New York (AFP)
Betting on bitcoin and other virtual currencies is risky, legally uncertain, but potentially very lucrative.
Faced with this dilemma, the giants of Wall Street are advancing their pawns, between runaway and skepticism.
The boss of the largest American bank JPMorgan Chase has a strong opinion on the question.
"If you ask me for my advice, I would tell you not to approach it," said Jamie Dimon at the end of May during a parliamentary hearing.
But "it's not for me to tell people how to spend their money," he added.
His bank is currently studying how to help clients bet on cryptocurrency.
Driven during the pandemic by stock marketers with time and money, the value of many virtual currencies soared in 2020 and early in the year.
A few won the day, attracting the envious.
Banks, brokers and investment firms are eager to satisfy them.
The venerable asset manager State Street announced Thursday the creation of a division dedicated to digital assets.
On Wednesday, the boss of online broker Interactive Brokers said his clients could trade cryptocurrencies on the site by the end of the summer.
- Robinhood -
Like its competitors Charles Schwab or Fidelity, Interactive does not currently allow betting directly on bitcoin and other virtual currencies such as ethereum, but offers financial products linked to bitcoin that avoid holding it in its wallet.
If stock marketers want to buy and sell cryptocurrency, they can go to an app like Robinhood or the specialized platform Coinbase.
The company ForUsAll, which manages the retirement savings of 70,000 employees, on Monday made an agreement with Coinbase to allow its customers to include up to 5% of cryptocurrency in their funds.
Investment bank Morgan Stanley said in March that it would allow its wealthiest clients to invest in bitcoin funds.
Goldman Sachs recently launched a dedicated cryptocurrency brokerage team.
The heads of banks Wells Fargo, Citigroup and Bank of America all indicated at a parliamentary hearing in late May that they are looking into the matter, all insisting on the need for caution.
Fidelity Investment, one of the largest asset managers in the world, has been offering brokerage and deposit services reserved for a few investors such as hedge funds since 2018.
But he filed for a listed fund replicating fluctuations in the virtual currency, a "bitcoin ETF".
This type of product, well known to stock marketers, could facilitate individuals' access to cryptocurrencies.
Despite a gradual opening up, betting on this type of asset remains very risky.
- Hackers -
The regulations are not clear, thefts by hackers are frequent.
Above all, the volatility is enormous: bitcoin went from around $ 30,000 at the start of the year to $ 63,000 in mid-April, before dropping back to less than $ 34,000 in early June.
"Speculators and those who fear missing out on a good opportunity will continue to flock to cryptos hoping to make a lot of money," notes Ian Gendler of research firm Value Line.
He himself advises his clients against investing in it because of the too high risks and the impossibility of estimating its value: unlike a company or a commodity, cryptocurrencies are not based on any tangible assets and unlike currencies. , they are not guaranteed by a government.
Cryptocurrencies "are only worth what the next investor will agree to pay," Gendler recalls.
For Chris Kuiper of CFRA, this still emerging asset class is here for a long time.
Its adoption will probably increase "as the legal and regulatory framework is built," he predicts.
But it is still the unknown on this side.
The Basel Committee, responsible for defining prudential rules for the banking sector, said Thursday it wanted to ask banks exposed to cryptoassets to put more money aside to protect themselves against the risk of default.
The new chairman of the US Stock Exchange Constable, the SEC, insists on his side that new rules are needed.
People who invest in cryptocurrencies "do not have the protections they have on the stock market or commodities," he repeated Wednesday on CNBC.
© 2021 AFP