> Bitcoin is bitcoin. Unless you want to say that you are starting an ETF that represents a diverse amount of exchanges and in so doing lowers spread risk, then there is really no technical reason for this ETF being founded.
There is _tremendous_ non-market risk in ALL of buying, holding, and selling bitcoin right now.
We're talking about the kind of risk that makes price speculating in a one-of-a-kind virtual internet cryptocurrency look like t-bills by comparison. It vastly outweighs the volatility inherent in the asset.
Your money can be seized by feds on the way to the exchange. The exchange could shut down or get DDoSed. The coins could get stolen out of the exchange before you pull them out.
Ok, dodged all that. Now you've got bitcoins. Your computer could get compromised, rendering your encrypted USB keyfiles or QR printouts unhelpful. Your keys could end up on the security footage of the bank's safety deposit vault camera. Your computer could get backdoored in the months of holding, waiting for the day you load your keys back in to send the coins back to the exchange.
Selling time. You manage to keep your keys private and sign a transaction, sending your bitcoins to the exchange. Maybe they get hacked, maybe they shut down, maybe they don't presently have a partner bank in the US to send transfers out...
There is growing demand for secure and convenient access to the bitcoin market's growth. Right now it's terrible and insecure and fragmented and illiquid and risky, and that's not changing anytime soon - but it will, eventually. It must.
There is _tremendous_ non-market risk in ALL of buying, holding, and selling bitcoin right now.
We're talking about the kind of risk that makes price speculating in a one-of-a-kind virtual internet cryptocurrency look like t-bills by comparison. It vastly outweighs the volatility inherent in the asset.
Your money can be seized by feds on the way to the exchange. The exchange could shut down or get DDoSed. The coins could get stolen out of the exchange before you pull them out.
Ok, dodged all that. Now you've got bitcoins. Your computer could get compromised, rendering your encrypted USB keyfiles or QR printouts unhelpful. Your keys could end up on the security footage of the bank's safety deposit vault camera. Your computer could get backdoored in the months of holding, waiting for the day you load your keys back in to send the coins back to the exchange.
Selling time. You manage to keep your keys private and sign a transaction, sending your bitcoins to the exchange. Maybe they get hacked, maybe they shut down, maybe they don't presently have a partner bank in the US to send transfers out...
There is growing demand for secure and convenient access to the bitcoin market's growth. Right now it's terrible and insecure and fragmented and illiquid and risky, and that's not changing anytime soon - but it will, eventually. It must.
I don't think this ETF is that, though.