Featured Story

Bad News Money
Illustration: Natalie Peeples/Axios
 
Bitcoin is more accessible than ever with the January launch of spot ETFs, but before some investment pros can even talk about those flashy new tools, they have to do their homework… and maybe even pass a test.Why it matters: Waning enthusiasm around the bitcoin ETFs expressed by recent outflows threatens to fade the Year of Bitcoin — but that could change given the effort underway.The big picture: The next wave of ETF interest will reportedly include pension funds, endowments and at least one major brokerage platform. But institutional 🍊 adoption requires a great deal of education.When spot bitcoin ETFs debuted, some advisers and adviser networks got to work immediately, but even those efforts have required time.Zoom in: San Diego-based Cetera Financial Group, which has roughly 13,000 affiliated wealth advisers, was one of them, according to Matt Fries, head of investment products at the firm.The firm was aware of client demand around the bitcoin ETFs — albeit from a “specific type of investor” — and wanted to “find a way to get comfortable” with offering the products on their platform, he says.He described it as an all-hands situation, in which various parts of the firm got to work — analyzing the 11 spot bitcoin ETFs available, thinking about risk controls around exposure, and how to educate/train their advisers.How it worked: Cetera issued a policy announcement in mid-March, which detailed how its affiliated advisers could use the four selected bitcoin ETFs on its platform.Ahead of that announcement, some of the more gung-ho advisers completed required training and passed a test, Fries says, adding that their supervisors also had to complete training. Still, there are certain conditions — spot bitcoin ETFs are only allowed to be used in commission-based accounts, and not on advisory accounts where advisers would collect a fee. There are also limits on how much can be parked in them. Cetera’s goal isn’t to push bitcoin, it’s to push bitcoin education.”What we want is to provide advisers with clients asking those questions tools to have an educated conversation around that.”The bottom line: The first wave of adoption for bitcoin ETFs may have hit a wall. The next wave of growth will likely be fueled by another source.

Loading

Don't Miss

By BanksterCrime

BanksterCrime: CFTC Fines J.P. Morgan Securities — a Fed Primary Dealer — $100 Million for Failing to Surveil Potential Spoofing and High Frequency Trading for…

Loading

Read More

By BanksterCrime

Catch and Kill Protection Rackets: Trump, Weinstein, Epstein and Wall Street… BanksterCrime: By Pam Martens and Russ Martens, Editor’s Note: This article has been edited…

Loading

Read More

By BanksterCrime

BanksterCrime: By Pam Martens and Russ Martens, George Washington University Law Professor, Arthur Wilmarth, has done it again. After authoring the seminal book on the insidious evolution…

Loading

Read More

By BanksterCrime

BanksterCrime: By Nikhilesh De The U.S. House of Representatives voted largely along party lines to preventthe Federal Reserve from issuing a central bank digital currency.…

Loading

Read More

By BanksterCrime

BanksterCrime: By Pam Martens and Russ Martens, Exactly how long is it going to take federal banking regulators to figure out that “move fast and break…

Loading

Read More
Posted in ,

StevieRay Hansen

In his riveting memoir, "A Long Journey Home", StevieRay Hansen will lead you through his incredible journey from homeless kid to multimillionaire oilman willing to give a helping hand to other throwaway kids. Available on Amazon.

Leave a Comment