Are Cryptocurrencies Commodities?

June 18, 2019

FrederikNielsen
17

What are products?

Bitcoin is likely to become a new, independent asset class, so gold or stocks that will be sent for regulation, said Leo Melamed, honorary chairman of CME Group, this week in an interview with Reuters. According to Melamed, launch in the sale will be possible only in the near future. He pointed out the parallel between cryptocurrency and currency trading in the international currency market, launched in 1972: “The world in the 1970s was not considered currency trading with a full financial level. I, too, have come a long way from disbelief (in Bitcoin) to the desire to learn more.”

So what is it?

The answers will be positive for geeks who participate in the development of cryptocurrencies and use them for transactions. It will be negative for people because their price has recently risen, and we hope to sell when it becomes even bigger, as well as for those who buy cryptocurrency for a radical defense against inflation.

The rest should understand which forecast seems more plausible to them: either cryptocurrency will support the development of the non-traditional business sector, and this will lead to a blurring of the boundaries between investors, employees, and customers; or blockchain technologies will be used by a traditional business that receives funding through the placement of shares and bonds. Again, the question is not what you think about the probability of success of cryptocurrency and related technologies, but whether you think that their value (if it is, of course) will attract traditional companies or holders of crypto active assets. You don’t have to know for sure. If you believe that there is a significant likelihood that in the future a significant part of the economy will be represented by crypto active assets, it makes sense for you to think about how this will be reflected in your investment portfolio.

The second reason

The second reason for having asset classes is that it is difficult to compare different types of assets, for example, shares with bonds. Once you have selected an asset class, you can explore all the assets in it and select the combination that best suits your strategy. If the only thing that interests you in cryptocurrency is price dynamics, then this asset should be attributed to the class of shares. If you plan to read official documents, talk with developers, test the code and calculate future profitability, then you should allocate them into a separate asset class, since these studies differ from stocks or bonds research.

There remains one more group of investors – they are interested in the fundamental indicators of cryptocurrency, but they would like to entrust the research either to active fund managers or to the market itself – that is, to invest in an index fund. Here you should choose how you plan to evaluate the investment. If you are going to use traditional indicators, such as alpha and Sharpe ratio, then these investments should be equated to equity investments. You will use these assets to improve the risk-return ratio in your portfolio.

On the other hand, if you think that the manager’s task is not to make profits in dollars, but to increase the growth of your cryptocurrency portfolio, measured in cryptocurrencies, you need to consider them as a separate asset class. Do you plan to sell your cryptocurrency portfolio after retirement for cash to spend it alone? Or are you going to earn on cryptocurrencies and thus replenish the retirement account?

This decision has nothing to do with correlations, trading volume, market capitalization, expected returns, corporate governance or regulation. It’s about how you plan for the future. If you consider cryptocurrency as a potential way to increase your wealth, invested in traditional assets, they should be attributed to traditional asset classes. If you believe that they will open the way to a new type of wealth, you need to allocate them into a separate class.

Frederik Nielsen
Frederik Nielsen

I’m a freelance writer and full-time curious person. My main interests are philosophy, politics, art, culture, science, and how they’re all interlinked. When I’m not writing, I’m fronting a band, producing records, and making videos. I’m also currently working on launching a YouTube channel that will focus on culture and politics. I think blockchain technology is fascinating because of the huge potential it has to revolutionise not only the financial sector, but society as a whole.

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