Coinbase just announced that they now accept investments in their new index fund product. The fund provides exposure to Bitcoin, Ethereum and Ethereum Classic, Litecoin, Bitcoin Cash, and Litecoin. This announcement follows yesterday’s announcement that the company would soon support Ethereum Classic. Each asset will be represented in the fund in a proportion equal to their market caps. Problem is: The fees are outrageously high and only the wealthy can participate.

Coinbase Index Fund

This is because index funds are ETFs that represent hundreds of individual investments, just like stocks of different companies. It seems odd to call this an index fund at first glance. ETFs typically consist of 100 or more assets. Coinbase, however, is made up of only five assets. The fund is part of an entirely new service offered by Coinbase’s asset management arm.

The business arm was created to allow institutional investors to access cryptocurrency where they might otherwise be unable due to fear or uncertain legal compliance. They can reduce their risk and appear more legal by investing in a fund offered to them by another person. However, this fund has its flaws.

Can I Apply?

Only the wealthy (and US-Residents) may apply. Reuben Bramanathan, the portfolio manager, highlighted a major issue in the announcement. Potential investors must meet three very strict minimums. These include the requirement that potential investors must be US residents, accredited and can invest at least $250,000.

Anyone who can invest $250,000 in a single investment is already wealthy. The minimum investment is extremely high. You also need to be “accredited”. According to this site, to be considered accredited, you must have earned $200,000 or more in the past two years as an individual and expect it to continue. You also need to have a net worth greater than $1 million, which does not include the value of your primary residence. This requirement is mentioned on the sign-up page. It links to investor.gov, an SEC website. These requirements will, naturally, place you in the top 1% for earners.

The fund charges a 2% annual fee. This is a potential downside. This fee is much higher than Vanguard Total Stock Market Index Fund. You could expect to pay 0.04% fund expense fees. The Coinbase fund is a much more expensive option than the Vanguard Total Stock Market Index Fund. This should be considered for those who are financially able.

Individual investors can duplicate the fund for free. Let’s suppose that you are not an accredited investor or a US resident but still want to have this type of investment structure. This index fund is small in terms the number of assets offered, so it should be easy to replicate it on a smaller scale. One could therefore buy the five assets and keep the exact same percentage as Coinbase lists in their fund.

Coinbase Index Fund Conposition

Even if you’re eligible to buy from the Coinbase fund there may be some advantages to doing it yourself. First, if the investment is to be held for several years, the fees will likely be lower if it was done yourself. Even if you do have to purchase your assets from Coinbase and pay a fee, it would be a one-time fee only and not an annual percentage-based fee.

Second, you have the option to manage the fund yourself while still having full control over all assets. All five assets can be used with hardware wallets if security is a concern. This means that you can set up the wallet and buy and transfer funds, then forget about them until your time comes to cash in.

Is an Index Fund the right approach for Crypto? Coinbase’s index fund is an interesting way for investors to get into crypto. But is an index approach the best way to invest in cryptocurrency? The decision is ultimately up to the individual investor. You could also stick with the blue chips in the space for better results. Some people may prefer a hybrid approach that involves investing in an index such as this (run by you or someone else) and then looking for other potential crypto opportunities. This could be a good option. Whatever you do, make sure you understand what you are doing and that you can accept the possible losses.

Real Money?

Bitcoin jumped from the few thousand dollars’ worthy of and broke information by crossing the $20, Therefore, are these codes of development real cash or a fad which will die in time? Maybe you have sent money to somebody through banking channels? Different banking institutions have various protocols, but all have a very important factor in common: They ask you for for it. Yes, in ways that your bank offers you a few fee dealings a month, nonetheless it puts other restrictions what your location is forced to cover those particular services. With electronic currencies such as for example Bitcoin and Ethereum, you’ve kept to cover to transfer money to someone, however the transaction “charges” you share with miners are lower than what traditional banking institutions give you.

Sending cryptocurrency to somebody living in any area of the world is really as easy as writing a contact. All you have to accomplish is to require the receiver’s address, sign in your wallet and deliver the required amount. You can then bypass doing anything you do in your lifestyle and the money will undoubtedly be transferred. OK, therefore the title is misleading a little. You will find loads of cryptocurrency out there, which means you and the receiver might not have the same foreign currency wallet. If the receiver will be flexible (and you also have the convincing power), they might set up an electric wallet for your currency very quickly.

Foreign Currency

The most widely accepted foreign currency is Bitcoin and when you have it, you won’t face any issue of different foreign currency acceptance. With financial crises all over the place and the inflation price rising rapidly, you’ll one day find that those dollars you saved don’t possess much buying power in ten years roughly. The wise thing would be to invest them in a thing that will not depreciate as time passes.

Enter Cryptocurrencies! Mostly due to the method these currencies are programmed, they’ll be not a lot of in circulation, unlike document based currency where one can just print off even more. A straightforward case of supply and requirement will always make sure that cryptocurrencies will possess an ever increasing value. Therefore, there you own it: Cryptocurrencies aren’t a fad for me. All you have to accomplish is understand which one to get.