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A typical real estate investment can easily produce a return of 15% – 25% depending on the appreciation and the mortgage pay-down (these are generally the two that recognize the highest returns). There aren’t a lot of investments that can say they generate these kinds of returns, especially with relatively low risk (if done right!).
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Today, Hong Kong-based payment and cryptocurrency platform Crypto.com announced a global partnership with Visa that also includes principal membership in Visa’s network in Australia. The company also plans to roll out fiat lending against bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies as collateral via the Crypto.com Visa Card V -2.9%.
Launched in Singapore in November 2018, the Crypto.com pre-paid Visa Card was one of the first cards tied to bitcoin on the market and is currently the largest Visa program of its kind, with 31 markets covered in Europe, as well as the U.K., Canada, and the U.S., where it launched in July 2019. Users can convert their crypto into one of the supported fiat currencies, such as the U.S. dollar, euro, British pound, and others, pay with their card and make cash withdrawals anywhere Visa is accepted.
With Visa principal membership, Crypto.com will begin direct issuance of the Crypto.com Visa Card in Australia and scale the program to new markets. The company is in the process of shipping cards in Japan and Korea, Latin America, the Middle East, Africa, and Turkey. Its ultimate objective is to make the services available everywhere outside of China. The card program offers up to 8% cashback on purchases with no upper limits, a full rebate on Spotify, Netflix NFLX +1%, and Amazon Prime, and no annual or monthly fees.
Morgan Stanley becomes the first big U.S. bank to offer its wealthy clients access to bitcoin funds
- The investment bank told its financial advisors Wednesday in an internal memo that it is launching access to three funds that enable ownership of bitcoin, according to people with direct knowledge of the matter.
- Two of the funds on offer are from Galaxy Digital, a crypto firm founded by Mike Novogratz, while the third is a joint effort from asset manager FS Investments and bitcoin company NYDIG.
- Morgan Stanley is only allowing its wealthier clients access to the volatile asset: The bank considers it suitable for people with “an aggressive risk tolerance” who have at least $2 million in assets held by the firm. Investment firms need at least $5 million at the bank to qualify for the new stakes.
TikTok wants to keep tracking iPhone users with state-backed workaround
Some of China’s biggest technology companies, including ByteDance and Tencent, are testing a tool to bypass Apple’s new privacy rules and continue tracking iPhone users without their consent to serve them targeted mobile advertisements.
Apple is expected in the coming weeks to roll out changes it announced last June to iPhones that it says will give users more privacy. Until now, apps have been able to rely on Apple’s IDFA system to see who clicks on ads and which apps are downloaded.
In the future, they will have to ask permission to gather tracking data, a change that is expected to deal a multibillion-dollar bombshell to the online advertising industry and has been fought by Facebook, since most users are expected to decline to be tracked.
In response, the state-backed China Advertising Association, which has 2,000 members, has launched a new way to track and identify iPhone users called CAID, which is being widely tested by tech companies and advertisers in the country.
Yes. We are in a stock market bubble. But what if conventional methods of examining market cycles miss a crucial point? While we often talk about parts of cycles (bull or bear), exploring the full-market cycle may provide another way to look at long-term bubble cycles.
Understanding The Risk
Over the next several weeks, or even months, the markets can extend the current deviations from the long-term mean even further. But that is the nature of every bull market peak and bubble throughout history as the seeming impervious advance lures the last of the stock market “holdouts” back into the markets.
As Vitaliy Katsenelson once wrote:
“Our goal is to win a war, and to do that we may need to lose a few battles in the interim. Yes, we want to make money, but it is even more important not to lose it.”
I wholeheartedly agree with that statement, which is why we remain invested but hedged within our portfolios currently.
Unfortunately, most investors have very little understanding of markets’ dynamics and how prices are “ultimately bound by the laws of physics.” While prices can certainly seem to defy the law of gravity in the short-term, the subsequent reversion from extremes has repeatedly led to catastrophic losses for investors who disregard the risk.
Just remember, in the market, there is no such thing as “bulls” or “bears.”
There are only those who “succeed” in reaching their investing goals and those that “fail.”
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