What happens when you combine the deep-seated belief that money somehow magically represents value, with good old-fashioned greed? You get today’s rush into crypto-currency speculation.
Crypto “investments” are a fraud, with as much foundation as the notorious 17th century Tulip Bubble or more recent chain-letter scams. They have no backing in anything real, and they work only so long as the next sucker comes along to bid the price still higher.
Americans with savings in pension funds might want to start worrying, in light of an article in the Jan. 16 Financial Times which reports: “Pension funds dabble in crypto after massive bitcoin rally.” They note that “Pension funds are dipping their toes into buying bitcoin, in a sign that even typically staid corners of finance are finding it hard to ignore the potential outsized returns from cryptocurrencies. Pension schemes for the states of Wisconsin and Michigan are among the top holders of US stock market funds devoted to crypto.”
Specifically, “the State of Wisconsin Investment Board was the 12th biggest shareholder in BlackRock’s bitcoin ETF at the end of September,” the article notes. And “Michigan is the sixth-largest shareholder in Grayscale’s ethereum ETF and… also the 11th-largest holder in the ARK 21Shares Bitcoin ETF.”
The FT happily reports that the price of crypto could double this year, after President-elect Trump announced his intention to make the US “the bitcoin superpower of the world” and end a regulatory crackdown on the sector.
