The Winklevoss ETF is bad news for the bitcoin scene

by Barry Randall|Published July 8, 2013

The Winklevoss twins – of Facebook lawsuit fame – announced their intention last week to launch an exchange traded fund (ETF) for bitcoins, the emerging and controversial digital currency.

Covestor tech stock portfolio manager Barry Randall, who’s on the record predicting that bitcoin will in fact succeed, believes the proposed Winklevoss ETF is bad news for the bitcoin community. In an interview for the LA Times, Randall said:

Because of the effectively finite number of Bitcoins in circulation (currently and eventually), the ETF will create a demand bubble that will drive the value of existing Bitcoins much higher. This will, in turn, discourage circulation of Bitcoins, reducing its effectiveness as a currency.

It’s unlikely that the Winklevoss ETF will go anywhere, in any case.

AUTHOR

Barry Randall

Crabtree Asset Management invests in growing technology companies. Barry Randall is the firm's founder and chief investment officer. He has more than 20 years of professional investing experience. Barry spent five years as a technology stock analyst and 10 more years managing mutual funds that focused on small-cap and technology stocks. He has experience managing mutual funds and separately managed accounts as large as $650 million. Prior to earning his MBA in 1993, he spent six years as a professional computer programmer. Barry earned a Wall Street Journal 'Category King' award for his co-management of a small cap mutual fund in 2006. As of December 2022, Morningstar rated the Crabtree Multi-Cap Technology composite, of which the Crabtree Technology strategy offered at Interactive Advisors is a component, as having Five Stars for 3-Year, 5-year and Overall performance and Four Stars for 10-Year performance. Barry has been quoted regularly in Forbes, US News & World Report, TheStreet.com and E-Commerce Times. He has appeared on CNBC, Bloomberg TV and Fox Business News. Crabtree Asset Management LLC was founded in 2008 and is headquartered in Saint Paul, Minnesota.

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