety of actors–federal agencies, local governments, and NGOs–will oppose it fiercely), it would have two offsetting effects on the real estate market. The supply of construction workers would decrease, making it harder to build new housing, but current demand for housing would also drop, likely lowering prices in the short run. Tariffs would also be a headwind for new construction; many of the raw materials used to build new housing are imported, and increasing their cost makes it harder for the math of new developments to work. The idea is of course for the US to eventually build its domestic manufacturing capacity, but that will take time. BOSTON Lastly, where does Boston stand? Our economy is driven by life sciences, education, and financial services. The financial services industry has been bullish about the election; lighter regulation and lower capital gains taxes are expected to boost its returns. Life sciences are more mixed, as while the industry may also benefit from lower regulation, government healthcare spending may decrease. And education should remain robust, as demand is relatively inelastic. And if you haven’t voted in California yet, they’re somehow still counting, so I guess vote away!

Mark Kini

Founder & CEO | New Business Development, Hospitality Industry

1mo

Great read Seth!

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