The only reason they do this is because gold heavy fund managers like him & Schiff are in DEEP SHIT thanks to Bitcoin. They lost their clients 20%+ last year and all they had to do was have a tiny 1% hedge in Bitcoin and their clients would be smiling.
Right now their clients are leaving them en masse even though the clients are still long gold, they're all realising there's no point having a fund manager specialising in this space if he can't spot the risk/reward ratio of Bitcoin and at least hedge 1% there. 1%!? 1%...
They're about as useful as an ejection seat in a helicopter. Worse they probably even specifically discouraged some clients from Bitcoin last year and they're paying the price.
Are you really implying that Bitcoin is the reason gold-heavy fund managers lost their clients 20%+ (also, what's your source on this number?) last year? I'm as enthusiastic as the next guy about the possibilities of Bitcoin shaking up the establishment, but don't you think the 25%+ drop in gold price (a readily available statistic) is the more plausible reason? I do.
Let's keep our feet on the ground with the reality of where Bitcoin is at here.
No. The reason the funds lost 20%+ last year were specifically the poor performance of precious metals. However had they hedged their gold position with a tiny bit of Bitcoin (1% even), (Exactly as Max Keiser suggested at the beginning of 2013) those funds would have showed a fantastic net gain for 2013.
I was thinking less about Singer and specifically Schiff and also Paulson.
Schiff hard asset fund 2013:
-25% http://www.europacificfunds.com/hardassets_fund.htmlSchiff gold fund:
-17% (But Inception Date: 7/19/2013)
http://www.europacificfunds.com/gold_fund.htmlPaulson gold fund:
circa - 60%+ http://blogs.wsj.com/moneybeat/2013/11/22/john-paulsons-funds-clock-strong-returns-in-2013/Mr. Paulson who started betting big on gold in 2010 continues to watch his gold fund bleed. He told investors that he doesnt plan to add to the holdings of this fund, which had $1 billion mostly of his own money at the start of the year. After clocking losses of 63% so far this year, that fund is down to about $370 million.
The point I'm making is that these guys who specialise in this monetary space not only missed Bitcoin but in Schiff's case and seemingly Singer's above specifically advised their clients against it. So yes the combination of being in charge of a fund that loses 20%+ and not hedging/causing your clients to miss the 4000%+ gains of Bitcoin in 2013 is a Big deal.