Bitcoin Ira Launches Crypto Retirement Accounts Insured For $100M, Courtesy Of Bitgo (#GotBitcoin?)

Bitcoin IRA, a company that specialises in offering crypto for individual retirement accounts (IRAs), has struck a partnership with custodian BitGo Trust that will offer clients the optionality to have their accounts insured by the custodian firm. Bitcoin Ira Launches Crypto Retirement Accounts Insured For $100M, Courtesy Of Bitgo (#GotBitcoin?)

The move will see each new Bitcoin IRA account covered by default against theft or loss of cryptographic keys, the two firms announced on Tuesday. There are no additional charges to use BitGo Trust as a cold-wallet custodian and to have the $100 million insurance policy, Bitcoin IRA told The Block.

The firm told The Block it hopes the move will trigger mainstream adoption of digital assets and its services, highlighting that the new account meets clients’ expectations of having something akin to Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation insurance. But unlike FDIC insurance, BitGo’s insurance is limited to $100 million annually for all of Bitcoin IRA’s accounts. Therefore if one single Bitcoin IRA account blows through the $100 million insurance, that is all that would be covered.

Since 2016, Bitcoin IRA has reportedly processed over $350 million in digital asset transactions for self-directed retirement accounts. The firm says it caters for around 4500 retail clients who wish to make digital assets part of their tax-free retirement investment strategy, offering 9 different cryptocurrencies. Custody-giant BitGo meanwhile only currently targets institutional investors, meaning the partnership now gives the business line a significant amount of new retail exposure.

Lower Costs, Less Risk

When asked if consumers’ assets were not protected previously, Bitcoin IRA said that it has always offered a $1 million insurance policy covering consumers “on the transactional side from any internal cases of fraud or theft.” It added that Kingdom Trust also provided additional insurance for digital assets in their custody, “though their policy limit is not known by us.”

In Tuesday’s announcement, Bitcoin IRA further said that it was reducing its wallet holding fees by 30% to .0005 points per month and reducing client transaction fees. It is also waiving the first year’s account fee ($240) “for a limited time” for the new account service.

“We have tiered pricing based on a client’s usage and investment amount,” the firm told The Block. “For example, if a client purchases multiple coins at once or invests over $25,000 then they’ll have better fees. The wallet holding fee is a small annual fee based on the amount of cryptocurrency in their wallet.”

As a result, Bitcoin IRA say they are now offering an all-round improved service.

“Our partnership with BitGo Trust provides our clients with faster account funding, lower fees, as well as significantly increased insurance protections,” said Chris Kline, COO at Bitcoin IRA.

Updated: 10-21-2-19

Bitcoin IRA To Launch Interest-Earning Crypto Accounts Next Month

BitcoinIRA has partnered with digital asset lending firm Genesis Capital to offer investors the opportunity to earn interest on cryptocurrency and cash holdings.

As an Oct. 21 press release notes, Los Angeles-based Bitcoin IRA has provided digital asset individual retirement account (IRA) solutions since 2016 and processed over $350 million in investments, onboarding 4,000 clients.

Genesis Capital — a spin-off of over-the-counter (OTC) cryptocurrency broker Genesis Global Trading — has reportedly now lent in excess of $2.3 billion in cumulative originations and reported a 75% upturn in crypto and cash loans in Q2 2019.

Interest Earned Can Help Offset Fees

Bitcoin IRA COO, Chris Kline, has argued that adding interest-earning accounts to the firm’s crypto and cash lending program will help spur decentralized finance forward, claiming that:

“Borrowing and lending using cryptocurrencies and cash are providing new and safe opportunities for our clients to maximize the growth of their retirement accounts. Interest earned by a client can offset trading fees or custodial holding fees, essentially creating a free account making these fees a thing of the past.”

The first interest-earning accounts will reportedly be rolled out in November to a limited number of participants on a first-come, first-served basis. According to the firm, annual interest rates will vary based on the given coin and term length, with finalized details of the program to be announced in the future.

The press release notes that the new product follows Bitcoin IRA’s recent launch of crypto swaps and biometric security.

Qualified with U.S. regulator FinCEN, Bitcoin IRA’s technology supports self-directed retirement accounts that allow investors to create a digital asset IRA account, transfer funds from an existing IRA custodian and trade their crypto holdings in real-time via an OTC liquidity provider.

The firm collaborates with BitGo to provide clients with multi-signature digital wallets.

Adoption

As reported, the popularity of digital asset IRA accounts was in full swing in 2017, notwithstanding concerns over asset volatility.

Experienced traders have meanwhile advocated for the significant tax advantages of IRAs.

As reported, ahead of its Q2 success, Genesis processed a $425 million in loans in Q1 2019 and $553 million in the first six months of its operations following its March 2018 launch.

This January, its CEO said that the previous cryptocurrency bear market had certainly helped to fuel the growth of the company, in line with other crypto lenders’ experience.

Updated: 11-14-2019

Coinbase, Kingdom Trust, Regal Assets Jointly Offer Crypto IRA and 401(K) Accounts

Major American crypto exchange Coinbase, asset custodian Kingdom Trust and alternative assets investment firm Regal Assets have begun offering cryptocurrency-based individual retirement and 401(K) accounts in the United States.

An individual retirement account (IRA) is an investment account that enables an individual to save money for retirement in a tax-deferred way, while a 401(K) represents a qualified retirement savings plan offered by an employer.

In a Nov. 13 press release, the firms said that the new offering will give investors access to more than 30 digital currencies in the industry directly through Coinbase, with insurance protection provided by British insurance firm Lloyd’s of London. The parties released their Bitcoin (BTC) IRA with $200 million in insurance protection.

Tyler Gallagher, CEO of Regal Assets, said that clients “make all the decisions themselves when it comes to digital asset selections and allocation, but do have the option of guidance by connecting with their dedicated account manager.”

Currently, the product supports major coins such as BTC, Ether (ETH), Litecoin (LTC), XRP, Stellar (XLM), EOS, and Tezos (XTZ), among others.

Adoption Of Crypto In Retirement Savings Plans

Last month, Los Angeles-based Bitcoin IRA partnered with digital asset lending firm Genesis Capital to offer investors the opportunity to earn interest on cryptocurrency and cash holdings. Bitcoin IRA has reportedly provided digital asset IRAs since 2016 and processed over $350 million in investments, onboarding 4,000 clients.

In a study by investment platform eToro earlier this year, 45% of respondents expressed interest in allocating cryptocurrency in their 401(K) retirement savings plans, and 74% of digital currency traders would like to receive that option from their 401(K) plan providers.

Updated: 11-15-2019

U.S. Federal Judge Rules in Favor Bitcoin IRA in Case Against Kingdom Trust

A United States federal judge has ordered asset custodian Kingdom Trust to fully restore data access to all affected clients following the unilateral termination of customers’ access to their own account information on Bitcoin IRA’s website.

Filed on Nov. 12, a court document reveals that South Dakota District Court Federal Judge Karen E. Schreier ruled in favor of Bitcoin IRA in the case against Kingdom Trust, where the latter allegedly breached a referral agreement by terminating customers’ access to their account data on Bitcoin IRA’s platform without providing prior notice.
The breach of the referral agreement

As described in the document, in September 2018, Bitcoin IRA and Kingdom Trust entered into a referral agreement, which indicated that Bitcoin IRA would refer its customers to use Kingdom Trust as a trust custodian. In return, Kingdom Trust agreed to pay Bitcoin IRA a referral fee for account owners who became Kingdom Trust customers.

However, in August of 2019, Kingdom Trust unilaterally removed Bitcoin IRA’s application programming interface (API) access and stopped providing daily updated account information. This eventually led to inaccurate reflections of information about assets held in clients’ accounts.
The ruling

Schreier said in the ruling that “Kingdom Trust unilaterally terminated customers’ access to their own account data on Bitcoin IRA’s website, and it has not shown that the interference is justified.” Following the order release, Kingdom Trust must:

“Fully restore to the condition and functionality existing prior to August 21, 2019, Alternative IRA Services LLC’s (Bitcoin IRA) access to account holder data of the accounts to which Bitcoin IRA is the account designated representative by the account holder, and account holder access to Bitcoin IRA’s online platform, thereby allowing the account holders to once again self-direct their retirement accounts online 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.”

Expansion Of Crypto Retirement Savings Offerings

As cryptocurrencies become more widely adopted, holders are increasingly including digital assets in their retirement plans and savings accounts.

On Nov. 13, Kingdom Trust along with major American crypto exchange Coinbase and alternative assets investment firm Regal Assets began offering cryptocurrency-based individual retirement and 401(K) accounts in the United States.

The new offering will purportedly give investors access to over 30 assets directly through Coinbase, with insurance protection provided by Lloyd’s of London.

As reported last month, Bitcoin IRA partnered with digital asset lending firm Genesis Capital to offer investors the opportunity to earn interest on crypto and cash holdings. Bitcoin IRA has reportedly provided digital asset IRAs since 2016 and processed over $350 million in investments, onboarding 4,000 clients.

Updated: 2-26-2020

From Director Of The United States Mint To The Very First Bitcoin IRA Customer

Why crypto IRAs are attracting more risk-averse, retirement-focused investors to the volatile asset class.

As interest in crypto has stirred anew, some long-term investors have chosen to invest in digital assets through an instrument that provides tax advantages — a self-directed Individual Retirement Account (IRA).

Interviews by Cointelegraph with people who have opened crypto IRAs suggest they have attracted both sophisticated veterans who have made millions in cryptocurrency, as well as those who may not have profited greatly so far — but who still have faith in the future. The IRAs have also attracted newcomers who are willing to dip a cautious toe in the digital asset pond.

The self-directed IRA, while administered by custodians or trustees, allows investors to purchase, hold and sell alternative assets including precious metals and real estate. Depending on the provider, self-directed IRAs may also have investment choices that include stocks, mutual funds and ETFs (exchanged-traded funds). There are both traditional and Roth versions of the self-directed IRA.

Investors in our survey who have set up crypto IRAs find it a compelling proposition. “I do believe in the space and find it intriguing enough to set aside a small portion of my retirement funds to invest into crypto,” says Derek Price, 39, who lives in central Pennsylvania near Harrisburg and opened a self-directed traditional crypto IRA account several months ago.

“Certainly it’s a speculative investment. I realize it’s not a slam dunk,” Price says. “I’m fully aware the coins being offered today may not be around tomorrow,” he explains. “I still have 401(k)s and other retirement savings accounts invested in traditional assets, so I will continue to be diversified,” he adds.

Price originally invested in crypto in 2017 just before “the market went bananas,” garnering him significant gains. At the same time, however, he was concerned that he was not tech savvy and was worried about investing on exchanges where his holdings might not be secure. So, he got out of the market ahead of crypto winter.

Price heard about the crypto IRA from a friend and decided to give it a try after learning that assets are held by a custodian and investors can check, verify and track their digital holdings. This time he would hold his crypto assets for the long term. “I have a longer runway. My approach might be different if I was closer to retirement. If I was in my 50’s I might look at it differently than now in my late 30’s. If it doesn’t work out, I have many solid years left to save. It won’t be ruining my retirement.”

His crypto IRA is sponsored by iTrust Capital of Encino, California. Like many other firms that currently offer crypto IRAs to consumers, iTrustCapital is a platform. It is not a custodian, digital wallet or an exchange.

The company’s crypto IRAs are administered by its custodian, SunWest Trust of Albuquerque, New Mexico, while assets are stored with Curv, an institutional wallet service based in New York City, according to Blake Skadron, chief operating officer at iTrustCapital. The company was started in 2018 and had “a soft launch” in July 2019, he said. It has not been offering crypto IRAs long enough to be rated by the Better Business Bureau.

“Funds move over to a platform we manage. Customers can log into their account and they can self-trade 24 hours a day seven days a week,” says Skadron. “We don’t employ salesmen and we don’t give investment advice.” He faults some other crypto and gold IRA providers for hiring a sales force to market their accounts and make claims about the value of the investment even though they are not financial advisers.

Trading Inside A Crypto IRA

Some investors have turned to crypto IRAs, in part for trading, and, in part, to hold it for the long term. An IRA shelters trades from capital gains taxes. In the end, however, investors must hold assets in the IRA until age 59½ to avoid tax penalties. After that age, account holders can withdraw funds from a traditional crypto IRA and pay income tax on the amount of the withdrawal. For crypto Roth IRAs, the original contributions into the account are taxed but the gains and payouts from the account, if made after age 59½, are not taxed.

Austin Evans, 28, who left his job as an engineer in north Alabama two years ago, earns a living trading crypto. He rolled over his 401(k) balances from prior jobs into a traditional IRA sponsored by Interactive Brokers. The only crypto investment available to him though his brokerage account at the time was the Grayscale Bitcoin Trust Fund, which trades under the ticker symbol GBTC. Last summer he decided to rollover all the funds in his existing IRA into a crypto IRA offered by iTrustCapital.

With a crypto IRA, Evans has been able to invest directly in crypto assets offered by iTrustCapital. While he cannot trade futures in an IRA, which would allow him to short assets, he can “swing trade” trending coins. This strategy allows traders to capitalize on moves in the market that may take several days to develop.

Evans began to invest in crypto in early 2017 and was a buy-and-hold investor. However, when the bear market began in 2018, he developed the skills he needed to be an active day trader. “It’s a volatile space, so it’s got a lot of opportunities for trading. I was just getting in and out, taking profits and making enough to withdraw weekly.” As a trader he has been able to earn an income equivalent to what he earned as an engineer. He will continue to day trade outside his IRA on crypto exchanges where he can choose from a wider array of assets, as well as buy and sell futures, allowing him to trade long or short according to market conditions..

Evans, who most recently got into Bitcoin at $7,200, expects that the price should start to move up ahead of May 2020’s “halvening event” when the rewards earned by Bitcoin miners are slashed by fifty percent. Miners that expect to be unprofitable after that event are likely selling their Bitcoin inventories now, he said in December 2019 before the current upswing. As that selling momentum comes to end, Evan expects the price of Bitcoin to rise.

Crypto IRA Pioneers

Some of the companies that offer crypto IRAs have affiliates that were previously involved in offering other alternative investments through a self-directed IRA. The founders of BitcoinIRA of Sherman Oaks, California, for example, first offered a self-directed IRA in 2012 for investments such as real estate, limited liability partnerships, and later for precious metals including gold, according to CEO Chris Kline.

In late 2014 the company set out to explore how they could begin to offer a self-directed crypto IRA. “So we got to work putting together the critical components. We needed to have a custody solution because it was an IRA. We needed to have a solid wallet solution because you’re dealing with retirement money. And we needed a liquidity mechanism that allowed us to be able to do functions for transactions for clients,” Kline says.

They chose BitGo of San Jose, California as the wallet provider and custodian and chose Genesis Global Trading of New York to provide liquidity. (Several other crypto IRA providers also report they rely on Genesis for liquidity). BitcoinIRA has a B rating from the Better Business Bureau.

“In June 2016 we introduced the first Bitcoin IRA,” Kline says. “Ironically, Edmund Moy, former director of the United States Mint, was our first client and he had the first Bitcoin IRA.”

When asked about the account, Moy said, “Yes, I was BitcoinIRA’s first customer.”

Moy, 62, who lives in the Washington, D.C. area, explained how he became the first pioneer in the world of crypto IRAs. “When we started thinking about starting the first-ever Bitcoin IRA, I was helping a sister company Fortress Gold Group with their gold IRA program,” he recalls. Moy, who was then the chief strategist at Fortress, helped the company explore the idea of a crypto IRA. “Then when it became reality, I wanted to be their first customer,” he says.

Fortress Gold Group no longer accepts new clients and has a C rating from the Better Business Bureau. Moy also shared some of his insights into investing in crypto through an IRA. “In a way, this was taking the HODL idea and mainstreaming it in a way that can make sense for the average retirement investor,” he says.

The word “HODL” caught on as a humorous way of saying HOLD, as in holding the currency for the longer term instead of trading it. (The term originated as an apparent typo on a Bitcoin Forum in December 2013 by someone posting under the title “I AM HODLING,” according to Wikipedia, although later wits have suggested that in cryptocurrency it is an appropriate acronym for Hold On for Dear Life.)

“Using an IRA investment vehicle makes sense for those who believe in cryptocurrencies’ long term potential but who don’t want the roller coaster of near-term price volatility,” Moy says. Of course, they should understand crypto is speculative and understand the risk, he adds.

Right Place, Right Time

Jose Rubio, 54, of Los Angeles, is looking forward to a secure retirement. He worked as a public school teacher teaching English and history in the state of California school system for 22 years, enough time to be able to vest at age 55 in a pension that pays out an annual annuity. The defined benefit plan, as his type of pension is known, has become less and less common over the last three decades as employers switched over to defined contribution plans, such as the 401(k).

“It’s called a defined benefit because you get a defined payout, the exact same amount every month, for life,” says Rubio. With that monthly income, combined with rental income from properties he owns outright without mortgages, “I should be able to get by.” Rubio resigned from his teaching job last summer and has been taking a year off ahead of the time he begins to collect his monthly pension in May 2020.

With a secure base of retirement income, Rubio felt he could “just place a bet” with funds he had accumulated through a 401(k) and other retirement savings plans. He took those funds and rolled them over into a crypto IRA in September 2019 and invested it mostly in Bitcoin. “I’m very bullish on Bitcoin,” he says.

Rubio chose to rollover his retirement savings into an account from BitIRA, a company based in Burbank, California, that is registered as a Money Services Business with the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN).

BitIRA, launched in 2017, claims it offers “the most secure digital currency IRA in the world” and backs up the claim with insurance to cover digital assets held in its customer’s accounts.

Providing insurance has not been a simple matter for BitIRA. “There is no such thing as an ‘end to end policy’ that covers our services, so in order to provide the closest thing, we’ve worked with our partner custodian, Preferred Trust Company [of Las Vegas, Nevada], to assemble seven different policies to cover the process across three entities,” says Andy Klein, director of strategic planning at BitIRA. The three covered entities are BitIRA, the cold storage wallet, and Preferred Trust. The seven insurance policies, each worth $1 million or more, cover losses from hacks, fraud, employee theft, mistakes, or social engineering, according to the company. BitIRA has earned an “A” rating and is accredited by the Better Business Bureau.

Rubio’s decision to devote a chunk of his retirement to crypto is not his first venture into digital assets. He first began investing in cryptocurrency in 2013. He was invested in Bitcoin with funds held at Mt. Gox, the notorious exchange based in Tokyo that collapsed in early 2014. He lost only $300 or $400 then because he was only investing modest amounts.

He also reports losing money from coins he bought on BTC-e, a troubled exchange based in Bulgaria but operating through a company registered in London. “I got into gambling mode,” he says. In 2013 he invested in altcoins Cryptsy and MintPal, among others, and “lost a ton of money, to be sure.” He then moved his crypto investing activity to Poloniex and Bittrex away from BTC-e long before its domain was seized and shut down by the U.S. Department of Justice in July 2017.

Rubio continued to play the crypto coin market from 2014 to the end of 2017 and over time his gains far outweighed his losses. Thus, it is no surprise he has a very positive view of his experience. “It’s probably been the best thing that’s ever happened to me in my life.”

He eventually stopped trading in crypto in 2018 and sold all his holdings. “I took the conservative route. I said, I’ve made enough money. That’s it. I’m going to pay my taxes like a good little boy and I’m going to take what I made and just pay off my investments, pay off my cars, pay off everything and call it a day.”

While Rubio has closely followed developments in the world of crypto since then, he did not return to investing in crypto until after he opened his account with BitIRA in September when he promptly made an investment in Bitcoin. He is mulling additional investments in a few of the top 10 coins.

The crypto IRA could offer some important advantages in the future, he contends, such as allowing him to cash out his Bitcoin should it soar to stratospheric levels, like half a million or a million dollars a coin. If the price exploded like that, he could sell, avoid capital gains tax and then reinvest in other alternative investments inside his self-directed IRA, such as real estate and gold… and maybe get back into Bitcoin after the price falls back from a future peak.

BBB Ratings For Crypto IRAs

A number of other firms have jumped into the crypto IRA space, including several affiliated with gold IRA providers. Investors may want to look carefully at all expenses related to accounts and do a careful comparison. They should also check out the Better Business Bureau’s rating of potential providers. Most, but not all, are rated A or A+ but not all are accredited.

Here Are Few Of The Bureau’s Ratings Of Crypto IRA Providers:

* CoinIRA of Woodland Hills, California, is rated A and accredited by BBB.

* BlockMint of Los Angeles is not rated; affiliate Lear Capital is rated A but is not accredited by BBB.

* IRA Bitcoin of Calabasas, California is rated A and accredited by BBB.

One provider however, Regal Assets of Beverly Hills, California, has earned an “F” rating from the bureau for what BBB contends is false advertising about its gold IRA and its crypto IRA, and a false claim that the firm has earned an A+ rating from BBB.

The Better Business Bureau has reported on its website that it contacted Regal Assets in July 2019 to ask them to cease using the rating bureau’s name and logo in its advertising. BBB has stated that despite an official disclaimer on Regal Associates’ own website, Regal or its affiliates continue to make claims the company is rated A+ by BBB. The bureau has also stated that Regal continues to make statements “that may mislead consumers into believing an investment in precious metals and cryptocurrency does not carry risk, and that past performance can possibly predict future performance.”

For example, in one YouTube video, a narrator asks the viewer what makes Regal stand out from competitors. His immediate answer: the fact that a Regal IRA is rated A+ by the Better Business Bureau. None of this is true.

It is not clear from the video who owns the channel, or whether the video was an independent review; however the phone number and website listed on the channel link to a promotional page for Regal Assets, and the company’s logo is included in the channel’s header page – complete with a link to Regal Assets’ website. The channel owner, ‘The IRA Guy’ stopped posting videos two years ago before starting up again last week.

By contrast, no such claims about BBB appear on Regal’s website. Instead, at the bottom of every page on the website there is a standard disclaimer warning that investors should carefully evaluate and research the risks and rewards of investing in cryptocurrency and precious metals before investing. There is also a warning that past performance is no guarantee of future results, and that Regal account executives are not financial advisers.

Anthony Bertolino, who heads crypto IRA business development at Regal, claims that their fee structure is competitive or better than its rivals. “We do not charge a rebalancing fee,” he says, while other self-directed IRA providers charge fees as high as 3% to 5%, he claims. “That’s going to eat up your capital very quickly,” he declares.

Bertolino also points to evidence that competitive pressures have begun to drive down fees charged by crypto IRA custodians, including fees charged by Regal’s own custodian, Kingdom Trust Financial Services of Murray, Kentucky. Bertolino expects competition will further reduce custodial fees in the future. Kingdom Trust has an A+ rating and is accredited by BBB.

Bertolino thinks that the advent of the self-directed IRA is a good thing for investors because it shifts the focus away from “tickeritis,” which he defines as focusing strictly on shifts in prices, and more toward fundamentals. “It’s changing the mindset to more of a longer term investment.” By contrast, he adds, someone who wants to get into crypto to “make a quick buck turnaround is more likely to be ravaged by the volatility.”

The Suitability Question

The risks associated with this asset class raise the question of whether or not an IRA can be an appropriate way to invest in crypto. As with all investments, buyers should educate themselves about the risks and do due diligence before either investing in crypto or choosing an IRA sponsor. Given that caveat, some independent observers say “yes” it can be appropriate under the right circumstances.

Despite the fact crypto is highly speculative and “there’s not a lot of commercial applications you can point to for crypto,” it might make sense for some investors who have faith in its future, according to Gil Luria, director of research at financial services firm D.A. Davidson & Company, an investment banking firm based in Great Falls, Montana.

“Some people see it as a hedge in a world where crypto assets could take over, even if that is a small likelihood,” Luria says. “If it’s something you just want to buy and put in a coffee can and put away until some point in the distant future, then retirement accounts can do that.”

Then again, just like the stock market, there’s no guarantee one’s faith in crypto is well-placed and that it will, in the end, be rewarded.

Updated: 6-11-2020

Bitcoin IRA Is Ready to Take On Small Savers With Updated Retirement Savings Product

Crypto retirement savings firm Bitcoin IRA is ready to take on smaller accounts with the launch of its new IRA product, Saver IRA.

Around four years ago, Bitcoin IRA launched its first self-directed individual retirement account that required balance minimums of $20,000. Now the firm has dropped that minimum to $3,000 for a standard account. With the addition of Saver IRA, the company has a no-balance-minimum account that instead requires a monthly deposit minimum of $100.

“When it’s time to make the decision of when to buy, you’ll find that folks who want to get their toes wet will freeze,” said Chris Kline, Bitcoin IRA’s chief operating officer. “This gives them a dollar-cost average mechanism without having to think about it every month.”

As COVID-19 lockdowns continue to dampen the global economy, Kline said he believes more consumers will look for alternative retirement funds.

“I think you’re going to see a lot of tightening of belts, a lot less 401(k)s being offered by providers out there possibly, or not matching,” Kline said.

Although Kline has been speaking to his staff about the Saver IRA account since November 2018, this is the first time Bitcoin IRA has had enough resources in its compliance department and automation to handle thousands of smaller accounts.

The firm also had to build an application programming interface (API) that would allow users to implement direct deposit.

Around 80% of Bitcoin IRA’s existing clients have signed up for the account but Saver IRA is primarily geared for new crypto IRA adopters, Kline added. This coming November Bitcoin IRA plans to further diversify its offering by allowing users to earn interest on their crypto, he said.

Updated: 4-22-2021

BitGo Expands Crypto Insurance To Cover Over $700M

Institutional clients have shown strong demand for airtight and insured custody options.

Digital asset custody firm BitGo has expanded its cold storage insurance program, raising its insurance capacity by $600 million.

BitGo debuted its crypto insurance program through global insurance and reinsurance market Lloyd’s of London in 2019. This enabled BitGo clients to acquire insurance for their digital assets held on BitGo’s Business Wallet service and Custodial offering for up to $100 million.

BitGo announced Wednesday that its “Dedicated Customer Excess Specie” insurance program has been expanded to cover assets valued at over $700 million.

The expansion comes in response to strong demand from institutional custody clients. The excess insurance program was introduced in collaboration with insurance brokers Woodruff Sawyer and Paragon International Insurance Brokers of London.

As Cointelegraph previously reported, major crypto payment platform Crypto.com became one of BitGo’s first clients to take advantage of the dedicated customer excess limits policy.

“Due to BitGo’s technology and scale, we’re able to offer a lower cost Dedicated Customer insurance program on top of BitGo’s secure cold storage system. This milestone demonstrates that the offering has been very popular with clients seeking the ultimate secure and insured storage,” BitGo CEO Mike Belshe said.

Backed by banking institutions like Goldman Sachs as well as major crypto firms such as Mike Novogratz’s Galaxy Digital, BitGo is a major crypto security firm and cold wallet service. Amid the growing crypto market, the company saw its digital assets under custody surpass $16 billion in late 2020.

Updated: 7-16-2021

Bitcoin In Your IRA? What Could Possibly Go Wrong?

There are obvious risks in using volatile cryptocurrencies as retirement savings. And more that aren’t obvious.

Even the most adventurous investor would acknowledge that cryptocurrencies are risky. And that saving for retirement should be a search for a measure of safety.

Yet salespeople have been blanketing potential investors with email pitches urging them to put Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies into individual retirement accounts. They tout eye-popping gains, warn of scary inflation and highlight endorsements to help legitimize the asset.

The leading company in the field, Bitcoin IRA, recently unveiled a mobile app that makes it easy to make a crypto trade with retirement savings with the swipe of a finger.

The effort seems to be working. The company, which specializes in helping people convert ordinary IRAs to those that can hold Bitcoin, said that since 2016, it’s processed more than $1.5 billion worth of transactions for more than 100,000 users. And that’s just one player. Others have popped up to entice investors to put money into the asset long-term, despite its more recent dips.

For those relatively new to the world of crypto, including experienced market investors, buying into the hype using money earmarked for retirement could prove disastrous. While companies like Bitcoin IRA may provide some protective guardrails, there’s still so much that could go wrong.

First, there’s volatility. Last year, Bitcoin returned more than 300%, but so far this year, it’s down 50% from its April high. Other coins have had similar ups and downs, but mostly downs of late. Who knows how regulation could affect digital currencies a year from now, or 10?

Even for those who are bullish on crypto’s long-term prospects and willing to take risks to diversify, there are the fees to consider. Customers generally have to pay to set up a self-directed IRA, which is the only way to invest tax-advantaged retirement money in alternative holdings such as digital currencies.

Those tend to be more expensive than the set-up costs for garden-variety IRAs, where custodians are more plentiful and there’s competitive fee pressure. On top of that may be annual or monthly account maintenance costs, and transaction fees for buying, selling or trading coins.

Given all those fees, it would take substantial gains to justify the investment. That makes a risky bet riskier.

Investors also have to be wary of getting tripped up by Internal Revenue Service rules. The IRS says taxpayers will face a substantial penalty if they use assets in self-directed accounts for their own benefit. When investors open self-directed IRAs, they generally also have to create separate accounts with crypto exchanges to buy and sell coins.

One way to stumble is if an exchange account is in someone’s name rather than the IRA’s name — the IRS considers that to be doing something for a personal benefit. The same logic applies if the account-maintenance fees are paid by the individual directly, rather than from the IRA account.

Bitcoin IRA says it makes sure clients don’t run into those problems by taking care of all the paperwork and by ensuring that self-directed IRAs and exchange accounts comply with IRS rules.

Still, accountants say they get daily calls from clients who have made those mistakes. The price is steep: A single prohibited transaction turns the entire retirement-account balance into a taxable distribution starting Jan. 1 of the year when the penalty occurred.

And if savers choose to roll money over from a traditional or Roth IRA to a self-directed one and don’t do a direct transfer from one custodian to another, they could also be penalized.

There’s also the uncertainty of how the IRS could weigh in on crypto taxes in the future. The agency hasn’t set official rules on some crypto innovations, so retirement investors could get burned when it finally takes a stand. For example, collectibles are listed as one of the prohibited investments for self-directed accounts.

Those wanting to put the blockchain-based digital art items known as non-fungible tokens into their self-directed IRAs should be aware that while the IRS hasn’t said anything official yet, the agency’s definition of collectibles would seem to include these NFTs.

Finally, going through centralized cryptocurrency exchanges such as Coinbase reduces the risk of fraud, but for those wanting to use decentralized exchanges such as Uniswap to trade cryptocurrency, there’s more exposure to swindlers. And unlike traditional IRA investments, digital currency isn’t regulated like a stock or bond, so there’s less vetting required or recourse for recouping losses from scams.

There are some savvy crypto investors for whom trading and selling via a retirement account makes sense because they can save on capital gains taxes they would have to pay if using a taxable account. But for most people, thinking that investing in crypto with retirement money could save on taxes may just wind up jeopardizing a retirement.

Updated: 7-25-2021

Forget Pot, Crypto, and SPACs. Why Pros Say Retirement Savers Should Avoid Fads

Fear of missing out on a life-changing score can be a powerful motivator, but financial pros say retirement savers should resist the latest fad investment ideas like marijuana stocks, cryptocurrencies, and SPACs and stick to safer investments.

Marijuana stocks tend to be overvalued, the future of cryptocurrencies is too unpredictable, and special purpose acquisition companies, or SPACs, are simply too risky for the average investor, says Clark Kendall, CEO of Kendall Capital in Rockville, Md.

“The market has rallied quite a bit from the pandemic lows, people have had extra money in their pocket, and they’ve had extra time to look at their computer screens, and I think that’s driven up a lot of the cryptocurrencies, cannabis stocks and even SPAC investing, without people doing their due diligence as to why they should make an underlying investment,” Kendall says.

Dan Keady, chief financial planning strategist at the Teachers Insurance and Annuity Association of America, or TIAA, says interest in these investments is strongest among younger investors, who recognize that they have decades before retirement to recover from a bad investment decision. But young workers should remember that with 30 or 40 years to compound, safer investments in mutual funds and other traditional investment vehicles can balloon, he says.

Keady recommends that investors write down their retirement goals, a practice that “can often pull you away from more-speculative investments.” If investors feel compelled to take a swing at a potentially life-changing return, they should view it as a form of entertainment and limit their investment to a small amount that they can afford to lose, he says.

“If you’re putting in enough money that you could derail your long-term goals, don’t confuse that with a financial plan,” Keady says. “Often when you have something that is extremely speculative, it doesn’t end well.”

Here’s why retirement savers should skip these three investment fads, according to Kendall and Keady.

“People often say, ‘I wish I had purchased XYZ stock right before it got big,’ but they forget about the 10 others that didn’t go forward and make huge money,” Keady says. “Who wins and who loses can be difficult to predict.”

● Cryptocurrencies: Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies have come under increased scrutiny lately due to environmental concerns over the huge amount of electricity needed to mine some kinds of coins, and because cryptocurrencies are the payment method of choice in ransomware attacks. They also fluctuate wildly in price, making them too risky for retirement savers, Kendall says.

Bitcoin, for example, has ranged from $9,088 to $64,863 over the past year. It recently was trading around $30,000 and fell below that level this past week.

“The technology is fascinating, but we also know that it’s hard to predict what’s going to happen in the future,” Keady says.

● SPACs: Sometimes called “blank-check companies,” SPACs begin with no assets or operating business. They raise money with an initial public offering of stock and use those funds to acquire another business. After the IPO, a SPAC’s management team typically has two years to complete an acquisition, which must be approved by the SPAC’s shareholders.

If management fails to make an acquisition within two years, it must return the SPAC’s funds to investors. When an acquisition is completed, the management team typically receives 20% of the equity in the company through “founders’ shares.”

One concern for SPAC investors is that as management runs out of time to complete an acquisition, it may agree to a deal that isn’t in shareholders’ best interests to avoid missing out on that 20% finder’s fee, Kendall says.

“I’m not even sure I’d give Warren Buffett 20 cents out of every dollar,” Kendall says. “I don’t need to pay a 20% premium to buy these companies. There are plenty of good companies in the microcap and small-cap world that, relative to a SPAC, are 20% cheaper.

“I go by the simple rule: What’s the future cash flow? How predictable is it? And what’s the present value of that future cash flow? And I think that keeps you disciplined, it keeps you excited about investing when the market goes down, and it prevents you from standing on a landmine when markets get too frothy.”

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