Crypto is now mainstream. Investors of all ages are diving in.
Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.Shortly after Charles Schwab announced in April that it would soon allow investors to trade crypto directly on its platform, financial advisor Jeff Judge received a question from a 68-year-old client who had always dismissed Bitcoin: Was he “missing something?” the client asked Judge.The client ended up investing $125,000—some 5% of his $2.5 million portfolio—in a crypto exchanged-traded fund (ETF).“Institutional credibility moved the needle in a way that price performance never did,” said Judge, managing partner at Chesapeake Financial Planners in the Baltimore area. “When Fidelity, BlackRock and now Schwab put their name on it, older investors interpret that as a green light, or at least a sign they should ask the question.”Crypto has surged to a $2.6 trillion market cap, up more than 1,000% from April 2020 as retail investors and institutional ones alike have taken an interest in digital currency.Bitcoin’s price jumped from roughly $8,000 per coin in early 2020 to as high as $126,000 per coin in October of last year.
Once just accessible to investors willing to learn the jargon and complicated way crypto was traded and stored in its early days, the asset can now be bought and sold on trading apps alongside stocks.Even well-known crypto skeptics are changing their tune. JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon, who called Bitcoin a fraud in 2017, wrote in his most recent letter to shareholders that the bank was building upon its capabilities in digital assets.
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