Wealthy Americans Pour $48B into Private Credit, Blackstone Leads

• Wealthy Americans drove record $48B into private credit in H1 2025.
• Concerns grow as regulators flag opacity and liquidity risks.

Wealthy Americans poured $48 billion into private credit in the first half of 2025, reshaping the financial landscape as firms like Blackstone and Apollo thrive, the Financial Times reported on August 31, 2025. Data from RA Stanger shows that affluent individuals are accelerating the shift away from traditional banking intermediaries, positioning firms like Blackstone, Apollo, and KKR as key players in private lending markets.

This trend marks a significant transformation in the financial landscape, with wealthy investors increasingly favoring private credit over public markets or traditional bank loans. Private credit operates largely outside the typical regulatory frameworks applied to banks, creating an opaque and illiquid market environment. Investors are particularly drawn toward evergreen funds, which offer continuous subscriptions and periodic redemption opportunities.

Blackstone’s BCRED fund remains the industry leader, having raised $6.5 billion this year and reached $73 billion in total assets. Rivals like Apollo, Cliffwater, and Blue Owl are also vying for dominance and collectively raised billions in the same period. Apollo added $6.4 billion, Cliffwater raised nearly $11 billion, and Blue Owl attracted $7 billion, according to Financial Times data. This intensifying competition has led to a compression in returns as funds compete for a finite number of lending opportunities.

Regulators, led by the SEC, are closely watching the sector as concerns over investor protection grow. Private credit funds provide minimal public disclosure about borrowers, loan terms, and portfolio health. This opacity complicates risk assessments, increasing fears of systemic instability in the event of redemption spikes during market downturns. Evergreen funds, despite their appeal to investors, face structural vulnerabilities under conditions of heightened market stress.

The boom in private credit has expanded beyond the U.S. In Europe, evergreen private debt funds more than doubled their assets over the past year, reaching €24 billion by June 2025, according to consulting firm Novantigo. Moody’s has identified the inflows from affluent investors across markets as a major growth driver. Even amidst geopolitical tensions, these investors treat private credit as a cornerstone of long-term strategies, signaling broad confidence in its resilience as an asset class.

As of August 31, 2025, 12:00 UTC, Ethereum (ETH) is trading at $1,982, with a 3.1% increase in 24-hour trading volume, according to CoinMarketCap.