3 ms·

That is plausible, but you have to believe that the bitcoin custodian will not lose your money or otherwise defraud you. Paper gains could be eroded in an insta

That is plausible, but you have to believe that the bitcoin custodian will not lose your money or otherwise defraud you. Paper gains could be eroded in an instant. This is not like investing your IRA in a REIT or something.

modeless 10y ago
Same as with gold ETFs or any other ETF. The amount of regulation in this space is enormous so these are hardly fly-by-night operations. This application has been pending SEC approval for years.
- twblalock 10y ago
  That doesn't mean much for the security of the trust's bitcoin wallets. The SEC has zero expertise in that area. What assurances do the investors have that they will not get screwed if some hackers steal all of the trust's bitcoins?
  - modeless 10y ago
    The investors certainly would be screwed if someone stole the trust's bitcoins. There are a lot of risks inherent to investing in Bitcoin. I think risks to the network itself (mining centralization, regulatory concerns esp. in China, the halving, a catastrophic bug in Bitcoin Core, loss of market share to a competitor such as Ethereum, etc) are more worth worrying about than theft from this trust in particular. Cold storage procedures are well known and many exchanges have been successful in securing systems with a lot more exposure than this trust will have (including Gemini, which is backing this trust). Risk is inherent in investing, after all. Without the risk you wouldn't have the potential for extreme returns that Bitcoin has.
    - zekevermillion 10y ago
      That is all true. My concern about bitcoin ETF is that the custodian is a high value target. To paraphrase Brian Armstrong, it's a potential 1B dollar bug bounty. So you have to be really convinced that the security is flawless. Of course you could easily lose bitcoins that you hold yourself as well.

3 ms·

That is plausible, but you have to believe that the bitcoin custodian will not lose your money or otherwise defraud you. Paper gains could be eroded in an insta

by zekevermillion 10y ago

modeless 10y ago
Same as with gold ETFs or any other ETF. The amount of regulation in this space is enormous so these are hardly fly-by-night operations. This application has been pending SEC approval for years.
- twblalock 10y ago
  That doesn't mean much for the security of the trust's bitcoin wallets. The SEC has zero expertise in that area. What assurances do the investors have that they will not get screwed if some hackers steal all of the trust's bitcoins?
  - modeless 10y ago
    The investors certainly would be screwed if someone stole the trust's bitcoins. There are a lot of risks inherent to investing in Bitcoin. I think risks to the network itself (mining centralization, regulatory concerns esp. in China, the halving, a catastrophic bug in Bitcoin Core, loss of market share to a competitor such as Ethereum, etc) are more worth worrying about than theft from this trust in particular. Cold storage procedures are well known and many exchanges have been successful in securing systems with a lot more exposure than this trust will have (including Gemini, which is backing this trust). Risk is inherent in investing, after all. Without the risk you wouldn't have the potential for extreme returns that Bitcoin has.
    - zekevermillion 10y ago
      That is all true. My concern about bitcoin ETF is that the custodian is a high value target. To paraphrase Brian Armstrong, it's a potential 1B dollar bug bounty. So you have to be really convinced that the security is flawless. Of course you could easily lose bitcoins that you hold yourself as well.