In December 2024, I decided to jump aboard the bitcoin Train and add cryptographic exposure to my wallet.
The markets collapsed from Trump’s recent victory, there were whispers from a Bitcoin National ReserveAnd Bitcoin had recently broken the threshold of $ 100,000 for the first time. Cryptocurrency had become common enough for late adopters as I deem it invested.
For my First foray into BitcoinI bought a share of Blackrock‘S ishares Bitcoin Trust (Ibit). I later added a part of sowing scientific (SMLR), a health technology company that holds Bitcoin on its balance sheet. I wanted to try several investment methods in Bitcoin.
With hindsight, I realize that I committed the classic pulse of retail investors: buy because of FOMO. Of course, the positive feeling of investors led to Bitcoin gains, as well as the ETF that I bought which was designed to follow the crypto. But my purchase of action was poorly informed.
Almost six months later, Bitcoin went through new heights of all time, and I have mixed feelings on my investment.
FNB Bitcoin are a way suitable for beginners to obtain an exhibition
I chose to buy Ibit instead of real bitcoin because it was a more accessible way to obtain an exhibition. I didn’t want the hassle to set up a Coinbase account. In addition, the purchase on a single share in an ETF was more psychologically attractive than buying a tiny fraction of a bitcoin (I did not have $ 100,000 spare or risk tolerance to buy a whole bitcoin).
Performance has been encouraging. Year up to date, Ibit increased by around 14%, exceeding 12% gain for Bitcoin himself. He did his job of monitoring the crypto and even added a little more. And he is by far outlined the S&P 500Which has only 2% in 2025.
ETF can experience slight monitoring differences due to management costs, operational costs and the time of entries and outputs. But if you want an approximate Bitcoin performance proxy without really having the underlying asset, Ibit does the job.
A year and a half during its launch, Ibit has gained incredible popularity, increasing more than $ 70 billion in assets under management. Robert Cannona financial advisor to the experience of wealth with a specialization in alternativerecommends that Bitcoin-Curieux customers start with ETF.
“It is the simplest and cleiest representation of Bitcoin, compared to some of the other strategies that are a little esoteric,” said Cannon.
The ETF packaging really helped the adoption of Bitcoin to be triggered last year, told me Rahul Sen Sharma, president and CO-PDG of the personalized index provider. Sharma sees an increase in interest in Bitcoin and ETF of digital assets, and he thinks that Trump’s continuous support for the crypto will open the way to more traditional adoption.
Be careful with Bitcoin cash companies
Getting an exposure to bitcoin through other methods was indeed more esoteric – and much less profitable.
I added Scientist To my portfolio on January 8, 2025, and it has been down more than 40% since then.
There is a tendency Among the companies to add bitcoin to their balance sheets, with Strategy,, TeslaAnd GameStop being one of the most important examples. The own president Trump Media and Technology Group Recently raised $ 2.5 billion to buy Bitcoin. Semler Scientific began to add Bitcoin to his record in May of last year and now has more than 4,000 bitcoins.
It looks like a good idea in theory: holding bitcoin as a reserve asset could be a blanket against inflation And weakness in dollars, and could also lead to an appreciation of capital while Bitcoin takes off.
Some companies love Strategy had a huge success. The company has accumulated more than half a million bitcoins, and the stock surpassed the underlying crypto from the year to the start. However, it is difficult to reproduce the scale and expertise of the strategy. While many Cannon customers often learn about Bitcoin cash companies such as the strategy, he generally recommends that they stick to the basis with a ETF.
There were also specific -specific winds for the company to sow scientific. The company had been the subject of a survey of the Ministry of Justice for having allegedly deceived complaints on one of its medical devices.
My point to remember from experience is that buying a single action as Bitcoin proxy is probably not a good idea. When you buy a Bitcoin cash flow company, you also inherit all its specific risks to the company. This includes everything, from management and financial health decisions to legal exposure, product performance and market feelings around the main company.
Consequently, the advantages of diversification with Bitcoin are sweetened. If you are looking for an exposure to bitcoin, buy the real thing or an ETF spot is your best bet.
Maybe the strategy from here is to close my position in SMLR and do some Tax loss harvest This year.