Expanding the Digital Asset Conversation Beyond Bitcoin

Ric Edelman, founder of Edelman Financial Engines, and Matthew Kolesky, president at Arbor Capital, discuss the state of Bitcoin adoption amongst financial advisors, who control $5 trillion in investor wealth. In this episode, they talk about:

• their background and why they got into crypto (1:25)
• how most RIAs (registered investment advisors) view digital assets and the hassle of buying crypto on a client’s behalf (8:59)
• what percentage of financial advisors have already invested in bitcoin and how many more will come into the space by next year (18:20)
• how RIADAC -- the RIA Digital Assets Council -- is educating financial advisors about crypto (21:59)
• their favorite methods to explain Bitcoin and other digital assets (25:22)
• the different ways financial advisors are getting bitcoin/crypto exposure for their clients (35:32)
• why RIAs use investment vehicles to purchase Bitcoin rather than spot-buying the actual asset (39:58)
• why GBTC is trading at a deficit to the bitcoin price and their thoughts on a bitcoin ETF (44:40)
• the percent allocation to crypto they feel comfortable with for their clients (54:26)
• how they rebalance crypto holdings, whether they use yield-bearing crypto products yet, and projections for 2021 (57:35)

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Episode links:

Ric Edelman

• Twitter: https://twitter.com/ricedelman?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Eauthor
• RIADAC: https://riadac.com/

Matt Kolesky

• Twitter: https://twitter.com/mkolesky 
• Arbor Capital: https://www.acminc.com/ + https://digital.arbor.capital/ 

Helpful Links:

• Bitwise ETF Trends + Survey of Financial Advisors
  • https://static.bitwiseinvestments.com/Research/Bitwise-2021-Benchmark-Survey-Financial-Advisor-Attitudes-Toward-Cryptoassets.pdf
• Fidelity’s Bitcoin Investment Thesis
  • https://www.fidelitydigitalassets.com/bin-public/060_www_fidelity_com/documents/FDAS/bitcoin-alternative-investment.pdf 
• RIADAC’s 12 Predictions for 2021
  • https://www.thinkadvisor.com/2021/01/07/ric-edelman-12-predictions-for-bitcoin-other-cryptos-in-2021/
• RIADAC 1% Allocation strategy
  • https://riadac.com/digital-assets-are-now-mainstream/its-still-early-with-tremendous-upside-potential/
• Arbor Capital’s “True Digital Asset SMA”
  • https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/arbor-digital-and-blockchange-partner-on-digital-asset-sma-for-registered-investment-advisors-301219459.html 
• Grayscale BTC Premium Flips Negative
  • https://www.coindesk.com/grayscale-negative-premium-bitcoin
• Blockchange
  • https://blockchange.ai/

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