In case you’ve been living under a rock the past few months, let me just take a moment to catch you up on the sheer insanity that is the cryptocurrency market right now.
Since the start of the year, the total market capitalization of the rising asset class has skyrocketed from $18 billion to as high as $90 billion, surpassing the likes of NIKE (NYSE: NKE), NVIDIA Corp. (NASDAQ: NVDA), Qualcomm Inc. (NASDAQ: QCOM), and Lockheed Martin (NYSE: LMT) in value.
The numbers are obviously staggering, especially when you consider how quickly this has happened. If you had diversified across the entire sector back in January, less than six months ago, you could be looking at a staggering return of 500%.
If you’re feeling the slight sting of regret after hearing that, you’re definitely not alone.
We first began pushing the most widely recognized cryptocurrency, Bitcoin, to Wealth Daily subscribers in late 2014, when it was trading at $320 a unit.
At the time, a lot of people were saying this was insane. They thought Bitcoin was just a bubble on its way out, a passing fad so to speak. Those people didn’t take action, and they’re presumably feeling the pain today.
In 2016 I followed up with another plea to our readers when Bitcoin was at $710. I called for the digital currency to hit $1,200 before the close of 2018.
I was certainly right, but far too conservative, it turns out. Bitcoin has been on an absolute tear, touching $2,800 this week. The digital currency has since cooled down after profit-taking, but there’s little doubt the ceiling has been blown way off on this thing.
If you have your calculator handy, you’ve already figured a 775% gain since our initial coverage of Bitcoin in 2014 and a 294% gain since our reassertion leading into 2017. Not too shabby.
Unfortunately, I know for a fact that many of our readers aren’t taking our advice when we give it. I know this because two weeks ago, we offered a free report on cryptocurrencies, and the response was pretty pathetic.
On top of the free report, we put together a video tutorial so our readers could easily understand the buying process. We even partnered with digital asset exchange company Coinbase so new users could earn $10 in free digital currency when they got started.
How many people took us up on the offer? Enough to count with my fingers.
For perspective, we have several hundred thousand readers subscribed to Wealth Daily. I can’t give you exact numbers on how many people saw that offer, but I can assure you it was a lot.
As someone who’s been trying to get people invested in digital currency for years, I have to say it’s a little frustrating — but I also understand.
Over the years, Wealth Daily has built a large community of independent investors… but of a very specific kind.
Our readers are used to trading stocks and taking stakes in public companies. They’ve been doing it for years — decades, in fact — and the truth is that people tend to fear change.
If you’re already set up with an online brokerage, buying digital currencies obviously isn’t as easy as trading stocks. You have to take the time to open a new account and transfer funds.
It’s quite easy to do, actually, but it’s an extra step that a lot of people are avoiding for the sake of convenience.
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To highlight this fact, just take a look at the recently established Grayscale Bitcoin Investment Trust (OTC: GBTC).
GBTC is a fund that exclusively invests in Bitcoin and was the first avenue for public investors to gain exposure to the price movement of Bitcoin through a traditional stock exchange. Essentially, it’s a convenience for investors who don’t want to open a digital assets account.
And the price that investors have been willing to pay for this convenience is absolutely staggering.
To start off, there is a 2% annual fee paid to the sponsor of the trust, which is obviously going to eat away at any long-term gains.
But far worse, GBTC has been trading near a 50% premium to its actual Bitcoin assets. This is completely irrational and, to be completely frank, just plain lazy.
Rather than take 10 minutes to set up a Coinbase account, it seems that these buyers would rather increase their cost basis by 50% AND pay a 2% annual fee on top.
To be fair, most of these investors probably have no idea what’s even happening. But still, you have to kidding me…
I hate to be so stern, but if you want exposure to Bitcoin, I beg of you, don’t put your money in the Grayscale Bitcoin Investment Trust. It’s just plain dumb.
If you’re not going to invest in digital currencies because you think they’re too risky, that’s one thing. I certainly understand any hesitation following the recent run. It was too much, too quickly, and the safe thing to do would be to wait for some support.
But if you’re simply avoiding the inconvenience of buying cryptocurrencies directly, I assure you this is a mistake. It’s a very simple process that you can get started with immediately.
No doubt, digital currencies are going to remain volatile. These aren’t investments for the faint of heart, and it’s not anything you should be betting the entire farm on…
But rest assured that blockchain technologies, at this point, are not going away. Many will fail, but those that manage to make it through the chaos will bring investors wealth beyond measure.
It’s crazy to think about, but as Fortune Finance recently reported, if you invested just $5.00 in Bitcoin seven years ago, you could have been sitting on $4.4 million today.
For Bitcoin, those days of incredible opportunity are gone, but there are still more chances just like it on the horizon.
And that’s why we’re here: to help keep you informed about those opportunities wherever we find them. Every day we scour not just the public markets but also unique situations, like the world of cryptocurrencies, so you can stay in the loop.
Until next time,
Jason Stutman
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