Top Bitcoin & Cryptocurrency Stocks

Maybe you have heard of cryptocurrencies but you’ve been concerned about investing in them. Or maybe you have dipped your toe into bitcoin, but want to diversify your crypto holdings in another asset class.

You might want to look into investing in cryptocurrency stocks. These are companies that either mine for crypto, own crypto, or provide ownership and trading services for cryptocurrencies.

Coinbase (COIN) is the largest cryptocurrency exchange in the United States. This $74 billion market cap company trades at 21 times trailing earnings and 47 times forward earnings.

MicroStrategy (MSTR) is a business intelligence company that has spent over $2.2 billion purchasing Bitcoin. The stock has a forward price to earnings ratio of 105.
PayPal Holdings (PYPL), the online payments company, now allows the purchasing and trading of cryptocurrencies. The stock has a trailing P/E ratio of 65 and a forward PE of 46.
Square (SQ ) is another financial services company that has invested about half a billion dollars in Bitcoin. It has a sky high trailing ratio of 225, but a forward PE of 103.
Marathon Digital Holdings (MARA) is a patent holding company which has purchased Bitcoin and Bitcoin mining equipment, and is involved in a joint venture to create a bitcoin data center. The stock has a forward PE of 12.
Voyager Digital (VYGVF) is involved in a digital platform to trade cryptocurrencies. The stock has a forward PE of 18.
Galaxy Digital Holdings (BRPHF) is a digital asset management company, which trades at 6.5 times trailing earnings and 13 times forward earnings.
Of course, you can alway buy a blockchain ETF, such asAmplify Transformational Data Sharing ETF (BLOK), which includes many of these stocks.

Also, stay tuned for a pure play bitcoin ETF that will invest in bitcoin directly.

Disclosure: Author has a long position in COIN and PYPL. 

SEC Says No to Coinbase Lending & Interest Earning Proposal

Coinbase (COIN) has been working on offering cryptocurrency holders the ability to lend out their holdings in order to earn interest.

However, the Coinbase co-founder and CEO Brian Armstrong said recently the SEC would not allow this type of service and said that the SEC threatened to sue Coinbase  if they did.

This is in spite of the fact that other crypto companies are already offering this type of service.

Why Bitcoin Crashed When El Salvador Accepted It As Legal Tender

by Fred Fuld III

In case you missed it, the country of El Salvador has accepted Bitcoin as the country’s legal tender along with the U.S. dollar, yet the price of Bitcoin crashed.

According to Professor Ram Gopal, Head of the Gillmore Centre for Financial Technology at Warwick Business School, which conducts research into cryptocurrency, “While the timing and the bull rush into bitcoin without ensuring the appropriate infrastructure and education is in place is questionable, this is indeed a bold move by El Salvador.

“It is not at all surprising that there are birthing pains, as is always the case with any new innovation, but these will ease. The broader message that is important is that cryptocurrencies are here to stay. What form they take, whether it is fully decentralized as bitcoin, or alternative forms such as stablecoins or CBDCs, is yet to unfold and is an interesting space to watch.”

Ganesh Viswanath-Natraj, Assistant Professor of Finance at Warwick Business School, said, “El Salvador’s monetary experiment to make Bitcoin as legal tender is pitched as a solution to a largely unbanked population as an effective savings vehicle and as a store of value for users.  However, there are a number of issues with using Bitcoin from a macroeconomic and financial stability standpoint.

“First, is Bitcoin’s volatility, with daily price changes a order of magnitude higher than fiat currency exchange rates. For example, Bitcoin crashed by up to 50% on March 12th, 2020, an event known as Black Thursday to the cryptocurrency community.

“Second, high volatility in a medium of exchange corresponds to high volatility in the macroeconomy. Users who hold Bitcoin will now see wild swings in their savings, which will then filter to volatile consumption, hours worked, and therefore cause greater swings in output and inflation.

“Third, a subsequent channel is through the banking system. To the extent that banks are allowed to hold deposits in a cryptocurrency, for example by offering Bitcoin wallet services to its residents, banks will see large fluctuations in their deposits. As balance sheets become more volatile, bank lending and credit channels to households and firms are disrupted.

“A potential solution to El Salvador’s experiment is to replace Bitcoin with stablecoins, a class of cryptocurrencies pegged to the USD and backed by dollar reserves.

“In solving the volatility problem, the financial inclusion benefits a cryptocurrency brings can help provide an effective savings for El Salvador residents, helping them smooth consumption with net welfare benefits for the macroeconomy.”

 

Bitcoin Now Legal Tender in El Salvador

by Fred Fuld III

The world is watching! Bitcoin has now become legal tender in the Central American country of El Salvador.

All businesses in the country will now be expected to accept Bitcoin, starting today.

One big benefit to the citizens is that  they can download the digital wall app provided by the government with $30 worth of Bitcoin included in the wallet for free.

Bitcoin and the U.S. dollar will operate concurrently as the country’s currency.

It will be interesting to see what country will be next.

Dr. Mark Skousen Exclusive Interview: the Stock Market, Bitcoin, GameStop, Gold, & Bear Markets

by Fred Fuld III

The following informative interview was provided by Dr. Mark Skousen, a financial economist, editor of the Forecasts & Strategies financial newsletter since 1980, and Presidential Fellow at Chapman University, where he recently received the “Most Favorite Professor” Award.  He is also the producer of FreedomFest, “the world’s largest gathering of free minds.”  He is the author of several books, including The Maxims of Wall Street, now in its 10th edition.

We cover a lot in this interview, including:

  • The Future of the Stock Market
  • Bear Markets
  • Bitcoin, Cryptocurrency, & Blockchain
  • GameStop
  • Young Traders
  • Gold Bullion vs. Gold Stocks
  • Silver
  • Inflation
  • Interest Rates
  • The Technology Sector
  • And much, much more

He even gives the name of a gold mining stock that he likes, which trades for less than $5 a share and pays a yield of over 3%! 

The Dr. Mark Skousen Interview
Enjoy listening to the great insights and information that Dr. Skousen provides:

To stream the interview, click:

HERE

It is a long interview, so it may take a few seconds to load. You can also download the interview as an mp3 by right-clicking (or Control clicking) HERE and choosing “save as.”

Books by Dr. Mark Skousen

Please note that all of Dr. Skousen’s books can be ordered directly from SkousenBooks.com, and they will be autographed and delivered with free shipping.

The Maxims of Wall Street – New 10th Anniversary Edition

A Viennese Waltz Down Wall Street

The Making of Modern Economics

EconoPower: How a New Generation of Economists is Transforming the World

His other books can be found at SkousenBooks.com.

Forecasts and Strategies

Information about the Forecasts and Strategies Newsletter and the trading services can be found at MarkSkousen.com.

Enjoy the interview and Happy Investing!

 

All opinions are those of Dr. Mark Skousen, and do not represent the opinions of this site or the interviewer. Neither this site, nor the interviewer, nor the interviewee are rendering tax, legal, or investment advice in this interview.

 

 

 

 

Exclusive Interview with Dr. Henry Kaufman about the Economy, Interest Rates, Cryptocurrency, Inflation, & the Loss of Capitalism

by Fred Fuld III

The following informative interview was provided by Dr. Henry Kaufman, former economist at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York who later became a senior partner, managing director, chief economist, and director of research at Salomon Brothers, the most profitable investment bank in the world at the time. He was a frequent guest on Wall Street Week with Louis Rukeyser.

Dr. Kaufman’s Latest Book

His latest book, The Day the Markets Roared: How a 1982 Forecast Sparked a Global Bull Market provides the reader with the background of how the author predicted and sparked one of the biggest bull markets in history, and how the past can give insight into the future. It will be released on April 6, but can be preordered now. You can find more details about the book on a previous post.

We cover a lot in this concise interview, including:

  • The Economy
  • Interest Rates
  • Cryptocurrency
  • Gold
  • Inflation
  • National Debt and Deficit
  • Credit Quality
  • The Movement of the US Away from Capitalism and towards Statism

The Dr. Kaufman Interview

Enjoy listening to the great insights and information that Dr. Kaufman provides.

To stream the interview, click:

HERE

You can also download the interview as an mp3 by right-clicking here and choosing “save as.”

Other Books by Dr. Henry Kaufman

On Money and Markets

Tectonic Shifts in Financial Markets

The Road to Financial Reformation

Interest Rates, the Markets, and the New Financial World

Enjoy the interview, enjoy his latest book, and Happy Investing!

 

All opinions are those of Dr. Henry Kaufman, and do not represent the opinions of this site or the interviewer. Neither this site, nor the interviewer, nor the interviewee are rendering tax, legal, or investment advice in this interview.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Earnings may be generated from qualifying purchases of books from Amazon Associate affiliate links on this page.

How to Invest in Bitcoin & Cryptocurrencies Through Stocks

by Nkem Iregbulem

Bitcoin is a cryptocurrency, or electronic cash, that works independently of a central bank or administrator and can be transferred electronically from one user to another from anywhere in the world. Through the process of Bitcoin mining, Bitcoin is created and brought into circulation by giving them to computers that help maintain the network by keeping track of all Bitcoin transactions. These mining computers race to solve a complex mathematical puzzle. As of today, those with the fastest computers can be rewarded 12.5 Bitcoins– though this number will be cut in half every 4 years. This process will continue until there are around 21 million Bitcoins in the world, which is predicted to occur in 2140.

Similar to the way the price of a stock is determined by bidding on exchanges, the price of Bitcoin constantly changes and is determined through bidding on Bitcoin exchanges. Some treat Bitcoin as an investment rather than a currency due to the cryptocurrency’s volatility. Bitcoin is valued at approximately $7000 today, but this price will likely change tomorrow and has ranged from close to $0 to nearly $20,000 in its history. There are many other cryptocurrencies also in circulation, including but not limited to Ethereum, Litecoin, and Ripple. But these coins do not have as many followers and are therefore not worth as much as Bitcoin is.

Blockchain is the technology behind cryptocurrencies and can be used to make transactions faster and more secure. It is a digital, shared, decentralized public ledger of all cryptocurrency transactions where new transactions — called blocks — are automatically downloaded to every computer, or node, in the network. This technology thus gets rid of the need for a centralized authority because it allows the validity of transactions to instead be checked by users of blockchain. Nowadays, this technology is mainly used to verify transactions.

If you’re looking to invest and gain exposure to Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies, there are a number of investment opportunities: Advanced Micro Devices (AMD), Bitcoin Investment Trust (GBTC), Bitcoin Services Inc (BTSC), BTCS Inc. (BTCS), First Bitcoin Capital Corp (BITCF), Global Blockchain (BLKCF),  HIVE Blockchain Technologies (HVBTF), Intel (INTC), Marathon Patent Group (MARA), MGT Capital Investments (MGTI), NVIDIA Corp (NVDA), Nxt-ID (NXTD), Overstock (OSTK), and Riot Blockchain (RIOT). These are all traded on the NASDAQ exchange except for MGTI, HVBTF, BITCF, BTCS, GBTC, and BTSC, which are traded over the counter.

Your first option is Advanced Micro Devices, a company that makes semiconductor equipment for mining bitcoin. Founded in 1969 and based in California, the company designs and produces microprocessors and low-power processor solutions for customers within the computer and consumer electronics industries. Most of the company’s sales come from its involvement in the computer market. Advanced Micro Devices has a market cap of $18.36 billion and does not pay a dividend. The stock has a price-to-sales ratio of 3.48, making it slightly overpriced. It trades at 118.38 times trailing earnings and at 41.15 times forward earnings. The company’s stock also has a price-to-book of 25.68. It faces a negative 3-year revenue growth rate of -1.08% and a negative 5-year revenue growth rate of -0.35%.

Bitcoin Investment Trust is another bitcoin investment opportunity to consider. The trust provides the opportunity for investors to bet on bitcoin and speculate on its price. It holds bitcoins on its investors’ behalf, so a share represents ownership of a fraction of a bitcoin. The trust has $1.39 billion in total assets and has a NAV of 6.99. It currently trades above its NAV.

Bitcoin Services is a bitcoin company also involved in the mining of other cryptocurrencies. It was incorporated in 1997 and is headquartered in Michigan. The company provides bitcoin escrow and mining services and also develops and sells blockchain software. Its bitcoin escrow service operates as a neutral intermediary between buyers and sellers in online transactions. Bitcoin Services Inc has market cap of $34.3 million and pays a dividend yield of 3.84%. This low market cap makes the company’s stock speculative.

Another options is BTCS Inc., a company based in Maryland and founded in 2013 that is heavily involved in blockchain technologies and digital currencies. BTCS Inc. operates an online e-commerce platform that allows customers to buy products using bitcoin and other digital currencies. The company has also designed a beta secure digital currency solution called the BTCS Wallet. BTCS Inc. has a market cap of $24.2 million and does not pay a dividend. The company’s very low market cap makes its stock very speculative. The stock has an extremely high price-to-sales ratio of 19817.7, putting it well into the overpriced range. The stock trades at 0.15 times trailing earnings and has a price-to-book ratio of 138.52. The company faces a negative 3-year revenue growth rate of -51.06% and negative 5-year revenue growth rate of -67.77%.

Based in Vancouver, Canada and founded in 1989, First Bitcoin Capital Corp is a company involved in developing digital currencies, blockchain technologies, and the digital currency exchange called CoinQX. The company also operates a cryptocurrency and bitcoin news site and another site than provides mining pool management services. Through its partnership with GoCOIN.com, the company is working to create a beta e-commerce marketplace, BITessentials.com, which accepts various digital currencies. First Bitcoin Capital Corp has a low market cap of $81.50 million, so its stock is considered speculative. The stock does not pay a dividend yield.

You might also consider Global Blockchain Technologies Corp, an investment company involved in identifying and investing in a diversified portfolio of public and private companies for capital growth. These companies primarily come from the cryptocurrency and blockchain industries. Global Blockchain aims to make it easier for investors to gain exposure to the world of cryptocurrencies. The company was incorporated in 2010 and is headquartered in Vancouver, Canada. Most of the company’s revenue comes from its business in Canada. Global Blockchain has a very low market cap of $21.16 million and does not pay a dividend yield. Its low market cap makes its stock speculative. The stock has a price-to-book ratio of 0.58, and the company boasts a 3-year revenue growth rate of 26.51%.

HIVE Blockchain Technologies Ltd is a cryptocurrency mining company that provides infrastructure solutions within the blockchain sector. It mines cryptocurrencies such as Ethereum, Monero, and ZCash. The company aims to bridge the gap between the blockchain sector and traditional capital markets. The company is based in Vancouver, Canada and was founded in 1987. HIVE Blockchain Technologies Ltd has a market cap of $221.56 million, putting its stock into the speculative range. The stock also pays a dividend yield of 2.36%. With a price-to-sales ratio of 10.37, the stock is considered overpriced. It trades at 6.72 times forward earnings and has a price-to-book ratio of 1.47.

Another option is Intel, one of the largest chipmakers in the world. The company was founded in 1968 and is based in California. It designs, builds, and sells microprocessors as well as computer, networking, data storage, and communication platform solutions around the world. Intel aims to find a more reasonable and cost effective way to mine bitcoins than methods that are currently used and has therefore filed a patent for a Bitcoin mining chip accelerator. In May of 2017, the company partnered with PokitDok to help bring blockchain technology to the healthcare industry. Intel has a market cap of $222.19 billion and pays a dividend yield of 2.52%. The stock’s price-to-sales ratio of 3.58 puts the stock in the overpriced range. It trades at 25.79 times trailing earnings and at 11.74 times forward earnings. The stock also has a price-to-book 3.17. With revenue values that have been increasing each fiscal year since 2015, the company has a 3-year revenue growth rate of 3.95% and for 5-year revenue growth rate of 3.31%.

Headquartered in Los Angeles and founded in 2010, Marathon Patent Group is heavily involved in the mining of digital assets. It owns and operates cryptocurrency mining machines as well a data center for mining digital assets. Marathon Patent Group has a very low market cap of $24.05 million, so its stock is very speculative. The stock does not pay a dividend. With a high price-to-sales ratio of 15.67, the company’s stock is overpriced. It trades at 3.05 times forward earnings and has a price-to-book ratio of 2.85. The company faces a negative 3-year revenue growth rate of -71.04%, which was largely caused by its revenue falling from $36.63 million in 2016 to $0.52 million in 2017.

MGT Capital Investments is involved in bitcoin mining activities. The company was founded in 1979 and is based in North Carolina. It has facilities in both northern Sweden and Washington State where it owns and operates numerous bitcoin mining rigs and machines. As one of the largest U.S. based Bitcoin miners, MGT Capital Investments has a market cap of $56.90 million and its speculative stock pays a yield of 2.25%. Its stock has a price-to-sales ratio of 10.53, making it overpriced. It also has a price-to-book ratio of 6.25. The company a high 3-year revenue growth rate of 221.85% and a 5-year revenue growth rate of 50.27%. Its revenue has been increasing since 2014, taking a big jump between 2016 and 2017 from $0.31 million to $3.13 million.

You might also consider NVIDIA Corp, a company based in California and founded in 1993. NVIDIA Corp makes cryptocurrency-specific graphics processing units. The company is also a leading designer of graphics chips for PC graphics applications such as gaming, data centers, artificial intelligence, and autonomous driving. NVIDIA Corp has a market cap of $148.19 billion and pays a dividend yield of 0.24%. Given its high price-to-sales ratio of 14.42, the company’s stock is considered overpriced. It trades at 41.93 times trailing earnings and at 33 times forward earnings. The stock also has a price-to-book ratio of 19.82. With its revenue increasing each fiscal year since 2014, the company enjoys a 3-year revenue growth rate of 27.54% and a 5-year revenue growth rate of 17.81%.

Founded in 2011 and based in Florida, Nxt-ID is a security technology company involved in developing products and solutions for security, healthcare, financial technology, and Internet of Things (IoT) markets. The company operates Flip, a contactless payment device that will allow people to use cryptocurrency to buy products at millions of retail locations. Nxt-ID has a market cap of $39.97 million and its speculative stock does not pay a dividend yield. The company’s stock has a decent price-to-sales ratio of 1.31 and a price-to-book ratio of 2.51. With its revenue increasing since 2015, the company enjoys a 3-year revenue growth rate of 34.88% and an even better 5-year revenue growth rate of 147.44%. Its revenue took big jumps between 2015 and 2017, going from $0.62 million in 2015 to $7.74 million the next year and then to $23.32 million the year after that.

You may have heard of Overstock, the US-based online retailer responsible for Overstock.com, a site that provides various products and services. Based in Utah and founded in 1997, the company offers a number of products, including furniture, home decor, jewelry, clothes, electronics, and many other items. In 2014, Overstock became the first major retailer to adopt Bitcoin as a payment method through its partnership with Coinbase. Overstock has a market cap of $1.04 billion and does not pay a dividend. The company’s stock has a favorable price-to-sales ratio of 0.55 and a price-to-book ratio of 5.98. The company enjoys a 3-year revenue growth rate of 5.24% and a 5-year revenue growth rate of 9.68%.

Another option is Riot Blockchain, a company that builds, supports, and operates blockchain technologies through its cryptocurrency mining operations. The company is based in Colorado and was founded in 2000.  It focuses largely on Bitcoin and general blockchain technology. Riot Blockchain also engages in the buying and selling of cryptocurrencies, provides accounting, audit, and verification services for cryptocurrencies, and operates TessPay, a blockchain solution for supply chain settlements. Riot Blockchain has a market cap of $102.68 million. Its stock is considered speculative due to the company’s low market cap and overpriced due to its high price-to-sales ratio of 51.48. The stock also has a price-to-book ratio of 2.71. With its revenue increasing each fiscal year since 2016, the company has a 3-year revenue growth rate of 0.88% and a much higher 5-year revenue growth rate of 34.12%.

Disclosure: Author didn’t own any of the above at the time the article was written.

Want to Learn the Latest about Cryptocurrencies? Attend the Crypto Invest Summit

Some of you may know nothing about bitcoin and blockchain. Some of you may have already invested in the cryptocurrencies. In either case, learning more is always beneficial.

The Crypto Invest Summit is a great opportunity to learn more. The Crypto Invest Summit will present the top speakers in the cryptocurrency and blockchain space on two stages and will be the largest crypto expo space in the world. The presentations, pitches, educational panels and fireside chats will run for two days with top industry leaders.

The event will be held at the Los Angeles Convention Center at 1201 S. Figueroa Street in Los Angeles from Monday, April 30, 2018, 6:00 PM to Wednesday, May 2, 2018, 6:00 PM.

Currently, you can get tickets at a discount price if you order before February 28. Get tickets soon, because they are expected to sell out fast. You can get tickets HERE. Remember, order before the end of this month.

So is Coinbase Really the Largest Brokerage Firm in the US?

You may have seen articles recently about how venture capitalists want to get in on the success of Coinbase, the largest cryptocurrency in the world.

This is partially due to the fact that the company generated a billion dollars in revenue last year and now has more accounts than all the major US brokerage firms.

No wonder why the venture capitalists want to get in on the action, but Coinbase says No to that.

So what about Coinbase’s size compared to stockbrokerage firms? Based on number of accounts, Coinbase is the largest. This is based on the latest figures  of the stockbrokerages found on Wikipedia. Here is the list:

Broker # of Accts
Coinbase 13,300,000
TD Ameritrade 11,004,000
Schwab 10,155,000
E-Trade 4,500,000
Fidelity Investments 4,300,000
Interactive Brokers 385,000

Ripple Cryptocurrency Now has a Larger Market Cap than Bitcoin

Many investors and traders believe that if there is one winner in the cryptocurrency race, it will be Bitcoin. One of the main reasons for that belief is that it has maintained the largest market capitalization.

The market cap, at least for cryptos, is the total number of coins times the current price. However, the key is “total number of coins”. Most sites reference the market cap based on Circulating Supply (the “float” in stock market terms), and in that case, Bitcoin would be at the top.

However, if you base it on the Supply Limit, which is the total number of coins possible, Ripple would be at the top with a market cap of $328 billion, based on the prices displayed at the time this article is written. Bitcoin would be $321 billion.

See the chart below for more detail:

Crypto Market Caps
Market Caps based on Supply Limits as Opposed to Circulating Limits
Coin Supply Limit Price Market Cap
Ripple 100,000,000,000 $3.28 $328,000,000,000
Bitcoin 21,000,000 $15,289 $321,069,000,000
Ethereum* 103,862,556 $962 $99,915,778,872
Stellar Lumen 103,570,548,975 $0.86 $89,535,911,024
Bitcoin Cash 21,000,000 $2,595 $54,494,580,000
Cardano 45,000,000,000 $1.04 $46,800,000,000
Litecoin 84,000,000 $244.16 $20,509,440,000
*Estimated supply limit. No set block limit.
Source: Based on prices at coinmarketcap.com on 1/3/17 at 5:10 pm PT