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> ...minimal risk aside from your investment losing value. Classic.

erikig 13y ago
One additional advantage that hasn't been mentioned is that ETF's offer an options market allowing owners of Bitcoins to buy puts to protect the value of their bitcoins (or) buy calls to take advantage of future movements in the price of Bitcoins. In my opinion allowing Bitcoin ETF options might be the next step in allowing widespread Bitcoin adoption because corporate entities can hedge against the fluctuations in the bitcoin exchange rates.
- 7Figures2Commas 13y ago
  That's technically not true. Options would enable you to hedge your equity position in the trust. The trust is designed to "reflect the performance of a weighted average price of Bitcoins." The degree to which it does this accurately is yet to be determined; tracking error is a real problem with some ETFs. Bitcoin has proven to be subject to extreme volatility, the trust may not achieve its investment objective, the options market (if one becomes available) is unlikely to have significant volume and all of the other risks associated with options trading would apply. If you want to hedge against the loss of value of your bitcoin holdings, your best option today is to pare your holdings and realize gains (if you have them). I wouldn't expect that to change for the foreseeable future even with financial products that you can access as a retail investor.
  - SilasX 13y ago
    >The trust is designed to "reflect the performance of a weighted average price of Bitcoins." The degree to which it does this accurately is yet to be determined; tracking error is a real problem with some ETFs. How so? If you guarantee (by holding the assets in trust) that [a larger number of shares] can always be redeemed for their corresponding ETF assets, then the possibility of arbitrage ensures that the ETF price tracks the net asset value per share. For example, the ETF could buy 50,000 BTC and issue 500,000 shares, with the proviso that anyone can present 50,000 shares to the fund in exchange for for 5,000 BTC. So I don't think tracking is the problem, but rather, just avoiding being "too clever" with how you ensure NAV = ETF share price.
deleted 13y ago
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sneak 13y ago
The non-market risks of bitcoin are a lot more substantial than you seem to think they are. If you're just investing, why should you have to become a crypto expert just to make sure eastern European teenagers don't copy a keyfile from your computer entitling them to $500k in bitcoin?

One additional advantage that hasn't been mentioned is that ETF's offer an options market allowing owners of Bitcoins to buy puts to protect the value of their bitcoins (or) buy calls to take advantage of future movements in the price of Bitcoins. In my opinion allowing Bitcoin ETF options might be the next step in allowing widespread Bitcoin adoption because corporate entities can hedge against the fluctuations in the bitcoin exchange rates.

7Figures2Commas 13y ago
That's technically not true. Options would enable you to hedge your equity position in the trust. The trust is designed to "reflect the performance of a weighted average price of Bitcoins." The degree to which it does this accurately is yet to be determined; tracking error is a real problem with some ETFs. Bitcoin has proven to be subject to extreme volatility, the trust may not achieve its investment objective, the options market (if one becomes available) is unlikely to have significant volume and all of the other risks associated with options trading would apply. If you want to hedge against the loss of value of your bitcoin holdings, your best option today is to pare your holdings and realize gains (if you have them). I wouldn't expect that to change for the foreseeable future even with financial products that you can access as a retail investor.
- SilasX 13y ago
  >The trust is designed to "reflect the performance of a weighted average price of Bitcoins." The degree to which it does this accurately is yet to be determined; tracking error is a real problem with some ETFs. How so? If you guarantee (by holding the assets in trust) that [a larger number of shares] can always be redeemed for their corresponding ETF assets, then the possibility of arbitrage ensures that the ETF price tracks the net asset value per share. For example, the ETF could buy 50,000 BTC and issue 500,000 shares, with the proviso that anyone can present 50,000 shares to the fund in exchange for for 5,000 BTC. So I don't think tracking is the problem, but rather, just avoiding being "too clever" with how you ensure NAV = ETF share price.

deleted 13y ago

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sneak 13y ago

The non-market risks of bitcoin are a lot more substantial than you seem to think they are. If you're just investing, why should you have to become a crypto expert just to make sure eastern European teenagers don't copy a keyfile from your computer entitling them to $500k in bitcoin?