Regular readers will know our views on Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies – a ‘Ponzi’ scheme not backed up by anything tangible and a lesson in losing money waiting to happen for some investors.
Nonetheless, it seems the Securities and Exchange Commission, which oversees and regulates the securities markets and protects investors in the US, has seen fit to approve 11 EFTs (Exchange-Traded Funds) that invest in Bitcoin.
This ‘currency’ is not an ‘asset’ and has nebulous, proven legitimate value and use. This ‘development’ is added to the latest speculative explosion about ‘AI’ (which of course has myriad applications and much worth!)
You do not need to trawl the internet very far at all to find unfortunate souls who have lost a fortune and become bankrupt through attempting to trade in cryptocurrency.
As a Firm we do not hold any ‘crypto’ assets or have any clients’ money invested in such things and our advice to anyone even remotely tempted to venture into that market is please, just don’t!
The bar for the SEC’s Equity to Risk Premium is now so low (circa 1%) that the cynic might say next they will approve ETFs which mirror flies climbing up a wall.
The hype before the consent is likely in our view to mean the price of Bitcoin will now fall from its near-term peak (still way below the earlier one) rather than rise – a bit like selling shares in oil exploration companies ‘on the strike’ as the hype usually exceeds the reality.
If you wish to invest, please do seek professional financial advice and choose to invest in things that have a tangible value and are unlikely to evaporate into thin air!
Overinflated salaries?
It also emerged recently that bosses of Britain’s biggest companies will earn more by lunchtime on the third working day of 2024 than the typical worker will all year.
Research by the High Pay Centre released 10 days ago claimed the pay of FTSE 100 chiefs will have overtaken the £34,963 annual average wage for full-time workers by the lunchtime of that day.
Including pensions, top bosses’ average reward amounts to £3.81m per year, the centre said.
That works out at £1,170 per hour – 109 times the average full-time worker.
The ‘poor’ executives at companies listed on the bigger FTSE 350 make median pay of £1.32m, so they had to work until January 10 for their pay to overtake the annual pay of the average UK worker.
Leading bankers overtake the average worker pay today (Wednesday).
One does wonder where these overinflated reward packages will end and the demoralising impact this must have on staff on far lower salaries.
