The Case For Owning Bitcoin from a Crypto-Currency Skeptic




So why am I, a self proclaimed bitcoin skeptic, discussing why bitcoin has a place in a modern portfolio? No, I have not changed my mind on bitcoin. It is because researching the commonly held belief among financial commentators and advisers that the correct allocation to precious metals is 0% forced me to take a second look at bitcoin.

An absolute claim like, you should not own ANY precious metals, rubbed me the wrong way, but because of my research into bitcoin I had no exposure to the crypto-currency. If there is anything I hate it’s a hypocrite, so lets take a look at the pro’s and cons, risks and rewards of putting some money into bitcoin.
Among alternative financial commentators there are two very distinct groups, those who believe in and love bitcoin, and those who don’t, and never the twain shall meet. I am part of the latter but humility and knowing that I don’t know or understand everything has pushed me into taking this second look.

I put the chances of a monetary takeover by bitcoin at slim to none, but as we have outlined, our monetary system is very sick and headed toward failure. Something will have to replace it, and while that could be any number of options, bitcoin does have a lot of aspects going for it that could see it used, at least in some capacity if there is a monetary meltdown.

The possibility of bitcoin being a fallback as a result of a crisis is evidenced by the statements made by the former Greek finance minister Yanis Varoufakis who essentially said that Greece will resort to using bitcoin if they were forced out of the Euro.

There were clear upward reactions in bitcoins price during the most recent crisis in Greece as well as during the Russian Ruble crisis in 2014 and the Cyprus bail-in before that. It would be foolish to ignore these recent trends and the reaction of people to gravitate to bitcoin during crisis.

The slight possibility of bitcoin being one of the fallback currencies in a crisis makes having some exposure to the crypto-currency logical. The bitcoin market is relatively small. The total value of bitcoin at current price stands at around $7 billion, and even once all the bitcoin have been mined, at current prices, they would be valued at only about $10 billion.

If bitcoin were ever adopted by even a small economy, let alone if it took over world commerce, the value of bitcoin could skyrocket, and this brings me to the risk side of the equation. Even a very small allocation to bitcoin of say one tenth to one percent of a portfolio would be sufficient to make you very well off if it were ever adopted on a large scale.

So depending on the size of your portfolio the risk you would have to take to be protected by bitcoin would likely be measured in hundreds or thousands of dollars thousands, not tens of thousands.

Now for the risk of not getting some exposure to bitcoin. Let’s say that you make all the right calls. You say that the monetary system is doomed and will fail, and it does. In preparation for this failure you stock up on gold and cash. In response to the crisis the government bans both cash and gold, and despite your best efforts the government manages to confiscate both. Your preparations do little to protect your family.

Though the government sets up a new monetary system, bitcoin takes on a much larger role in the economy and increases in value significantly. It is certainly possible, as I have outlined, that the government could effectively ban the use of bitcoin as well, but how would you feel if you made all the right predictions on the economy crashing, but did not buy the one thing that offered the most protection. I would have difficult time dealing with making all the right calls except how to protect my wealth and family.

I will not pretend that I have now become a bitcoin convert but I do believe a small allocation makes sense.

11 comments:

  1. I sent you a small tip for the writing and to help your rainy day fund. In the first paragraph or so, you mentioned about '0% gold'and I don't get the context of that statement. Are you suggesting that bitcoiners hate gold? That is close to 180 degrees away from the many bitcoiners that I personally know. Almost all of us have some gold stacked. Please clarify what I'm missing here...

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. JorjXMcKie Thanks for the tip it was received and is genuinely appreciated. The comment you were referring to is a reference to one of my pieces that discussed how it was ridiculous that many financial advisers suggest no exposure to precious metals. I didn't like how the advisers use such an absolute assertion. It made me feel like a hypocrite because I had done a similar thing with crypto-currency, it made me take a second look, and for over a year I have been allocating to bitcoin and when coinbase starts to offer etherium I will make a small allocation to that as well.

      I agree that the reasons for holding both bitcoin and PM's certainly overlap.

      Thanks for the comment.

      PS this piece was written about a year ago.

      Delete
  2. >There is still significant evidence that it was created by those who do not have economic freedom in mind
    What's the evidence? Other than the tracing - which there are tricks around

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    Replies
    1. Phil, First this post was written over a year ago, my thoughts have since become more torn. The evidence I speak of is admittedly purely circumstantial and mainly focuses on the governments interest in crypto currency going all the way back to the 90’s, and then their very kind treatment to a competitor to the dollar since bitcoin came on the scene. Take a look at my posts
      http://www.themonetaryreset.com/2015/03/bitcoin-e-dollar-beta-test.html
      http://www.themonetaryreset.com/2015/05/alan-greenspan-angel-or-demon.html

      Thanks for reading and the comment.

      Delete
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