Page 34 - DIY Magazine June 2018

SEEKING INVESTMENT OPPORTUNITIES IN GEOGRAPHICAL AND TECHNOLOGY AREAS OF THE FUTURE
Firstly, thank you for all your feedback about cryptocurrency and blockchain, and to those who also came forward with their own ideas on which funds could be used to invest into these areas – writes Douglas Chadwick of Saltydog Investor
Some clearly believe these are the creation of the devil, used only by those lacking grey matter or with a death wish; others feel it is the way forward, reducing the influence of the banks and institutions.
I keep a watchful eye on the wider investment environment and it’s been impossible not to notice the rise of cryptocurrencies and blockchain technology and note the similarity to the dot.com bubble.
Started by the military and academics in the late
60s the Internet remained obscure for many years
until PCs became affordable when it changed mass communication and commerce; new businesses sprung up overnight and, despite never having made any money, were given astronomical valuations – sound familiar?
It didn’t end well. NASDAQ, which included a large number of newly floated ‘tech’ companies, peaked in 2000 at around 5000; by September 2002 it had shed 70% to less than 1200.
Companies went bust and people lost fortunes; however, the technology was good, and those companies with good products and services that weathered the storm are now some of the world’s largest companies.
I don’t understand how the blockchain works, but some of the younger people that I work with believe it has technical merit and potential commercial applications.
Bitcoin made fantastic gains, then fell dramatically; I wonder if this, or another blockchain based token will end up being the next Facebook, Google, Amazon or Apple?
Some of the funds that people have told me about I have struggled to find, but they include:
• LEGR (First Trust Indxx Innovative Transaction &
Process ETF)
• BIT-XBT (XBT Provider AB Bitcoin tracker ETF)
• ETH.XBTE (XBT Provider AB Ethereum tracker ETF) • GBTC (Bitcoin Investment Trust)
• Not a trust or ETF, but kr1 invests in pre icos and is
listed on the Next crypocurrency trading platform • Crytpto20 - a cryptocurrency fund that tracks the
top 20 coins with an index like approach, available from Invictus Capital (who also run the Hyperion cryptocurrency venture capital fund).
I haven’t been brave enough to invest yet and if I do, then it will only be a small amount, in my ‘Blue Sky’ portfolio, where I tend to give funds that are of special interest to me a bit more leeway than I do my core investments.
Here are some of the funds that I have mentioned previously - some I hold, some I don’t; some have performed spectacularly well, and some have not!
VIETNAM
I went there 50 years ago with the Merchant Navy, and my youngest brother is a doctor in Ho Chi Min City which has shaped my view of the country. It is self- sufficient in oil and rice, selling the surplus into the rest of Asia; it’s now the world’s largest producer of coffee. China, America and Japan have off-shored manufacturing here for a number of years due to
the low wages and the ‘can do’ attitude of a young population; when these countries do well, then so do the Vietnamese.
Over the years I have invested in both of these funds. • VinaCapital Opportunity Fund
• db x-tracker FTSE Vietnam
DIY Investor Magazine | Jun 2018 34