Trends with Benefits Recap: Crypto Series Roundup

Bitcoin has been a major focus for us here at VanEck for quite some time however, understanding the world of bitcoin can be intimidating, largely in part to it having its own language. This year we decided to extend that effort by producing a special podcast series, dedicated to bitcoin education. To help us elaborate on the topic, we welcomed a group of guests, each of whom are subject matter experts in their respective areas of cryptocurrency.

Trends with Benefits #44: [Crypto Series 1] - What is Bitcoin with Pierre Rochard

In this episode I kick off our crypto series by speaking with Pierre Rochard, Bitcoin Strategist at Kraken about the basics of bitcoin and what investors should know in order to understand the digital currency.

Kraken is one of the oldest and largest bitcoin exchanges. Pierre helps me break through some of the complicated jargon that surrounds bitcoin and explains things in layman’s terms. We begin the series by asking a basic question, that I think many still have a hard time answering simply: What is bitcoin?

Trends with Benefits #47: [Crypto Series 2] - Bitcoin's Growing Popularity with Institutions

Dan Tapiero, Manager Partner and CEO of 10T Holdings and Co-founder of Gold Bullion International, joins us for the second episode to discuss a different investor segment as it relates to bitcoin—institutions.

Many institutional investors are rethinking the traditional 60/40 allocation and seeking out alternative sources of alpha. Dan highlights bitcoin’s compelling performance profile and what it would look like in a 60/40 portfolio, if one were to look back over the last decade. Dan also explains which factors he believes have led to institutions becoming more comfortable with bitcoin, as well as what onboarding bitcoin at these institutions entails.

Trends with Benefits #52: [Crypto Series 3] - How to Trade Bitcoin with Ari Paul

Ari Paul, CIO of BlockTower Capital joins me to discuss how bitcoin is traded and the market outlook for the cryptocurrency amidst its growing acceptance and long awaited legitimization by the government, financial services industry and most importantly, investors.

We discuss the mechanics of trading bitcoin by first discussing the technology behind cryptocurrency, i.e., cryptography, and the vital role trust must play between the investor and the given cryptography technology. As normalization of bitcoin continues to increase, the mechanics for trading bitcoin still has a little ways to go. While investors are not able to log into their brokerage account and purchase bitcoin the same way they would a traditional asset, Ari believes we will eventually see this over the next decade.

Trends with Benefits #58: [Crypto Series 4] - Bad Actors in Bitcoin with Jake Chervinsky

In our latest episode, we continue the conversation by exploring the perceptions, realities and implications of bad actors in bitcoin with Jake Chervinsky. In addition to serving as General Counsel at Compound Labs, he works on regulatory policy for the crypto industry through the Blockchain Association. So, he spends a lot of time working with legislators and has a great sense of how they view crypto.

If you’re intrigued by cryptocurrency, as many are, we encourage you to give this series a listen and hope that you enjoy!