Category Archives: Cryptocurrency

Cryptocurrency has been making waves in the investing world, and many investors may be wondering whether it's time to jump on the crypto bandwagon.

While it's true that some cryptocurrencies, such as Bitcoin (CRYPTO:BTC), have experienced phenomenal returns over the past few months, that doesn't necessarily mean they're a safe investment.

Cryptocurrency is highly speculative at this point, and nobody knows what kind of staying power it has. Although it could change the world, it could just as easily crash and burn. Right now, it's too soon to tell what the future has in store for cryptocurrency.

Image source: Getty Images.

In addition, crypto is famous for its volatility. Bitcoin lost roughly 80% of its value at one point, and since the beginning of the year, it has experienced a roller coaster of ups and downs. Not all investors have the stomach for that type of turbulence.

However, if you're eager to invest in cryptocurrency but want to limit your risk, there's another option: crypto stocks.

When most people think of investing in cryptocurrency, they think of investing directly in the currency itself. But it's possible to invest in crypto without actually investing in crypto.

A crypto stock is a company that is involved in cryptocurrency in some way. That could mean the company offers crypto as a form of payment, it may have invested in crypto, or maybe it builds the technology behind digital currencies.

Take Tesla, for example. The company announced this year that it made a $1.5 billion investment in Bitcoin, and it also accepts Bitcoin as a form of payment.

NVIDIA is another example of a crypto stock. The tech company designs and builds graphics processing units (GPUs), which are often used in the creation of cryptocurrency.

If you were to invest in Tesla or NVIDIA, you wouldn't be investing in cryptocurrency directly. However, if crypto does become mainstream and is adopted as a standard form of currency, these companies could benefit from it. As a result, your investments could thrive.

Crypto stocks are generally safer than investing in cryptocurrency directly. This is because crypto is only a portion of these companies' businesses. If digital currencies fail to see long-term success, the companies themselves likely won't crash along with them.

Although crypto stocks may be less risky than investing in cryptocurrency itself, there are still a couple of things to consider before investing.

First, look at the company as a whole to decide whether it's a solid investment. In other words, don't invest in a stock only because of the cryptocurrency factor. The best investments are the companies that have solid fundamentals and are likely to remain strong over the long term. If they happen to be invested in crypto as well, that's an added bonus.

Also, make sure you have a well-diversified portfolio if you decide to invest in crypto stocks. Building a diversified portfolio is a smart move regardless of where you choose to invest, but it can help limit your risk even further if your crypto stocks don't perform well.

Investing in crypto stocks can be a smart way to diversify into cryptocurrency while limiting your risk. Just be sure you're choosing your investments wisely and opting for stocks that have strong underlying fundamentals. By investing for the long term, you're more likely to see success with crypto stocks.

This article represents the opinion of the writer, who may disagree with the official recommendation position of a Motley Fool premium advisory service. Were motley! Questioning an investing thesis -- even one of our own -- helps us all think critically about investing and make decisions that help us become smarter, happier, and richer.

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1 Simple (and Safer) Way to Invest in Cryptocurrency - The Motley Fool

Bank of England Governor Andrew Bailey.

Simon Dawson | Bloomberg via Getty Images

LONDON Cryptocurrencies "have no intrinsic value" and people who invest in them should be prepared to lose all their money, Bank of England Governor Andrew Bailey said.

Digital currencies like bitcoin, ether and even dogecoin have been on a tear this year, reminding some investors of the 2017 crypto bubble in which bitcoin blasted toward $20,000, only to sink as low as $3,122 a year later.

Asked at a press conference Thursday about the rising value of cryptocurrencies, Bailey said: "They have no intrinsic value. That doesn't mean to say people don't put value on them, because they can have extrinsic value. But they have no intrinsic value."

"I'm going to say this very bluntly again," he added. "Buy them only if you're prepared to lose all your money."

Bailey's comments echoed a similar warning from the U.K.'s Financial Conduct Authority.

"Investing in cryptoassets, or investments and lending linked to them, generally involves taking very high risks with investors' money," the financial services watchdog said in January.

"If consumers invest in these types of product, they should be prepared to lose all their money."

Bailey, who was formerly the chief executive of the FCA, has long been a skeptic of crypto. In 2017, he warned: "If you want to invest in bitcoin, be prepared to lose all your money."

Bitcoin is up over 90% this year, thanks in part to rising interest from institutional investors and corporate buyers such as Tesla. The electric car firm bought $1.5 billion worth of bitcoin earlier this year, and the value of its holdings have since risen to nearly $2.5 billion.

Proponents of bitcoin see it as a store of value akin to gold because of its scarce supply only 21 million bitcoins can ever be minted arguing that the cryptocurrency can act as a hedge against inflation as central banks around the world print money to relieve coronavirus-battered economies.

However, skeptics view bitcoin as a market bubble waiting to burst. Michael Hartnett, chief investment strategist at Bank of America Securities, said bitcoin's rally looks like the "mother of all bubbles," while Alvine Capital's Stephen Isaacs said there are "no fundamentals with this product, period."

Alternative digital currencies have made even larger gains than bitcoin. Ether, the native token of the Ethereum blockchain, has seen returns of more than 360% year to date, while meme-inspired crypto dogecoin is up a whopping 12,500%.

Analysts have attributed dogecoin's rise to tweets from celebrities like Tesla's Elon Musk and Mark Cuban, as well as retail investors buying the token on the free-trading app Robinhood. David Kimberley, an analyst at U.K. investing app Freetrade, described the dogecoin rally as "a classic example of greater fool theory at play," referring to the practice of selling overvalued assets to investors who are willing to pay a higher price.

At the same time, central banks are considering whether to issue their own digital currencies. Last month, the Bank of England launched a joint taskforce with the Treasury aimed at exploring central bank digital currencies, or CBDCs. Such a currency would exist alongside cash and bank deposits rather than replacing them, the bank said.

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Cryptocurrency investors should be prepared to lose all their money, Bank of England governor says - CNBC

Julie Hyman, Brian Sozzi, and Myles Udland discuss the flow of cryptocurrency as Dogecoin slows and Ethereum rises.

JULIE HYMAN: --open, and we got to talk about cryptocurrencies here this morning, following Elon Musk's star turn on Saturday Night Live. We'll leave the reviews of his performance aside. Well, maybe we won't. I thought he was fine. But he did, of course, as expected, talk about Dogecoin.

But, well, maybe those Dogecoiners didn't get what they bargained for, as we saw the price fall. And he basically said, it's a hustle, right, during the news update portion of it. Myles, you know, I guess this illustrates just what Dogecoin is all about, which is not much. But at the same time, we're seeing things like Ethereum go higher. So I don't know. What's our sort of Musk, SNL, Dogecoin correlation chart look like this morning?

MYLES UDLAND: Well, did you think that-- do you think that he was imitating Tom Kean with the bow tie? Because that was my thought, is that--

JULIE HYMAN: Oh.

MYLES UDLAND: --he trying to find, like, venerated financial commentator. And you kind of have two options. You could try to be Jim Cramer, which would be a jacket-- well, let's see, no jacket, tie, rolled up sleeves, bang the table, or you do the bow tie look with the glasses, which is what Elon went. And I sort of thought he was basically imitating versions of us, but no one's going to imitate any of the three of us on the air. But they might imitate Tom Kean. So maybe that was kind of my thought with that.

And I thought it was, you know, sure, it's a hustle, whatever. I think people's focus on the action in Doge during SNL, like, whatever. I mean, I'm surprised by myself, honestly, at how little interest I have in trying to get involved in the Doge conversation or the crypto conversation. But you know what? It just doesn't excite me maybe to the extent that it should, given this environment.

There we see in the real stock market, things that are not just vibes, or whatever we want to call them, on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange, Coke Euro PAC Partners, CCET. Of course, there are multiple Coke-related tickers out there, KO, the main ones, CCET ringing the bell down on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange. But let's stay on the important news, Julie. Talk a bit more about SNL.

Story continues

JULIE HYMAN: Well, all I was going to say is what's interesting here is that we're starting to see more differentiation among the cryptocurrencies. That perhaps is an interesting takeaway. I mean, the action in Dogecoin is pretty parallel to what we saw with the so-called Doge Day, right, on 4/20, where there was a lot of talk about it going up to the day, and then it fell on the day itself. You know, classic sort of buy the rumor, sell the news or whatever version of that trope you want to use. And we see Ethereum going up today.

There don't seem to be a lot of catalysts, usually, for this stuff. But it does show the different flows and the ins and outs of the different cryptocurrencies. I don't know exactly what's driving what, but we do see the breakdown in correlation between them for what it's worth.

BRIAN SOZZI: And for what it's worth, Myles, if I was going on SNL this coming weekend, I would imitate you. No doubt about it, baby.

MYLES UDLAND: I mean, look, there's plenty there. It's just that everyone's going to be like, no one knows who that guy is. So it can't be-- like, you have to imitate a famous person. And I think Tom is probably famous enough, although, look, I mean, we all know the crossover between the Bloomberg surveillance audience and SNL watchers probably pretty limited.

JULIE HYMAN: Yeah, I don't know. I wonder kind of what the boomer audience of SNL is at this point in time. And PS, I would love to see Brian Sozzi's Myles Udland impression. Perhaps at our afternoon meeting, you can give us a little preview. All right, we are going to move it on to commodities here, because as we talked about at the top of the show, we're definitely seeing commodities movement.

And it's really across commodities, right? Whether you're talking about metals or energy or agriculture, all of that is going up. We're watching copper prices hit new highs. We talked about the spike in gasoline, although that was event-driven. And most of what we're seeing in commodities is supply, demand-driven much more broadly, right?

I was telling you guys in this morning's meeting, you know, more and more, we are seeing the real world consequences of this, whether it's Tyson talking about feed costs going up or, you know, the-- my livestock farmer, who I talked to at the farmer's market, talking about lumber prices going up for his barns and feed prices skyrocketing, as I noticed his prices going up. I mean, this stuff is making its way through the system.

BRIAN SOZZI: Yeah, and--

MYLES UDLAND: Yeah, I mean, look--

BRIAN SOZZI: --it's amazing, Julie, that the market can absolutely care less. I mean, you have the Dow out of the gate here up on 170 points. You have that deep freeze in Texas a couple of months ago. The stock market still goes up here. To me, if this was a couple of years ago, I would have thought, well, maybe the market is down a couple hundred points here on the Dow in the early going. And it's not. And, Myles, I think we're continuing to watch the power of the Federal Reserve, their ability to put a lot of money into the system and essentially make any dips in the markets essentially viable.

MYLES UDLAND: Yeah, and look, I think we continue-- I mean, this story for 2021 is starting to come into focus, right? I mean, we don't-- I mean, it's the economic version of the medical supply story that hit in 2020. Last year, we didn't have enough PPE. We didn't have enough ventilators. We didn't have enough medical staff to take care of all the COVID patients. And now, we don't have enough workers. We don't have enough stuff, so it's commodities, inputs, whatever it might be, to provide for all the demand that is coming in from consumers.

And you can go almost infinite different directions with how that economic pressure is playing out. But it has been quite a long time since we have seen just this many real resource constraints on the economy, hitting all at once. And how it plays out, I don't think any of us really know. We all have sort of our ideas of where this goes. But it is certainly the most unique economic environment that we have seen, at least so far as I can recall.

JULIE HYMAN: And yet, it's not having that much of a depressive effect on stocks as--

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Cryptocurrency On the Move - Yahoo Finance

A major tumble in dogecoin prices has one of the most popular meme assets in the doghouse with investors on Mothers Day at least for the moment.

Dont miss: Dogecoin price flops as Elon Musk hosts Saturday Night Live

At last check Sunday evening, dogecoin DOGEUSD, -2.66% was changing hands at 55 cents, according to CoinDesk. The virtual coin had been down by as much as 36% overnight, hitting a low of around 47 cents in New York.

Its drop has driven the crypto below its 200-day moving average, which stands at 51.99 cents, according to Investing.com. A move above or below a 200-day moving average a proxy for changes in an assets long-term trend is always closely watched by traders for bullish and bearish trends.

Sundays slump was seen by some as bearish for doge after anticipation around Musks SNL appearance, as a patron of crypto broadly and dogecoin specifically, failed to deliver a jolt to doge.

One Reddit user appeared to blame doges fall on a lack of conviction by investors in doge, which was created in 2013 as a lighthearted riff on the emergence of a wave of alternatives to the worlds most prominent crypto, bitcoin BTCUSD, +0.26%.

Paper hands refers to investors that tend to sell easily rather than adhering to popular a strategy in the crypto world known as holding indefinitely or hodling.

Bullish talk about dogecoin by the chief executive of Tesla Inc. TSLA, -1.88% and Space Exploration Technologies Corp., had been a rallying point for the doge community,which had been eagerly anticipating his appearance, but dogecoin owners who had hoped his mention of the digital currency on TV would boost its price toward $1 were left disappointed.

Doge devotees have very publicly set a target of $1 for the coin in 2021, a number that might seem extremely modest at first glance but not when viewed through the lens that Doge traded at $0.005 on the final day of 2020.

So far in 2021, doge is up over 10,000%, even factoring in its recent pullback. Gains in traditional assets have been pedestrian set against dogecoin. Gold futures GC00, -0.38% are down 3% so far this year, the Dow Jones Industrial Average DJIA, -1.36% and the S&P 500 index SPX, -0.87% are up by nearly 13% in 2021, while the Nasdaq Composite Index COMP, -0.09% has gained about over 6% so far this year.

NBC said that for the first time it livestreamed SNL internationally via YouTube in more than 100 countries, including Australia, Brazil and South Africa.

During SNLs Weekend Update, co-anchors Michael Che and Colin Jost pressed a fictional financial expert named Lloyd Ostertag, who was played by Musk, to explain dogecoin. His efforts werent successful: OK, but whatisDogecoin? was the constant refrain of the anchors. Eventually, they reach the conclusion, prompted by Che, that dogecoin is just a hustle.

Staunch supporters of dogecoin are advocating for investors to remain committed despite the major setback, which is likely caused by investors opportunistically deciding that it was a good time to take some profits on the speculative surge in doge.

Other purported investors in dogecoin on social media sites like Reddit implied that expectations for Musks SNL appearance to be a major catalyst for doge were likely overdone.

Some speculated that the decline in dogecoin was tied to large investor unwinding a big position:

Whale rumors come as Barry Silbert, a power player in the digital-asset sector, said hes betting against dogecoinand urged investors in one of the hottest trades in 2021 to convert their doge holdings into bitcoin via a Saturday tweet.

Silbert also said that he would donate $1 million to charity if dogecoin hit $1 by May 31.

The doge army, so far, has taken Silberts comments as an affront.

Still, others pointed to technical glitches on popular trading platform Robinhood Markets as contributing to some of the downturn in doge early Sunday.

Worth a read: A $25 billion dogecoin whale lurks, but Robinhood CEO says we dont have significant positions in any of the coins we keep

Popular financial blogger and CEO of Ritholtz Wealth Management in Midtown Manhattan, Josh Brown in a Saturday blog wrote that SNLs record spoofing on financial markets has tended to mark the top of most assets, including the speculative fervor around GameStop Corp. GME, +2.58% and nonfungible tokens, or NFTs.

I think its worth pointing out that Saturday Night Live has done lots of stuff about financial markets and the economy recently and the sketches have actually been pretty funny. Unfortunately, theyve also marked the top in price or enthusiasm for the underlying subject matter, he wrote.

In the end, the dogecoin army is trying to look on the rosier side of things. Early investors are still enjoying major gains.

Its the newbie investors who are facing the most pain.

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What the dogecoin army is saying as the cryptocurrency's tumble triggers a bearish break in the long-term trend line - MarketWatch

The Telcoin crypto (TEL) started off with a disruptive mission. This isnt unique, per se. The teams behind lots of altcoins have visions of changing some aspect of the world. But that vision is often steeped in delusion and/or fantasy.

Telcoin very well could have fit into the delusional narrative not too long ago. After all, the team set out to compete with the likes of major banks and Western Union in the remittance market. Thats a major nut to crack. And even more difficult to dethrone the kings of the market. But this coin has made some major strides this year In fact, its value alone is wildly outpacing the red-hot crypto market as a whole.

Year-to-date, Telcoin is up some 30,000%. That could be seen as an almost normal figure from some new initial-coin-offering. See SafeMoon and Elongate. But Telcoin has been on the scene for a while. This isnt just some upstart with a clever marketing strategy thats being used to garner interest. Its been around since 2017. And by all appearances, the teams long-view tactics are beginning to pay off. Both for its investors and in terms of adoption.

Telcoin crypto recently spiked to an all-time high of $0.59. This is pretty big news. It hadnt traded for more than a single cent since January 2018. And between then and now it spent the lions share of that period trading at a hundredth of a cent or less. But the times they are a-changin.

Its worth noting that the Telecoin crypto hasnt been a big beneficiary of the various crypto booms. Its kept its head down and seemingly kept focused on the big mission and projects at hand. Namely, trying to figure out a way to make remittances a whole lot easier and cheaper.

This was never going to be a simple task. Not only is there a lot of opposition in the way, but there were a lot of regulations to overcome. And they havent all been overcome yet Not by a long shot. But there have been some breakthroughs worth noting.

Most recently, the Nebraska legislature advanced from the committee stage a bill that would allow institutions that connect consumers to each other (which have been mostly remittance companies) to allow crypto and decentralized finance into the equation.

This is the kind of thing Telcoin has been hoping for. And if it proves to be a catalyst for change, Telcoin may very well just be starting to move the needle.

Additionally, the Telcoin crypto team has announced a remittance service to help the transfer of funds between Canada and the Philippines. Again, these are the kinds of projects that can help propel the coin into mass adoption. And adoption has never been easier.

There have been live Telcoin crypto markets on several exchanges for a while now. In the past, you could pick up Telcoin on Kucoin, Uniswap and Balancer. This has made it fairly straightforward to invest in the coin for a while.

But the Telcoin team recently announced that it has been added to the QuickSwap decentralized exchange. The news of the QuickSwap listing definitely played a role in pushing up Telcoins value because this exchange operates on the Polygon protocol, which has lower fees. Additionally, the Polygon network offers appealing yield opportunities for liquidity providers on QuickSwap. So, investing in Telcoin has gotten a lot easier, cheaper and in turn, more profitable All of which has naturally pushed up its value.

The global remittance market was valued at more than $682 billion in 2018. Helping foreign migrants transfer money to their home countries is big business. And its got a lot of room to grow. Its anticipated that it will reach $930 billion by 2026.

Banks are projected to remain dominant in this market. But now that theres increasing competition, that could change. Because being able to send money home right from your phone is a whole lot easier than going to the bank. And with Telcoin, transfers are virtually instant. The network is equally secure as a bank. And Telcoin transfers are largely cheaper. The average cost of sending a remittance is more than 7%. Telcoin is working on getting its fees below 2% which isnt an insignificant difference.

And again, being able to send a remittance right from a phone is astronomically more simple. There are nearly five times more mobile phones than active bank accounts around the world. But right now, people are still lining up at banks and Western Unions to send remittances back home to family members. But with its iPhone and Android app, Telcoin crypto hopes to change all of that Which makes this a very interesting crypto to invest in especially if its able to successfully disrupt the remittance market.

Are you interested in other cryptos shaking up the markets? We suggest signing up for Manward Financial Digest. In it, Manward founder and crypto expert Andy Snyder uncovers investment opportunities of all stripes including the ever-volatile crypto markets.

Read next: The 5 Best Cryptocurrencies to Invest in for 2021

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Telcoin Crypto: How and Why to Invest in This Disruptive Cryptocurrency - Investment U

NEW YORK, May 11, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Amun Holdings Limited, owner of 21Shares AG (21Shares) and Amun Inc., today announced successful fundraising efforts led by Morgan Creek Digital with participation from Anthony Pompliano, Managing Partner at Pomp Investments who previously co-founded Morgan Creek Digital; Collaborative Ventures; Quiet Ventures; and Catherine Wood, CEO of ARK Investment Management LLC, who serves as the independent member of Amuns Board of Directors. The shareholders of Amun Holdings Limited held an Extraordinary General Meeting (EGM) last week and the fundraising round is expected to close this week.

Since launching the worlds first physically backed cryptocurrency exchange-traded product (ETP) in 2018, 21Shares has established itself as an innovative first mover providing the largest number of ETPs with exposure to cryptocurrency markets in the world. As of May 2021, 21Shares now manages more than $2 billion in 14 cryptocurrency ETPs, including the worlds only ETPs tracking Binance, Bitcoin Cash, Tezos and most recently Stellar, Cardano and Polkadot.

21Shares also focuses on education through a series of data-driven research and insights in five languages. Reports include: State of Crypto (a quarterly print publication), valuation methodologies (e.g., Ethereum Investment Thesis), and single-asset primers (e.g., Cardano Primer).

We are excited to attract visionary investors such as Cathie Wood and Anthony Pompliano, as a great validation of our efforts and progress over the past three years, said Ophelia Snyder, Co-Founder and President of 21Shares.

Hany Rashwan, Co-Founder and CEO of 21Shares added, We are seeing unprecedented investor demand for exchange-traded crypto products that can be bought and sold as easily as a stock. Based on market opportunity, this year we are looking to expand our ETP product suite globally. Our investors commitment to 21Shares and the quality of our Board of Directors will help us advance our mission.

21Shares is forging a new path for crypto ETPs, by leading with research and a keen understanding of this developing asset class. I am thrilled to support its efforts, said Wood.

Pompliano added, I am excited to invest in 21Shares and the companys continued success providing institutional-grade research and products for the crypto market. It was obvious a few years ago that many more people would be hearing about Hany, Ophelia, and their innovative products, and I believe the same is true for 21Shares and its top quality leadership team that is creating unique solutions at the intersection of finance and crypto.

About 21Shares21Shares takes innovation to the next level with the largest suite of cryptocurrency exchange-traded products (ETPs) in the world. In 2018 it pioneered the worlds first cryptocurrency index listing on the SIX Swiss Exchange, and it continues powering its cryptocurrency franchise with cutting-edge research and groundbreaking approaches to product strategy. 21Shares aims to provide all investors with an easy, secure, and regulated way to buy, sell, and short cryptocurrency through existing bank and brokerage accounts. The 21Shares issuance platform, Onyx, is used by both 21Shares and third parties like Bitwise and Sygnum to issue and operate cryptocurrency ETPs around the world. For more information, visit http://www.21shares.com.

Contact:Kim Page312-553-6733kim.page@fticonsulting.com

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Amun and 21Shares, the Largest Issuer of Cryptocurrency ETPs, Announces Investors Including Catherine Wood and Anthony - GlobeNewswire

Experts warn it could be a sign of a bubble. Crypto Vs Cash

Cryptocurrency has hit a significant milestone: Its now worth more than all US dollars currently in circulation.

Cryptocurrencies hit a valuation of $2 trillion on April 29, according to The Wall Street Journal. Thats about the same valuation as all US dollars in circulation. However, it has since hit as high as $2.25 trillion and in the process actually exceeding dollars in circulation.

While the stat is incredibly fascinating and a solid indicator of cryptocurrencies growing popularity, its also a little misleading.

Thats because US dollars in circulation isnt all US dollars. After all, circulation refers to just physical cash and coins.

Its the same way that the cash in your pocket doesnt represent all of the money you have (hopefully). Most of your cash like the US dollar isnt liquid. It exists in banks, investments, and other intangible assets.

So while cryptocurrencies might be worth more than all the physical dollars and coins out there, it definitely is not worth more than all the money out there.

Cryptos boom is a part of a trend across numerous investment classes and categories such as real estate and green energy, according to the WSJ. Much of it is fueled by rock bottom interest rates from the Federal Reserve.

However, the Fed is indicating that we might well be in bubble territory, saying that valuations are generally high and are vulnerable to significant declines should investor risk appetite fall, progress on containing the virus disappoint, or the recovery stall in a May 2021 stability report.

So as with all things finance related, hope for the best and prepare for the worst. Also take heed from one of Elon Musks more measured takes: Dont go investing your life savings in assets like crypto. If you do, youre going to be in for a rough time if (and when) the bubble finally pops.

READ MORE: What Happens to Stocks and Cryptocurrencies When the Fed Stops Raining Money? [The Wall Street Journal]

More on cryptocurrencies: Bitcoin Crashes, Wiping Over $200 Billion Off Crypto Market

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Cryptocurrency Is Now Worth More Than All US Currency in Circulation - Futurism

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Good Question: How Will Spending Cryptocurrency Online Work? - CBS Pittsburgh

Bloomberg

(Bloomberg) -- From his perch high above Midtown Manhattan, just across from Carnegie Hall, Bill Hwang was quietly building one of the worlds greatest fortunes.Even on Wall Street, few ever noticed him -- until suddenly, everyone did.Hwang and his private investment firm, Archegos Capital Management, are now at the center of one of the biggest margin calls of all time -- a multibillion-dollar fiasco involving secretive market bets that were dangerously leveraged and unwound in a blink.Hwangs most recent ascent can be pieced together from stocks dumped by banks in recent days -- ViacomCBS Inc., Discovery Inc. GSX Techedu Inc., Baidu Inc. -- all of which had soared this year, sometimes confounding traders who couldnt fathom why.One part of Hwangs portfolio, which has been traded in blocks since Friday by Goldman Sachs Group Inc., Morgan Stanley and Wells Fargo & Co., was worth almost $40 billion last week. Bankers reckon that Archegoss net capital -- essentially Hwangs wealth -- had reached north of $10 billion. And as disposals keep emerging, estimates of his firms total positions keep climbing: tens of billions, $50 billion, even more than $100 billion.It evaporated in mere days.Ive never seen anything like this -- how quiet it was, how concentrated, and how fast it disappeared, said Mike Novogratz, a career macro investor and former partner at Goldman Sachs whos been trading since 1994. This has to be one of the single greatest losses of personal wealth in history.Late Monday in New York, Archegos broke days of silence on the episode.This is a challenging time for the family office of Archegos Capital Management, our partners and employees, Karen Kessler, a spokesperson for the firm, said in an emailed statement. All plans are being discussed as Mr. Hwang and the team determine the best path forward.The cascade of trading losses has reverberated from New York to Zurich to Tokyo and beyond, and leaves myriad unanswered questions, including the big one: How could someone take such big risks, facilitated by so many banks, under the noses of regulators the world over?One part of the answer is that Hwang set up as a family office with limited oversight and then employed financial derivatives to amass big stakes in companies without ever having to disclose them. Another part is that global banks embraced him as a lucrative customer, despite a record of insider trading and attempted market manipulation that drove him out of the hedge fund business a decade ago.A disciple of hedge-fund legend Julian Robertson, Sung Kook Bill Hwang shuttered Tiger Asia Management and Tiger Asia Partners after settling an SEC civil lawsuit in 2012 accusing them of insider trading and manipulating Chinese banks stocks. Hwang and the firms paid $44 million, and he agreed to be barred from the investment advisory industry.He soon opened Archegos -- Greek for one who leads the way -- and structured it as a family office.Family offices that exclusively manage one fortune are generally exempt from registering as investment advisers with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. So they dont have to disclose their owners, executives or how much they manage -- rules designed to protect outsiders who invest in a fund. That approach makes sense for small family offices, but if they swell to the size of a hedge fund whale they can still pose risks, this time to outsiders in the broader market.This does raise questions about the regulation of family offices once again, said Tyler Gellasch, a former SEC aide who now runs the Healthy Markets trade group. The question is if its just friends and family why do we care? The answer is that they can have significant market impacts, and the SECs regulatory regime even after Dodd-Frank doesnt clearly reflect that.Valuable CustomerArchegos established trading partnerships with firms including Nomura Holdings Inc., Morgan Stanley, Deutsche Bank AG and Credit Suisse Group AG. For a time after the SEC case, Goldman refused to do business with him on compliance grounds, but relented as rivals profited by meeting his needs.The full picture of his holdings is still emerging, and its not clear what positions derailed, or what hedges he had set up.One reason is that Hwang never filed a 13F report of his holdings, which every investment manager holding more than $100 million in U.S. equities must fill out at the end of each quarter. Thats because he appears to have structured his trades using total return swaps, essentially putting the positions on the banks balance sheets. Swaps also enable investors to add a lot of leverage to a portfolio.Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs, for instance, are listed as the largest holders of GSX Techedu, a Chinese online tutoring company thats been repeatedly targeted by short sellers. Banks may own shares for a variety of reasons that include hedging swap exposures from trades with their customers.Unhappy InvestorsGoldman increased its position 54% in January, according to regulatory filings. Overall, banks reported holding at least 68% of GSXs outstanding shares, according to a Bloomberg analysis of filings. Banks held at least 40% of IQIYI Inc, a Chinese video entertainment company, and 29% of ViacomCBS -- all of which Archegos had bet on big.Im sure there are a number of really unhappy investors who have bought those names over the last couple of weeks, and now regret it, Doug Cifu, chief executive officer of electronic-trading firm Virtu Financial Inc., said Monday in an interview on Bloomberg TV. He predicted regulators will examine whether there should be more transparency and disclosure by a family office.Without the need to market his fund to external investors, Hwangs strategies and performance remained secret from the outside world. Even as his fortune swelled, the 50-something kept a low profile. Despite once working for Robertsons Tiger Management, he wasnt well-known on Wall Street or in New York social circles.Hwang is a trustee of the Fuller Theology Seminary, and co-founder of the Grace and Mercy Foundation, whose mission is to serve the poor and oppressed. The foundation had assets approaching $500 million at the end of 2018, according to its latest filing.Its not all about the money, you know, he said in a rare interview with a Fuller Institute executive in 2018, in which he spoke about his calling as an investor and his Christian faith. Its about the long term, and God certainly has a long-term view.His extraordinary run of fortune turned early last week as ViacomCBS Inc. announced a secondary offering of its shares. Its stock price plunged 9% the next day.The value of other securities believed to be in Archegos portfolio based on the positions that were block traded followed.By Thursdays close, the value of the portfolio fell 27% -- more than enough to wipe out the equity of an investor who market participants estimate was six to eight times levered.Its also hurt some of the banks that served Hwang. Nomura and Credit Suisse warned of significant losses in the wake of the selloff and Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group Inc. has flagged a potential $300 million loss.You have to wonder who else is out there with one of these invisible fortunes, said Novogratz. The psychology of all that leverage with no risk management, its almost nihilism.(Updates with latest bank to detail exposure in penultimate paragraph.)For more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.comSubscribe now to stay ahead with the most trusted business news source.2021 Bloomberg L.P.

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US Government Sees Cryptocurrency Spring Fever as Great Time to Auction Bitcoin - Yahoo Finance

Norwegian esports organisation Nordavind has announced a commercial partnership with cryptocurrency company Norwegian Block Exchange (NBX).

According to the release, NBX and Nordavind will look to introduce cryptocurrency-focused bonus and loyalty programmes for players, payment portals and tournaments that provide opportunities for participants and spectators.

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Steffen Willumsen, Nordavinds Commercial Director, commented: Nordavind and NBX are two brands born in the digital world, which makes us a natural fit. Both cryptocurrency and e-sports are ground-breaking in their respective segments, and also share much of the same target area. We are proud to work with such a solid company as NBX, and we are eager to see what we can achieve together in the time to come.

The integration of cryptocurrency in esports has been a growing topic within the industry, particularly as organisations look to capitalise on the digital asset through the use of NFTs (Non-Fungible Tokens) or blockchain platforms.In addition to the bonus and loyalty programmes, Nordavind will also integrate NBXs branding across its social content and clothing. In addition, both entities will collaborate on digital and physical tournament activations, such as hosting events for its community across multiple esports titles.

RELATED: Simplicity Esports to offer limited edition NFTs to esports centre members

Stig Aleksander Kjos Mathisen, CEO of Norwegian Block Exchange, commented: This was a no-brainer, it was just a question of time. Cryptocurrency is here to stay, and young people will play a major role in the next wave of adoption, with both payment mechanisms and investment opportunities. Esports and cryptocurrency are experiencing exponential growth, attracting audiences beyond just young people.

We are very pleased that we have now entered into a partnership with Nordavind, where several of the players already are familiar with NBX. Therefore the timing is perfect for reaching out to each other and together create meaningful interactions for everyone who is interested in e-sports and the money of the future.

Nordavind is not the only esports organisation to announce a cryptocurrency partnership this week. Yesterday, Simplicity Esports and Gaming Company announced a collaboration with Project Token and the University of Central Florida Blockchain Innovation Lab to sell limited edition NFTs to members of its gaming centres.

Esports Insider says: This is a huge partnership between two emerging industries, cryptocurrency and esports. It seems like the deal will boost crypto possibilities throughout the organisation, which could prove to be a valuable move. Moreover, NBXs brand will be heavily present across Nordavinds branding, which increases its reach in esports.

ESI Digital Spring | 30-31st March

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Nordavind partners with cryptocurrency firm NBX - Esports Insider