Tomorrow's Business Today
A PR puzzle for the investment sector
There is a scandal, or at the very least a PR disaster, heading the way of the investment industry.
Bitcoin has passed $80,000 for the first time in the wake of Trump’s election win, on the fair assumption his administration will support crypto currencies.
Trump has even discussed the possibility of using bitcoin to pay off the US national debt, one of those ideas that is completely wild but, well, so is he.
That the price of bitcoin is considered front page news tells you that nascent investors who have no idea what crypto is are poised to pile in, if they haven’t already.
Across social media, posts delight in tales of ordinary folk telling the boss just where to stick his job, since he owns three bitcoins are they are up $500 since lunchtime.
Eswar Prasad at Cornell University says bitcoin is “having its moment in the sun”, which suggests he thinks a later crash and burn is a matter of inevitability.
Fans of crypto think it is about freedom, particularly from government control.
For many, perhaps most investors, freedom is the last thing it is going to grant them.
Where is the UK investment industry here? Drifting, as usual.
If you were going to try to add bitcoin to your portfolio, it would be best if you could do it via respectable household names – Hargreaves Lansdown, AJ Bell, say.
But the Financial Conduct Authority won’t permit those firms to broker bitcoin, preferring instead to warn about risk and leave it there.
This stance in turn forces customers towards companies outside the regulatory bubble.
Small investors might wonder: Why is the FCA denying me the chance to get rich, forcing me to deal with unregulated firms if I decide I want to take that risk anyway?
With interest rates coming down for now and Warren Buffett ditching shares at an alarming rate, steady and safe places to park your money look thin in the ground.
Simon Peters, crypto analyst at eToro says: “As to how high the bitcoin price goes, it’s anyone’s guess. However… if the US adopts bitcoin as a strategic reserve asset this could act as a massive tailwind for the bitcoin price, taking it well into the six-figures.”
You can’t lose then. Except, wait, of course you can.
It would be good for the government, the City watchdogs and the respectable end of the investment sector to get together before a whole bunch of poor people cash in their pension to chase a Trump-led dream.
They should make crypto trading actually illegal, or accept it is now mainstream and needs to be regulated as such.
There might be better solutions than that, but doing nothing is asking for trouble.
Please send candidates for press release of the day to: Simon.english@roxhillmedia.com
Press release of the day
The post pandemic era of high job vacancies is over, warns this from the Resolution Foundation.
Pay rises are slowing as a result, across both private and public sectors.
Nye Cominetti at the Resolution Foundation said:
“The continuing cooling of the jobs market has finally brought an end to Britain’s post-pandemic high-vacancies era. This period has contributed to strong wage growth and has likely boosted employment too – though this has failed to be picked up by our problematic official data.
“But now that the era has ended, pay packets will continue to cool and Britain will need to renew efforts to get employment up again.”
Stories that will keep rolling
We're more than just a database
Sign up now for a free trial, and see how you can distribute winning campaigns every time.
We're more than just a database
Sign up now for a free trial, and see how you can distribute winning campaigns every time.
