Bitcoin IRA has just completed a new animated video that helps explain all of the great benefits of owning a Bitcoin IRA. This video teaches you how a Bitcoin IRA works, it describes where your coins are stored and it highlights some of the unique security features.
Watch the video and find out why investing in a Bitcoin IRA will one of the best decisions you’ll make to grow your retirement fund.
Cryptocurrency is taking off as a retirement investment opportunity. It’s a great way to diversify your retirement portfolio and protect against having all your assets tied to the stock market.
With traditional money, officials can just print off more money whenever they want causing inflation. But, bitcoin has a cap for creation. Once it has been reached no more coins can be made and that means no inflation.
There are also tax benefits to investing in a cryptocurrency IRA. You’ll never pay taxes on capital gains. You can take advantage of these great benefits and get started investing with Bitcoin IRA.com to protect your investments from thieves and hackers. Bitcoin IRA has an exclusive relationship with BitGo, the leader in multi-signature encryption technology, no other company can match its security. BitGo generates three security keys keeping them in separate cold storage locations. That means your security keys aren’t kept on the internet and hackers have no way to access your keys. It’s the safest method of storage unlike other companies which may store your keys offshore or in a dangerous hot storage wallet online.
BitcoinIRA.com also requires government-issued identification and voice verification to transfer and purchase funds. No other crypto investment company offers this level of security. Most only offer one key and they require you to store it yourself. Not safe. If a security key in your possession gets lost or damaged your investment is gone forever. With Bitcoin IRA you’ll never lose your keys and investment.
BitcoinIRA.com is the only turnkey full-service company that walks you through the process of investing, makes sure it is IRS-compliant, protects your investment, and offers $1,000,000 insurance on all transactions. Don’t take our word for it. Here are just a few companies who have featured BitcoinIRA.com.
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Bitcoin breaks the $4,000 mark in August, reaching an all time high
The hard fork, which split Bitcoin into two coins, Bitcoin and Bitcoin Cash, had the world of cryptocurrency concerned that values would plummet amid confusion and fear surrounding the future of Bitcoin. Investors held their breath, waiting to see what result the split would yield. Well, any fears the cryptocurrency community had have been abated. The days and weeks following the split have seen prices for Bitcoin soar to new heights, breaking new records again and again. As of today, August 14, a new record high of $4,286 has been reached.
Brief history of growth
In 2009, Bitcoin was introduced as a peer-to-peer electronic cash system, operating independently of a central bank. Over the years, increasingly more companies and merchants started accepting the cryptocurrency as a payment form. As the number of transactions grew, interest and awareness about the new ecosystem boomed.
In 2011, retailers like Overstock.com started accepting BTC as a payment method. Non-profit companies like The Internet Archive announced in 2013 that it will begin accepting donations through bitcoins. Little by little, more investors started believing in blockchain technology and cryptocurrency. As a consequence, in December 2013, Bitcoin surpassed the $1,200 mark going. The value of Bitcoin bounced around with highs and lows, but one overall, long-term trend was apparent: growth.
A new financial ecosystem was created around the cryptocurrency. ICOs built on the blockchain compels investors to look beyond traditional investment assets; and believe in the legitimacy of Bitcoin.
In the first quarter of 2017, the price for a single bitcoin surpassed the price of 1oz of gold; breaking its all-time high and reaching $1,400. The cryptocurrency is up 40% in August, 2017 alone and has now reached $64 Billion in total valuation.
Bitcoin projections
Standpoint Research – $7,500 by 2018
Standpoint Research correctly predicted the latest spike and now projects Bitcoin to surge to $7,500. “What’s happening is the floodgates are opening,” Moas, founder of Standpoint Research, said in a phone interview with CNBC on Monday. “I believe there are hedge funds and very deep-pocketed individuals going into this now, really hundreds of millions of dollars
CNBC – from $5,000 in a few months; $100,000 in 10 years
Founder of Standpoint Research, Ronnie Moas, recently told CNBC that Bitcoin might reach $5,000 by the end of the year. He pointed out that since the amount of bitcoins is limited (21 million), the increasing demand could drive up its price.
Venture Capitalist Tim Draper – $10,000 by 2018
Infamous venture capitalist,Tim Draper, predicted in 2014 that the value of bitcoin will surpass $10,000 by 2018. It hasn’t happened yet, but the current surge to $3,800 this year; together with the bitcoin split and buzz around the new blockchain, had made some people re-analyze the ludicrous claim made several years ago. The mere fact that Bitcoin rose from $2,000 to over $3,800 in two months gives us the chills.
Venture Capitalist, Jeremy Liew – $500,000 by 2030
Jeremy Liew, renowned investor and entrepreneur, said in an interview with Business Insider that Bitcoin price could realistically reach $500,000 by 2030. Bitcoin IRA mapped out the potential path to$500,000 in this infographic.
Top 5 reasons Bitcoin will continue to grow
What drives Bitcoin’s growth? For some people, the cryptocurrency’s soaring value seems like a jigsaw puzzle. Others have great faith is what’s coming next. Bitcoin expert, Garrick Hileman, argues that one of the key drivers of bitcoin’s growth is speculation. Buying and selling bitcoins may look like a financial trend; but there’s a lot more to it than meets the eye.
Skyrocketing demand in Asia
In the early days of Bitcoin, the boom happened in the US. But the cryptocurrency has now gone global. The surging demand in Asian countries has compelled more investors to ditch traditional investments in favor of cryptocurrency. As of April 1, Bitcoin is an legal payment method in Japan.
Money-transfer services in Bitcoin are soaring
Traditional money transfer services like MoneyGram and WesternUnion are expensive. As a result, startups have started building competitor services on the blockchain.Bluepan is a prime example, the South Korean company is committed to helping workers in South Korea and Japan send money to their families back home in China and the Philippines. Bluepan claims that they’ve processed transactions worth $65 million in 2 years.
Securities and Exchange Commission Consideration
Investors have long been waiting for the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to approve Bitcoin as an exchange-traded fund (ETF). Approval would mean investment in the cryptocurrency would skyrocket into the hundreds of millions and push the needle forward toward global adoption.
The rise of ICOs keeps Bitcoin on the floating line
The rise of investors eager to start a business on the blockchain strengthens the cryptocurrency investment scenario; surpassing the $100 billion USD market valuation. New money is being invested in blockchain technology, compelling others to expand their horizons and look beyond traditional investment assets.
Global exposure
Increasingly more people – amateur investors and experts alike – have started believing that cryptocurrency is the new money of the future. Governments are accepting it as a legal payment system and venture capitalists are using it to grow their investment portfolio. A wide variety of industries already use Bitcoin as a payment method; Bitcoin ATMs are spreading like wildfire, compelling the average consumer to buy bitcoins, too. All these things combined are raising awareness, making cryptocurrency go mainstream and inevitably increasing its popularity and potential.
Takeaway
Bitcoin is growing and experts predict its value to continue to soar and reach new heights. More countries and individuals are adopting the cryptocurrency as a valuable investment independent of the constant inflation of fiat currency. Bitcoin has every potential to upset the system and become the primary currency of the future.
Bitcoin has enjoyed a super bullish run in February owing to numerous factors that has filled the market with heavy speculation. The currency was able to break the all-time high and is now cruising over $1200 levels. As the currency is exploring untraded regions, a lot of uncertainty has clouded the market judgement over the price movements from here on. While fundamentally the market is trending and has got support levels, let’s look into how the prices would behave technically in the near future and how this market can be traded:
Having the market view:
While trading any market, it becomes essentially very important to have a view about the market trend or atleast a good understanding of it. As indicated by the graph, the Bitcoin market has been heavily trending in the bullish direction with favorable fundamentals. With the speculation surrounding the US Securities and Exchange Commission’s decision over Winklevoss ETF, the market has seen a short bullish outburst. The trend lines show that the market has been bullish in a channel indicating low volatility and manifestation of good volumes in the market anticipating a heavy move.
Marking the right indicators:
After ascertaining the channel in which Bitcoin is confined to, it is quintessential to know the strength of the support level that is supporting the move. The base of the move would be the support level generally, but what would be really fruitful to find is the strength of this support level. For the current trending Bitcoin market, the move originated from $750 level after the drastic drop in prices due to Chinese interference. The price levels are 61% retracement levels of Fibonacci retracement level for the upward move from $560. Hence the move is backed by good support due to Fibonacci retracement levels and hence has a strong support.
Possible entry positions and positions to avoid:
Under the extremely bullish conditions, possible market entry points include the lower support line of the trend channel or the middle Bollinger band. If for some fundamental reason, the market comes all the way down to lower Bollinger band, with the Bollinger bands being steady, then taking a position at this point will turn out to be profitable. Under such extremely bullish conditions, it is wise not to take a short position expecting long term benefits. Short term short positions can be taken to scalp rewards from the market owing to the volatility but not with a long term bearish view.
Bitcoin has surpassed the all-time high this week and now has the undivided attention of investors around the world. With Winklevoss ETF coming up for approval next month, the price speculations are giving a good riff to the cryptocurrency. In the first version of this series of posts, I talked about two major ways to invest in Bitcoin, Long Term and Short Term through direct investments and algorithmic trading respectively. Now that we have considered two major ways to invest in Bitcoin directly, let’s look at a couple of indirect or alternate methods of investment.
Investing in Bitcoin Mining:
While Bitcoin market investments are all about speculation, investing in Bitcoin mining is bound to have assured returns. Though the returns would be small in comparison to what market might have on offer, it would be study and over a period of time, if well aggregated highly profitable. Investing in Bitcoin mining would be investing in the equipment and electricity that would be helping in validating the bitcoin transactions and reaping rewards.
When done in large scale, Bitcoin mining is indeed profitable and provides returns on a consistent basis. Investing in Bitcoin mining can be done by finding a reputable mining group and investing with them would be a good option to get sustained returns through Bitcoin mining.
Investing with Bitcoin based startups:
Well, what is more lucrative than investing in the applications of a disruptive technology that has the potential to change Fintech as we see it!! This is another form of indirect investment depends on the selection of a fertile start up that has the potential to transform existing legacy systems and revolutionize markets as we are seeing today. A vast variety of these startups include Bitcoin transfers, wallets, remittances, proxy credit and debit card payments and instant transfer startups. With more innovation Bitcoin is expected to find applications in advanced IoT involving bots and AI. A financial technology which complements the innovation the future holds.
With measured investments and adoption of bitcoin picking up, these startups would reap good business and you can become a stakeholder of a company that is minting good money. These are the indirect ways to invest in Bitcoin profitably. Follow this space for the next part that would cover about investment methods by directly investing in Bitcoin and also saving tax.
Bitcoin has excelled as means of exchange and is slowly developing the characteristics of mainstream currencies. But for it to go the distance, what Bitcoin would require is the backing of the institutional investors. The trends in Bitcoin investment can be analyzed from the direction of the flow of funds into the currency. The volumes of Bitcoin trading are increasing everyday and have been on continues uptrend. The volumes have gone up significantly in the face of global financial crises showing the growing faith in the currency. Let’s look into how various investment groups are adopting Bitcoin and how the investment trends have been:
Hedge funds leading in Bitcoin:
Bitcoin has a total invested market of around $ 6.4 Billion. Majority of these investments (>50%) are held by near institutional funds at hedge funds and family offices. The largest fund holder to hold Bitcoin is the Panthera Bitcoin Fund with estimated holding of $ 160 million. The California based hedge fund founded in 2013 by Dan Morehead, is available to individuals with $50,000 or more to invest. A fund brochure indicates when the fund launched in July 2013, bitcoin BTC=BTSP traded at around $65. On Thursday, it traded at $418.80, marking a gain of more than 500 percent from July 2013.
Other Top Holders:
The Grayscale Bitcoin Investment Trust (GBTC) is the only publicly-traded U.S. security in the over-the-counter market invested in the cryptocurrency. It has assets of more than $60 million invested in cryptocurrency holdings with more than a 1000 shares trading daily.
The trust holders have certified that adding Bitcoin to their portfolio has improved fund performance significantly. Ledra capital specializes in allocating Bitcoin to the portfolio of the clients within the ranges of 1 to 3 percent. ARK Invest in New York holds GBTC in its $12 million Next Generation Internet ETF and the $7 million ARK Innovation ETF. The company manages four exchange-traded funds with $240 million in assets.
Results of the ETFs:
It is estimated that GBTC has delivered 67 basis points to Next Generation Internet ETF’s return and 62 points to the ARK Innovation ETF since September 2015. Next Generation ETF experienced a 15.29 percent return in 2015 while the Innovation ETF posted a 3.76 percent gain. GBTC has been a great diversifier since it has had a low correlation with other asset classes. Kingsbridge Wealth has invested about $1.7 million in bitcoin and the blockchain and has been using GBTC as diversifier.
Over the past seven years the Bitcoin industry has grown organically and continues to grow at good pace. The adoption of new technology brings in new possibilities and means to earn money and Bitcoin is no stranger to this. Bitcoin inherently is the kind of technology that yields money with greater adoption and acceptance. This has been the unique selling point for the cryptocurrency and has motivated people to uphold the ledger system. Let us look into various methods of investing in Bitcoin and earning steady returns over a period of time:
Bitcoin Mining:
Mining for Bitcoin has been one of the straight forward ways to earn money from Bitcoin. The Bitcoin eco system has been designed such that the adoption is rewarded through mining. This provides a smart way to issue the currency and also creates an incentive for more people to mine.
How it works:
People are sending bitcoins to each other over the bitcoin network all the time. Unless someone keeps a record of all these transactions, no-one would be able to keep track of who had paid what. The bitcoin network deals with this by collecting all of the transactions made during a set period into a list, called a block. It’s the miners’ job to confirm those transactions, and write them into a general ledger.
Investment required:
To be able to successfully mine bitcoins miners use special software/hardware to solve math problems. Few of these hardwares include: Antminer S7, Avalon6 and SP20 Jackson. Investments in these suite would help to earn steady returns on Bitcoin.
Venture Capital Investing:
The nascent Bitcoin ecosystem has a long way to go and boarding this train early would be a wise decision. Many technological startups that revolve around Bitcoin and Blockchain Technology are coming up. They revolve around the applications of the currency and its underlying technology. Picking up the right firm to invest in can reap heavy profits on a long term scale.
Bitcoin has seen heavy VC funding and the trend has been on the rise since the start. This proves the growing confidence and the potentiality of the cryptocurrency of transforming the future.
Direct investments:
[Source: newsBTC
The last but the most important and the most viable form of investment is direct investment in the currency. This is very similar to currency trading and can vary in terms of the capital invested and the time frame of investments. Direct investments vary from intraday trading to long term investments. While intraday trading might not be so feasible, long term investments would have heavy rewards vested with it.
Long term investments:
Long term investments can again be categorized into various formats. Owing to its unique properties, people are actively seeking to make Bitcoin a portfolio diversification component. Apart from straight forward investing, Bitcoin Investment trust and Bitcoin Retirement account make good long term investments. These investments are lucrative because of the improving adoption of the currency and also the infrastructure revolving around it.
In 2013, when the world had lot of questions looming around Bitcoin, people were willing to explore it as an investment opportunity. The central interest was around finding ways to capitalize Bitcoin’s properties to make it a prudent investment. Ranging from portfolio diversifier to pure investments, Bitcoin has come a long way slowly replacing the traditional investment formats. One among such most sorted investment formats is our average retirement account. Let’s look into how and why Bitcoin can be a good investment alternative for retirement account:
The suitable traits:
Investments for a retirement account should be diverse, offering great mix and should be able to counterbalance losses of each asset in the portfolio. This would mean the assets have to be non-correlated to the maximum extent. This would also improvise the risk to reward ratio and offers great deal of flexibility. Bitcoin perfectly fits the requisite description as it has no direct bearing with macroeconomic factors. By the virtue of its digital properties, the rules that govern the market don’t necessarily apply to Bitcoin. This makes it one of the most non correlated currency with respect to any asset class.
A typical investment would include few asset classes with good returns and would have small portions of assets for hedging. Traditionally the portfolio would have about 10 % invested in Gold, real estate or hedge funds to manage the risk of the profile.
Current status of Bitcoin investments:
Post 2013, Bitcoin has had its own set of pitfalls but the currency has recovered significantly well over the course of time. From 2014 the yearly returns on Bitcoin have remained positive and the price swings were sufficiently large to ensure good returns. Swing investments aggregated over the time would have resulted in returns better than any asset class.
Credits: Grayscale
Future of Bitcoin and associated investments:
The future of Bitcoin depends on the adoption of the currency at a consumer level. With great Venture Capital backing, the Bitcoin industry is expanding and consolidating with strong roots. The prime focus of the industry has been to provide applications of Bitcoin in a more packaged and consumer friendly manner. With sufficient push and better adoption the currency is sure to see mainstream adoption.
Apart from Bitcoin, the adoption of its underlying technology is also very vital to the cause. It has also impacted the prices significantly in the past. So basing on these factors it is evident that adoption is the key to have sustained returns on Bitcoin. Basing on the returns, Bitcoin surely would be an important part of your portfolio.
Disruptive technologies have the potentiality to transform existing traditional set ups in a more efficient way. Bitcoin and other digital currencies are primarily for acting as a medium of exchange without the limitations of fiat currencies. But due to their numerous applications and quick adoption, they have become a viable option of investment. Bitcoin has been very successful so far in 2016 with the currency experiencing great adoption and returns. On a parallel scale it has been one of the best performing entities of the year. Let’s look into whether we can actually treat Bitcoin as an asset class and invest profitably:
Good Liquidity:
For any asset class, ample liquidity is an important factor to make profitable investments. Without good liquidity it would be difficult to understand and study market dynamics. After seven years of very organic development Bitcoin ecosystem has consistently gained good volumes. Currently the volumes have started surpassing $1 billion in a day on an average. At this rate, it is almost as liquid as Gold is and far more liquid than heavily invested assets. It is also very secure owing to the infrastructure built around the peer to peer network of the currency. Hence Bitcoin offers good liquidity to investors for heavy investments.
Qualities of the asset:
Qualities of the asset refer to how the asset holds value and how it might change with time. This in totality refers to all the qualities that are related to the asset that might govern its value. In this respect, Bitcoin follows Gold and other precious metals. The major correlation is the fact that the supply is limited. With Bitcoin, we have a definite time frame in mind and it doesn’t have the uncertainty factor like in the case of Gold. This makes it even more valuable and the prices are sure to tend higher. Apart from this, adoption and ease of transfer make it a better store of value than Gold. Hence given the above mentioned factors this makes it a very viable asset class to invest.
Correlation with other asset classes:
To transform into a mainstream asset class that is suitable for investments, Bitcoin’s correlation has to be low w.r.t other asset classes. This would then enable it to be a worthy portfolio diversification component. It is this quality that keeps a diversified portfolio safe from losses.
Credits: Grayscale.co
Bitcoin has little or no correlation with any of the existing asset classes. The maximum correlation, that bitcoin exhibited with each of the other assets is the minimum correlation that any of the other paired assets displayed with each other. This means it would be one of the safest asset classes to invest in as the fundamentals governing this market are totally different.
People mostly invest their money for capital preservation and for an increase in the value of their assets. However, you can potentially preserve and increase your wealth using different kind of investments such as equities, precious metals, Bitcoin, bonds, and real estate among other things.
There’s never a one-size-fits-all investment; nonetheless, an objective analysis of the performance of different investment vehicles will show you that some assets have a tendency to outperform other assets without any input from the investor.
This article provides insight on the past performance of Bitcoin, gold, and equities in order to show you how other investors have fared with the three assets. The article also provides insight into the potential performance of the three assets in order for you to know what you can expect going forward.
Bitcoin VS Gold and Equities: Past Performance
The chart above shows the performance of Bitcoin in relation to equities and gold in the year to date period since the markets opened for trading this year.
For the purpose of analysis, I opted to use the S&P 500 Index and the Dow Jones Industrial average Index to represent equities. The S&P 500 index is based on 500 biggest companies (by market capitalization) listed on the NYSE and NASDAQ. The Dow Jones Industrial Average Index refers to a price-weighted average of 30 market-moving stocks listed on the NYSE and NASDAQ.
In order for the analysis to be balanced, I have chosen the NYSE Bitcoin Index as a representation of Bitcoin price. The NYSE Bitcoin Index represents the U.S. Dollar value of one Bitcoin based on transactional averages on major Bitcoin exchanges. I have also added the price performance of gold in U.S. dollar for good measure.
From the chart above, you’ll observe that NYSE Bitcoin Index (Blue) has scored price gains of 44.13% – the index made price gains of as much as 75% in the middle of the year. The SPDR Gold shares index (Green) had scored year-to-date gains of 17.94% and gold (purple) has recorded YTD gains of 24.97%. In essence, Bitcoin has outperformed gold by more than 100% this year.
You’ll also observe that the performance of stocks pales significantly in comparison to the performance of Bitcoin and gold in the year to date period. For instance, the S&P 500 (Orange) is up by a measly 5.72% while the Dow Jones industrial average is up by a measly 4.84%.
Bitcoin VS Gold and Equities: Future Performance
It doesn’t make sense to invest in an asset just because it had an impressive past performance. In fact, astute investors will want to see decent proof that an investment has the potential to deliver good ROI in the future. It might interest you to know that Bitcoin has an impressive upside potential ahead and its upside potential makes it a better investment that gold or equities. Below are two factors that support the bullish thesis for Bitcoin.
1. Increased volatility stemming from U.S. elections
One of the factors that indicate that Bitcoin has impressive upside potential ahead is the upcoming U.S. presidential elections. There’s no doubt that the 2016 general election is one of the most polarizing elections in U.S. political history. The Republican flagbearer, Donald Trump and his Democratic opponent, Hillary Clinton are forcing U.S. voters to choose between the lesser of two evils. Trump could be rash and abrasive while Clinton could be cold, detached, and calculating.
However, the instability in the geopolitical landscape has increased the volatility in the equity markets. In the buildup to the elections, the CBOE S&P 500 volatility index has increased by 13.31% and the volatility will increase in the remaining weeks to the elections. Volatility is not good for equities; hence, investors are left with gold or Bitcoin investments for a measure of stability.
2. Uncertainties surrounding Brexit
I have already established that the upcoming U.S. presidential elections has eliminated equities as a viable investment vehicle and that investors are left with gold and Bitcoin. However, the realities of the Brexit vote in which the U.K. voted to leave the EU would start sinking in the next couple of months. UK Prime Minister, Theresa May has signaled are readiness to begin the official process of Britain’s exit from the EU.
However, the process of Britain’s exit from the EU might weaken the Pound Sterling while making the U.S. dollar stronger. A strong dollar makes gold expensive for potential buyers with currencies other than the greenback. Hence, gold might suffer from reduced demand going forward when the realities of the Brexit vote starts to set in. The reduced demand for gold will hurt gold prices; hence, gold is not really a better alternative.
Smart investors will do well to invest in Bitcoin before the volatile nature of the U.S. presidential elections start forcing investors out of stock. More so, smart investors should start taking up positions in Bitcoin now before Britain begins the formal process of breaking away from the EU.
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