Caroline Bowler, chief executive of BTC Markets, said on the latest ASF Audits podcast that cryptocurrency usually fell primarily around the larger asset class, because if trustees wanted to invest in something that’s going to be liquid, and has a history of liquidity and a price history, they could understand it more easily.
She said traditionally banks advised clients to invest between 5 and 15 per cent of their portfolio in alternative investment products, depending on their risk appetite, and cryptocurrencies “fall into that pocket”.
“Something like a bitcoin or Ethereum is quite an easy first foray [into cryptocurrencies], because you can do all of those different pieces with it and there’s a manner of putting a price on or understanding what could be behind some of the growth.”
“That’s very helpful. What I also think is quite helpful, even for people who just want to dip their toe in and not do too much because they don’t want the risk, is the way it differs from buying a share.”
Shelley Banton, head of technical at ASF Audits, says SMSF trustees first started moving into crypto investment around 2017, when the price of bitcoin started to rise.
“And as we’ve often said, SMSFs can invest in anything as long as it meets the sole purpose test, it’s allowed by the trust deed and the investment strategy, and of course, crypto can meet all of those requirements without a problem,” Banton said.
“But given the mindset still out there that it is a little bit of a high-risk investment because of that price volatility, why then does it become an appropriate investment for a fund which is holding the retirement savings of its members?”
Bowler explained that if a fund decided to invest in BHP, it had to buy an entire share at a minimum to get exposure, but in cryptocurrency investment, it could get as little as $10.
“You do not have to justify the expense of the outlay to buy more than that. To me, that flips this on its head.”
“I think it also, equally, when you’re doing tokenisation, flips it on its head, because now you don’t need to buy a minimum parcel, and that is a game changer.”
If a fund looked at an allocation and was undecided on how much to invest, it could invest a smaller amount and not be over-exposed.
“You can come in at very small amounts and still see an uplift depending on the volatility and in which direction the market is going, and that helps people get comfortable,” Bowler said.
“The most sensible thing to do is to come in, open an account, which you can do online with all the exchanges, put $10 in, and then you have exposure to cryptocurrency in the most easy and straightforward way.
“Then you can just check in with mobile apps so it’s very accessible trading. There’s no middleman, there’s no broker, and you’re buying from other Aussies.”
crypto has above average volatility; buying in is done in the hope of big gains so a $10 punt would have to be very fortunate now, unlike 10+ years ago.
A loss of a larger amount is a risk due to the volatility and a gain of a larger amount may be a waste due to proposed Div 296
Maybe not really the forum for crypto?