One of the best ways to invest in Bitcoin will be via the Winklevoss Bitcoin Trust exchange-traded fund (ETF), which is currently awaiting regulatory approval by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).
Still, because the Winklevoss Bitcoin ETF will be based on a digital currency, there will be some quirks unique to this investment.
Here are answers to some of the questions investors are bound to have...
When you know where to look, it is possible to find a Bitcoin fund to buy now - if you're willing to venture into unconventional territory.
Safer alternatives - such as the Winklevoss Bitcoin ETF (the Winklevoss Bitcoin Trust) and SecondMarket's Bitcoin fund, the Bitcoin Investment Trust - are in the pipeline, but are still awaiting regulatory approval.
Just know this - these funds are not for investors with a weak stomach…
With the Winklevoss Bitcoin ETF, more formally known as the Winklevoss Bitcoin Trust, on track for approval before the end of the year, and an exchange already selected (the Nasdaq), we’re waiting on just one more big piece of news: the ticker symbol.
With a product as controversial as a Bitcoin ETF, choosing the right ticker symbol can help foster wider acceptance of the digital currency as well as make the ETF easy for investors to remember.
But coming up with a catchy ticker may prove trickier than you'd imagine...
The Winklevoss Bitcoin ETF is still awaiting regulatory approval from the Securities and Exchange Commission, but now we know that when the time comes it will debut on the Nasdaq exchange.
Most observers expect to the Winklevoss Bitcoin Trust - the fund's official name - to be approved by the end of the year. It's just one sign of growing Wall Street interest in investing in Bitcoin and Bitcoin funds.
And as Wall Street gets more involved in the digital currency, things will start to change rapidly…
An investor group called Sunlot Holdings is seeking to revive the failed Bitcoin exchange Mt. Gox has made a deal with the claimants in two class action lawsuits on a proposed settlement.
It's the last best chance for the 127,000 customers of Mt. Gox to recover any of their lost money, which amounted to 750,000 bitcoins.
But the proposal faces one last and very big hurdle...
The reason why the Bitcoin price is falling today is a familiar one: China.
After climbing back to $500 last Thursday, the Bitcoin price started to tumble on news that the People's Bank of China had privately told banks and payment companies to cease all interaction with digital currency companies such as Bitcoin exchanges.
The bankrupt Mt. Gox Bitcoin exchange took another step toward oblivion when the Tokyo District Court dismissed its application for civil rehabilitation and steered it on a path to liquidation.
That news is of concern to the 127,000 Mt. Gox customers who had money stuck in accounts there - liquidation usually reduces any restitution.
But the Japanese administrator taking over the Mt. Gox assets left open a possibility that at some point could allow the failed exchange to pay back customers.
After plunging to six-month lows, just last Friday, Bitcoin prices have rebounded 40%. And that's on a day when the Chinese Bitcoin exchanges were supposed to get cut off from their bank accounts.
It seems that, for better or for worse, events in China are driving the price of Bitcoin.
isn't going to change any time soon...
Some in the mainstream media would have you believe that most of those investing in Bitcoin are naïve and unsophisticated fools who don't recognize a bubble when they see one.
But that doesn't explain why some big names in venture capital are pouring millions of dollars into the digital currency, or why Wall Street is growing increasingly interested.
Reports that the People's Bank of China (PBOC) planned to shut down the bank accounts of Chinese Bitcoin exchanges became all too real today (Thursday), as the exchanges began receiving official notices from their respective banks.
The news sent the Bitcoin price today falling as much as 12.4% to a low of $385.32, adding to the losses that started after the first rumors leaked out several weeks ago. Bitcoin prices have fallen from more than $600 in mid-March and more than $800 at the start of the year.
Several big investment firms said yesterday (Tuesday) that they are buying stakes in a Bitcoin hedge fund - yet another sign that major players in the investing world are getting serious about the digital currency.
Fortress Investment Group, with about $58 billion in assets under management, along with venture capital firms Benchmark Capital and Ribbit Capital, are teaming up with San Francisco-based Pantera Bitcoin Partners LLC, a hedge fund operator that buys and sells digital currencies like Bitcoin.
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The mainstream media has put out a lot of stories detailing the demise of the Mt. Gox exchange, but they haven't had nearly as much to say about why Bitcoin prices are moving back up - a startling 43% since Mt. Gox went dark.
Here's what everyone else is missing...
The troubled Mt. Gox exchange officially filed for bankruptcy today (Friday) in Japan, but this Bitcoin news was so much expected that prices on other exchanges hardly moved.
Bitcoin prices on most major exchanges briefly dipped about 5% on the news, but recovered quickly. The composite Bitcoin price on CoinDesk was $565 at midday, down less than 2% for the day.
One of the things holding many people back from investing in Bitcoin is the technical knowledge required to buy and sell the actual Bitcoins. But the Winklevoss Twins are about to change all that when their Bitcoin ETF gets approved by the SEC later this year.
