In what was seemingly just another ordinary day of trading, Bitcoin Investment Trust (GBTC) lost 20% of its value yesterday. GBTC, which went public in 2015, owns Bitcoin – that’s it! For the privilege – nay honour – of purchasing your Bitcoins using GBTC you will pay a 2% managerial fee (for what I am not exactly sure), and nearly a 50% premium to NAV. Save being the laziest creature on the planet or simply having an as yet undocumented addiction that permits you to only trade sketchy OTC listings, no one can explain why paying $800 for something that can be purchased for $442 elsewhere makes any sense save one reason: pure mania!
Also this week, Burger King announced its own cryptocurrency, in fantastic onionish style:
“Eating Whoppers now is a strategy for financial prosperity tomorrow. Now Whopper is not only [a] burger that people in 90 different countries love — it’s an investment tool as well. According to the forecasts, cryptocurrency will increase exponentially in value.”
And yes, like the shoeshine boy giving stock tips, when a Burger King spokesman knows that cryptocurrencies are set to rise it is time to get out (assuming you are in, of course).
Next, I am not exactly sure why I read this, but I did. Apparently Bitcoin is no longer a techy payment thingy, or a store of value, or a hedge against fiat,…but an efficiently tradable marketplace. I had no idea:
“With the international uncertainty surrounding the North Korean conflict and the recent news of Dalia Blass’s recent hire at the SEC, there is plenty of bullish news to fuel the push. However, the current BTC-USD all-time high resides in the lower $4800s, which many market analysts say is the local top of this run.”
Bitcoin “analysts”? There are people piling into the crypto-mania because of the North Korean conflict?? Wow. Is it just me or did the mildly interesting upswing in digital currencies suddenly enter the batshit nuts department?
Then, the unthinkable:
“…every day in August there have been more Google searches worldwide for “bitcoin” than for “Donald Trump.” Chuck Jaffe
If “bitcoin” besting “Trump” doesn’t mark some sort of death knell for today’s spit-shined crypto-mania I am not sure what will.
And yes, even when today’s crypto-craze collapses (perhaps simply due to crypto-saturation?), the outlook for digital currencies in general will remain strong: