At the end of last week, something big went down in the crypto world. [Wealth Daily] Alexander Boulden / Jan 15, 2024 $4.6 Billion Flows Into Bitcoin ETFs Dear Reader, At the end of last week, something big went down in the crypto world. Gary Gensler, chair of the Securities and Exchange Commission, gave a rare interview on CNBC in which he really showed how heâs thinking about digital assets: Investors should be aware that the underlying asset is a highly speculative, volatile asset, and amongst its use cases, itâs really for illicit activity: money laundering and sanctions and ransomware and the like... Itâs a speculative store of value. Is it being used as a payment anywhere, are we buying cups of coffee with it? Not really. He makes a good point here. Bitcoin got scooped up by bad actors almost immediately after its inception. I still remember when people were using dark web sites like the Silk Road to buy dirt-cheap drugs you couldnât get anywhere else. The only catch? You had to use Bitcoin. It was a huge story when the FBI took down Ross Ulbricht, the mastermind behind Silk Road. The U.S. Marshals seized all his bitcoins, more than 144,000 of them. Theyâd be worth $6.2 billion today. Ulbricht is currently serving out his double life sentence plus 40 years without the possibility of parole. Now, Iâm not here to say he shouldnât have been put in jail for hosting a website that facilitated drug trafficking, but you gotta admit, the way he did it was pretty nifty. The site was hosted via the Tor network, which basically hides a userâs location and IP address. Now, in order to facilitate a purchase, you had to use Bitcoin. You could maintain your anonymity of the purchase if you didnât tie your legal name to your crypto wallet. Keep in mind, since crypto is decentralized, the point is for every transaction to be viewable on the open ledger. It was a smart idea â until, of course, he was outsmarted by detectives. And it wasnât just drugs being sold on the site. You could buy fake passports, too. Then there were also some alleged murder-for-hire charges against Ulbricht... so, yeah, the judge threw the book at him. Unfortunately, it hasnât done anything to prevent other people from doing the exact same thing, but thatâs a different discussion. Secret tech stock set to soar on Appleâs Vision Pro Rollout Apple has unleashed its Vision Pro headset, a device set to transform the tech world. This is Apple's most ambitious project since the iPhone. At the heart of this innovation is a small tech firm, collaborating closely with Apple. Its partnership with Apple puts this tech firm in a prime position for growth. [All the details can be found right here.]( Around the same time when Bitcoin was first being harvested and introduced to the world, the best argument I heard for it was its ability to run on the blockchain. People always claimed the blockchain would replace complex real estate transactions because of the decentralized open ledger system. Iâm still hopeful, but that use case remains to be seen. Gensler touched on this: No doubt, there are innovations within this field... which I taught about at MIT, around a ledger system, itâs just an accounting system called the blockchain technology. But thereâs an irony. In the midst of this, Satoshi Nakamoto said this was gonna be a decentralized system... and this has led to centralization... this was about centralization and tradition means of finance that investors who could already express themselves in bitcoin, you could already before this week buy it through major brokerage houses, but now you can buy through this thing called an exchange-traded product. When asked about whether Bitcoin could get banned in the future, he replied, âThe American public is aware of this. Itâs rife with conflicts. Itâs rife with fraud and abuse. Without prejudging any one token, many of these tokens, I would suggest a majority of these tokens, are actually securities under the securities law. So the platforms, the various places that you might buy or sell crypto security tokens, need to come into compliance with the federal laws.â What heâs saying is Coinbase better get its act together. According to Coindesk, âMost qualified custodians today secure equities, bonds or digitally tracked fiat balances, all of which are fundamentally legal agreements, which canât simply be âstolen.â But Bitcoin, like cash and gold, is whatâs known as a bearer instrument. A successful crypto hack is like a bank robbery in the Wild West. As soon as itâs in the hands of a thief, the money is simply gone. So for a crypto custodian, one mistake is all it takes for the assets to disappear entirely.â Coinbase stock retreated more than 10% last week even after the Bitcoin ETF approvals. But all this ETF talk made me want to dig a little deeper into this financial product. And are they good investments? If so, what are the Bitcoin ETFs trading today? Goldman Sachs: AI a "$7 Trillion Opportunity" Banking giant Goldman Sachs just said... That the artificial intelligence (AI) market could be worth $7 trillion in just a few years. And one former Wall Street analysts predicts it could hand you 5,300% profits â thanks to one little-known stock. Thatâs because this tiny firm holds over 200 patents on an AI breakthrough... One that will be in 70% of cars, 80% of hospitals, and 94% of corporations. To discover the details... [Simply click here.]( WTF Is an ETF? An exchange-traded fund (ETF) is a type of investment fund and exchange-traded product that holds a diversified portfolio of assets such as stocks, bonds, or commodities. ETFs are traded on stock exchanges, allowing investors to buy and sell shares throughout the trading day at market prices. ETFs are designed to track the performance of a specific index, sector, commodity, or asset class. ETFs offer investors a way to gain exposure to a broad range of assets without having to buy each individual security separately. There are even various investment strategies within ETFs, including: - Diversification: Investors can achieve diversification by investing in an ETF that tracks a specific index or sector, spreading their risk across multiple assets.
- Sector or industry exposure: ETFs exist for various sectors and industries, allowing investors to focus on specific areas of the market, such as technology, healthcare, or energy.
- Market timing: Traders can use ETFs to implement short-term trading strategies like options or to capitalize on market trends.
- Income generation: Some ETFs focus on high-dividend stocks or fixed-income securities, providing investors with a source of income.
- Hedging: Investors can use inverse ETFs that move in the opposite direction of an underlying index for asset to hedge their portfolios against market downturns. New Oil Drilling Innovation Unlocks Texas-Size Profit
Potential Nestled in Texas' Permian Basin is a secret thatâs about to turn the oil industry on its head... A small firm has developed a new drilling method that puts fracking to shame. It could DOUBLE domestic oil production and transform America into the worldâs No. 1 oil superpower. [See the full story behind this firmâs breakthrough "Horseshoe Well."]( ETFs have gained increasing popularity among investors due to their flexibility, liquidity, and cost-effectiveness. The ability to trade throughout the day, low expense ratios compared to some mutual funds, and the diverse range of investment options contribute to their widespread adoption. Three of the largest and most widely traded ETFs include: - SPDR S&P 500 ETF (SPY): This ETF tracks the performance of the S&P 500, one of the most widely followed equity indexes, representing 500 of the largest U.S. companies.
- Invesco QQQ Trust (QQQ): This ETF tracks the Nasdaq-100 Index, which includes 100 of the largest non-financial companies listed on the Nasdaq stock exchange, with a focus on technology stocks.
- iShares MSCI Emerging Markets ETF (EEM): This ETF provides exposure to equities in emerging markets, offering investors the opportunity to invest in a diverse set of companies in developing economies. Hereâs are three of the most heavily traded Bitcoin ETFs that just got approved: - BlackRock's iShares Bitcoin Trust (IBIT),
- Grayscale Bitcoin Trust (GBTC)
- ARK 21Shares Bitcoin ETF (ARKB) If you want info on further funds, the Block notes, âThe 11 tradable spot Bitcoin ETFs [approved on Wednesday]( were funds from Bitwise, Grayscale, Hashdex, [BlackRock](, Valkyrie, BZX, Invesco, VanEck, WisdomTree, Fidelity, and Franklin Templeton.â Now letâs enjoy the trading week. (And maybe buy some puts on Coinbase.) Stay frosty, Alexander Boulden
Editor, Wealth Daily [[follow basic]Check us out on YouTube!]( After Alexanderâs passion for economics and investing drew him to one of the largest financial publishers in the world, where he rubbed elbows with former Chicago Board Options Exchange floor traders, Wall Street hedge fund managers, and International Monetary Fund analysts, he decided to take up the pen and guide others through this new age of investing. Alexander is the investment director of Insider Stakeout â a weekly investment advisory service dedicated to tracking the smartest money on the planet so that his readers can achieve life-altering, market-beating returns. [Check out his editor's page here](. Want to hear more from Alexander? [Sign up to receive emails directly from him]( ranging from market commentaries to opportunities that he has his eye on. [Feedback? get in touch](mailto:/newsletter@wealthdaily.com?subject=Wealth%20Daily%20feedback) [Read this email online]( [Manage Newsletters]( [Share on Twitter]( You signed up for our newsletter with the email {EMAIL}.
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