Quote from: DPoS on January 12, 2014, 12:10:05 AM

Quote from: User705 on January 11, 2014, 08:32:54 PM

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Curious who thinks it's a major advantage? Current Bitcoin publicity is huge. Short of the president buying bitcoins it's hard to think of it getting any bigger. So publicity angle is underwhelming at best. Ease of trading if thought through seems more of a negative because it isn't actual xbt ease of trading. If a dentist in san diego as you put it sells apple and buys xbt fund the fact is they aren't buying xbt but instead are buying just paper. Reminds me of MP calling it a valueless receipt. Instead of reducing volatility it only increases it. Instead of xbt being used as a currency it becomes a penny stock pump and dump. Hard to see bitcoin idealists seeing this as a major thing. I could be wrong though.

there is a bunch of IRA money or crazier 401k money that someday could be blindly tossed into bitcoins.. I think OP is trying to set up something that can get through regulations for the common greater fool to come push bitcoin higher quicker.

the other ones now are only for 'sophisticated investors'... Fidelity slipped and let the second market one go live for anyone's IRA but then took it off in a day

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Yes exactly -- the publicity has been great but the overall actual investment in Bitcoin is still REALLY tiny compared to other financial instruments like the currency of a very tiny third world country or a moderately sized public company.

I'd like to see a vehicle where that dentist form San Diego so to speak could rally easily but a BTC based investment in a way he understands and is comfortable with.

Basic investor behavior is that people stay with what they know, what they are comfortable with.

To the point about it just being paper, not real Bitcoin -- depends on the structure.... I'm going with the REIT - Real Estate Investment Trust example because it's the closest I can do. If I launch a $400 mm REIT for development of real estate opportunities in Boston --- and Joe Dentist buys $100,000 worth from his Charles Schwab account ....that helps Boston real estate and that 100k does go toward Boston real estate.....for this, same thing.

A Bitcoin fund invested into by retail and institutional investors WOULD go DIRECTLY to Bitcoin --- so if we raised $100 mm then you'd see the fund staff around working to buy a heck of a lot of coins. Now AFTER a fund like this is raised then Joe Dentist may sell his shares on Schwab to some other investor and, yes, at that stage it's just paper....but, like the Boston real estate, the Bitcoin is still owned and held....adding stability and improving price.....also bringing even more notice, ease etc to the space.

If Bitcoin grows the way it hopefully will, then it seems likely there will be several vehicles like this which could collectively add a good amount of money to BTC as well as some stability.