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Bitcoin News Cryptocurrency News

Bitwise Files For Approval To Have Its Bitcoin Fund Publicly Trade On OTCQX

Bitwise Asset Management, a leading crypto asset manager with over $700 million in assets under management, announced today that it has begun the regulatory process to allow shares of the Bitwise Bitcoin Fund to trade on OTCQX.

If approved, shares of the fund would be available for trading in traditional brokerage accounts and for custody with many traditional custodians.

The company has not yet announced a ticker for the fund.

“We are tremendously excited to take the Bitwise Bitcoin Fund down the path recently taken by the Bitwise 10 Crypto Index Fund (OTCQX: BITW),” said Bitwise President Teddy Fusaro. “We have been managing this fund since 2018, offering investors a cost-effective, convenient, and secure means of gaining investment exposure to bitcoin, and are excited to potentially see shares of the fund quoted on OTCQX.”

The Fund charges a 1.5% expense ratio, which includes costs related to custody, tax, accounting, and management fees, lower than competing products. The fund’s bitcoin is held with a regulated, insured, third-party custodian.

The Bitwise Bitcoin Fund opened for private placements by accredited investors in December 2018, and the private placement offering remains open via the Bitwise website.

“There is significant growth in interest from professional investors in accessing bitcoin as a tool to hedge their portfolios against rising inflationary risks,” added Matt Hougan, Bitwise chief investment officer. “Financial advisors in particular are taking note of the large allocations that hedge funds, institutions, insurance companies, and traditional asset managers are making to bitcoin, and based on our recent survey of nearly 1,000 financial advisors, many are deciding that now is the time to consider an allocation of their own.”

If cleared, the Bitwise Bitcoin Fund will be the second Bitwise fund cleared for public quotation: On December 9, shares of the Bitwise 10 Crypto Index Fund (OTCQX: BITW) became the first publicly traded crypto index fund in the United States, and began trading on the OTCQX Best Market.

Bitwise Asset Management is a leading provider of index and beta crypto funds. Based in San Francisco, Bitwise’s team combines expertise in technology with decades of experience in traditional asset management and indexing—coming from firms including Facebook, Google, Wealthfront, BlackRock, Fidelity, Deutsche Bank, IndexIQ, and ETF.com. Bitwise is backed by leading institutional investors and asset management executives, and is a frequent commentator on crypto in the press. It has been profiled in Institutional Investor, CNBC, Barron’s, Bloomberg, The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, and many other leading publications. The firm is a trusted partner to financial advisors, RIAs, multifamily offices, hedge funds, and other professional investors as they navigate the crypto space

Bitwise Asset Management
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Bitcoin News Blockchain News Cryptocurrency News Ethereum News Litecoin News Ripple News

Altcoin Season!

Take Advantage Of Altcoin Price Trends Of 2021

The evidence is abundant that 2021 is the year that will bring a jaw-dropping Altcoin Season. Just as the sun rises in the East and sets in the West, Bitcoin is the first cryptocurrency to rise in price, and the Altcoins eventually follow.

Bitcoin Leads, The Altcoins Follow

There’s no questioning that Bitcoin is the definitive OG of the cryptoshere, as is most likely best highlighted by the point that the flagship digital asset has been in a position to pique the interest of many prominent legacy financial institutions – like Microstrategy, BlackRock, Grayscale – during the last year or thereabouts.

Not just that, in recent months, a selection of banks and venture capital funds as JP Morgan, Raiffeisen, Pantera Capital have projected BTC to scale past beyond the $100k mark with great ease (not to mention our own Bitcoin prediction exceeding $379,000 in 2021), indirectly indicating their growing confidence in this yet incipient asset class.

Even with all the sell offs and volatility which was witnessed during the last week, data available on the web definitely shows that the number of addresses with 1,000 or over Bitcoin (referred to as “whales” in the crypto world) has continued to increase. As is ALWAYS so with professional institutional money, the “buy-the-dip” strategy is employed with full force.

It’s called “talking your book” om Wall Street jargon.

While big institutional players plant news stories and give interviews that create fear, uncertainty and doubt (FUD) – thus driving the price down as nervous traders sell – at the same time they are accumulating for themselves at lower prices.

Like it or not, that’s standard operating procedure for traditional markets, and especially crypto.

Bottom line: whales continue to buy Bitcoin.

And where Bitcoin leads, the altcoins will follow.

Forecasting Altcoin Market Activity for the Coming Year

We’ve been pounding the table that 2021 is going to be another moonshot type of year due to the 4-year cycle. 2013 was the year of the first 4-year cycle top. 2017 was the second instance of a tremendous crypto bull run into the second top of the 4-year cycle.

2021 will be the year of the third top of the 4-year cycle.

In order to gain a better understanding of how the 4 year cycle top will play out, we’ll go back and examine the previous iteration of the cycle.

Looking At The Altcoin Season Of 2017

It’s been said that “History doesn’t repeat, but it sure does rhyme.” If you go back and look at historical prices of Bitcoin from previous years, it’s very obvious that Bitcoin isn’t following the 4-year cycle precisely 100% on a daily basis, but the correlation is over 90%.

In other words, Bitcoin price action rhymes with previous Bitcoin price action.

Let’s look closely at Bitcoin’s price action in 2017 as well as the leader of the altcoins, Ethereum.

Bitcoin Price Action In 2017

Bitcoin was priced at $1,003 on January 1, 2017.

It took 138 days for Bitcoin to double in price. (May 18)

It took 216 days for Bitcoin to triple in price. (August 4)

It took 226 days for Bitcoin to quadruple in price. (August 14)

It took 284 days for Bitcoin to quintuple in price. (October 11)

Ultimately, Bitcoin went up more than 19-fold into the 4-year cycle high on December 17, 2017.

Ethereum Price Action In 2017

Ethereum was priced at $8.20 on January 1, 2017.

It took 60 days for Ethereum to double in price. (March 1)

It took 72 days for Ethereum to triple in price. (March 13)

It took 74 days for Ethereum to quadruple in price. (March 15)

It took 75 days for Ethereum to quintuple in price. (March 16)

By the first day of summer, June 21, Ethereum had increased in price by a factor of 41 times over.

Ultimately, Ethereum went up more than 170-fold into the 4-year cycle high on January 10, 2018.

Altcoin Season Lessons

Looking at the above prices of both Bitcoin and Ethereum, we can gain insights into how the altcoin season of 2021 will unfold.

Here are some key takeaways:

  1. Once altcoin season starts to gain momentum, prices of meritable altcoins will rise faster than Bitcoin.
  2. March is likely to be a very good month for the leading altcoins.
  3. By the summer of 2021, a handful of the best altcoins should be as much as 40 times higher in price compared to where they started the year.
  4. The top altcoins could go up in price more than 150 times their value at the start of the year.
  5. Bitcoin will reach its 4-year cycle peak 3 to 4 weeks before the altcoins do, and will start its new bear market.
  6. The entire altcoin market will follow Bitcoin into its next bear market.

Specific Price Targets

There’s no question in our minds that 2021 is going to be a very, very exciting year for cryptocurrency investors.

You should, however, remember that prices don’t move in a straight line higher. Bitcoin Experienced several LARGE drops in 2017, even though the the overall trend was wildly bullish.

The same is likely to be the case this year.

If you’d like to see some of our specific 2021 price predictions for specific coins, simply head on over to this page.

Altcoin Season Basics

An altcoin season is also a term used for a season in which an altcoin is outperforming the price of the original: Bitcoin. There are three stages to an altcoin season. The first stage is when there is a profiting trend on an altcoin that is very new, or a trend that is new to a particular altcoin. The second stage is when the profiting trend dies down, and there is no longer any substantial profit potential from the altcoin in question.

In the third phase, after the profiting trend has died down, the altcoin season starts to see a new influx of traders who are looking to make a long position in the market. By this stage, the profitability potential in trading on any altcoin is significantly reduced. During the second phase, the price movement of all-time high prices of bitcoin continues on its upward trek.

One of the factors that makes the altcoin season so interesting to follow is the fact that there is considerable amount of volatility in the market. The large increase in volatility is what allows an investor to profit from the trading of ether and another high valued alternative currency. Volatility is usually considered a good thing for experienced traders because it increases the opportunities to profit from price movement – both UP and DOWN.

For investors and holders, however, the volatility can be nerve wracking.

lastly, it’s important to remember that the altcoin season doesn’t last forever. In fact, most (statistically it’s over 90%!) investors lose money during the bearish period. However, if you find several profitable altcoins during this time, it can be literally, life-changing.

Come the end of 2021, just remember one fact: trees don’t grow to the sky.

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Bitcoin News Cryptocurrency News

50% More Financial Advisors Allocating Crypto Investments Over Last Year

Bitwise Asset Management, a leading provider of crypto index funds, and ETF Trends, a leading source of exchange-traded fund news, tips, webcasts, and investing ideas, today released the findings of the Bitwise/ETF Trends 2021 Benchmark Survey Of Financial Advisor Attitudes Toward Cryptoassets.

Nearly 1,000 financial advisors answered a series of questions on cryptoassets and their use in client portfolios. Survey respondents included independent registered investment advisors, broker-dealer representatives, financial planners, and wirehouse representatives from across the U.S.

Among the key findings:

  • A Nearly 50% Increase In The Number Of Advisors Allocating To Crypto Compared With Last Year: The percentage of advisors allocating to crypto in client portfolios rose from 6.3% to 9.4% in 2020.
     
  • 17% Of Advisors Are Considering Making Their First Allocation To Crypto In 2021: Among advisors who are not currently allocating to crypto, 17% are either “definitely” (2%) or “probably” (15%) allocating in 2021. If all do so, it would more than double the number of advisors allocating to crypto, bringing adoption to over 1 in every 5 advisors.
  • The No. 1 Motivation For Advisors Is Crypto’s Uncorrelated Returns, And Inflation Hedging Is Of Rising Interest: 54% of advisors selected “uncorrelated returns” as a motivation for including crypto in portfolios. This finding was in line with last year’s survey results. “Inflation hedging” saw the largest uptick in interest, with 25% of advisors highlighting it as an attractive feature of crypto, up from just 9% last year.
     
  • Most Advisors Are Getting Questions About Crypto From Clients: 81% of all financial advisors reported receiving questions from clients on crypto in 2020, up from 76% in 2019.
     
  • Advisors Are Increasingly Optimistic About Bitcoin’s Price: 15% expect the price of bitcoin to exceed $100,000 within five years, up from just 4% in 2019. Meanwhile, the percentage expecting bitcoin’s price to fall to zero decreased sharply, from 8% in last year’s survey to 4% this year. This continues the trend of the last few years: In our 2019 survey, 14% of surveyed advisors thought the price would fall to zero.

“The survey shows it’s still early days for crypto, with less than 10% of advisors allocating today,” said Matt Hougan, chief investment officer for Bitwise. “At the same time, adoption and interest are growing: The survey suggests the number of advisors allocating could double or more in the year ahead.”

“Financial advisors are increasingly looking for exposure to alternative assets, and interest in crypto is rising,” said Tom Lydon, founder and CEO of ETF Trends. “We’ve also seen a steady progression of interest in crypto from clients of financial advisors in the three years we’ve run this survey together. I see no reason for that to change in the year to come.”

Complete findings of the survey are available in the report here.

The survey for the report was conducted in December 2020.

About Bitwise Asset Management

Bitwise Asset Management is a leading provider of index and beta crypto funds. Based in San Francisco, Bitwise’s team combines expertise in technology with decades of experience in traditional asset management and indexing—coming from firms including Facebook, Google, Wealthfront, BlackRock, Fidelity, Deutsche Bank, IndexIQ, and ETF.com. Bitwise is backed by leading institutional investors and asset management executives, and is a frequent commentator on crypto in the press. It has been profiled in Institutional Investor, CNBC, Barron’s, Bloomberg, The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, and many other leading publications. The firm is a trusted partner to financial advisors, RIAs, multifamily offices, hedge funds, and other professional investors as they navigate the crypto space.

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Bitcoin News Cryptocurrency News Ethereum News Litecoin News

More Signs That Institutional Money Is Flowing Into Cryptocurrency

Bitwise Asset Management, a leading provider of crypto index funds, became the most recent example of the influx of institutional money into cryptocurrency by announcing today that it recently surpassed $500 million in assets under management (AUM), up $400 million from its previous report of $100 million in AUM on October 28, 2020.

The Bitwise 10 Crypto Index Fund (OTCQX: BITW), which seeks to track an index of the 10 largest cryptoassets—including Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Litecoin—has seen the strongest demand, recently crossing over $400M in AUM.

The Bitwise Bitcoin Fund and Bitwise Ethereum Fund—which provide low-cost, professionally managed exposure to Bitcoin and Ethereum, respectively—have seen increased demand as well.

“The speed at which professional investors are moving into crypto right now is remarkable,” said Hunter Horsley, cofounder and Chief Executive Officer of Bitwise. “While adoption of crypto as an asset class and conviction around its role in portfolios rapidly expands, we continue to urge all investors to consider the risks associated with investing in cryptocurrencies in general and the Bitwise Funds in particular.”

Bitwise saw record inflows into its funds during Q4 2020, surpassing the total cumulative inflows of 2018 and 2019 combined. The increased demand came primarily from Bitwise’s core audience, investment professionals, including financial advisors, hedge funds, corporate balance sheets, and other institutional investors.

Bitwise specializes in educating and supporting professional investors, with a senior team and staff from firms like BlackRock, Fidelity, Eaton Vance, Wealthfront, Facebook, J.P. Morgan, and iCapital. The Bitwise Funds offer ongoing private placements to accredited investors via www.bitwiseinvestments.com.

About Bitwise Asset Management

Bitwise Asset Management is a leading provider of index and beta crypto funds. Based in San Francisco, Bitwise’s team combines expertise in technology with decades of experience in traditional asset management and indexing—coming from firms including Facebook, Google, Wealthfront, BlackRock, Fidelity, Deutsche Bank, IndexIQ, and ETF.com.

Bitwise is backed by leading institutional investors and asset management executives, and is a frequent commentator on crypto in the press. It has been profiled in Institutional Investor, CNBC, Barron’s, Bloomberg, The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, and many other leading publications. The firm is a trusted partner to financial advisors, RIAs, multifamily offices, hedge funds, and other professional investors as they navigate the crypto space