How 8 Advisors View Bitcoin After a Big Price Change: Advisors' Advice

When ThinkAdvisor asked financial advisors last May about their views on Bitcoin and what they were telling clients about it, they were leery about the cryptocurrency due to its speculative nature, outsized volatility and lack of regulation. Bitcoin was trading at about $39,000 then. Prices have since risen about 60% to top $61,000 since, but not before dropping below $30,000 in late July, topping $50,000 in early September, losing another at $10,000 later that month, then before surging to a record high near $67,000 in late October before staging a slight retreat. [Editor's note: In December, the price of Bitcoin fell roughly 16%; the cryptocurrency was priced at $47,910 on Dec. 28.] During that past six-plus months, two Bitcoin futures ETFs were launched in the U.S.; more applications to trade a spot Bitcoin ETF were filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including one from Cathie Wood's Ark Investment Management; and Bitcoin became legal tender in El Salvador. In addition, a U.S. Treasury-led panel of regulators recommended that Congress impose a new regulatory framework around stable coins (digital currencies pegged to national currencies like the dollar); China, once the largest venue for cryptocurrency mining, declared all cryptocurrency-related transactions illegal; and a red-hot cryptocurrency named Squid, after the popular Netflix show, flamed out. Now attention turns to Nov. 14, the deadline for the SEC to issue a final decision on the VanEck Bitcoin Trust application. The agency postponed earlier decisions about that and other Bitcoin ETFs and more than a dozen applications remain pending. In the meantime, ThinkAdvisor went back to the advisors we spoke to in late May to see if their views or their clients' views about a Bitcoin ETF have changed given that there are now two Bitcoin futures ETFs available for their clients to own. Eight of the nine responded. Check out the slideshow above to learn if any have changed their minds about the most popular cryptocurrency.