Discovering Price in Digital Asset Securities
May 9, 2022
This series of articles explores the key characteristics of how securities operate in the U.S. The previous article reviewed how assets are valued. This article will focus on price discovery, or the way marketplaces establish a price between buyers and sellers. The next article will cover how technical analysis can be used to understand the likely price direction of assets, including digital asset securities.
How Investors Can Evaluate Optimal Prices When Trading On Secondary Markets
May 6, 2022
This article is part of an ongoing series on the basics of investing in and trading digital asset securities in the U.S. The last article was on securities exemptions and how investors can use them to gain exposure to new businesses. This article explores how the value of digital asset securities can be assessed.
Securities Exemptions Are Key To Investing In Private Markets. But What Are They?
May 4, 2022
The last article in this series reviewed the four most common categories of securities: debt, equity, derivative, and hybrid securities. This article will go over the securities regulations and exemptions that make raising capital and issuing stock possible without going public, as well as how digital asset securities can complement that process. Since the way investors are able to participate in private markets is determined by these regulations, understanding where they come from and why they can help investors stay ahead of the curve.
What Is A Security?
Apr 26, 2022
Said simply, securities are financial instruments with monetary value that can be bought, sold, or traded on exchanges and other platforms. While seemingly simple by definition, this asset class is at the center of a multi-trillion dollar market globally. According to The World Bank, domestic securities made up more than $93 trillion dollars of the global markets in 2020.
Ten Years of the JOBS Act: Tens of Billions Raised
Apr 5, 2022
Ten years ago today, the Jumpstart Our Business Startups (JOBS) Act was signed into law. Introduced and enacted on a bipartisan basis, the JOBS Act was passed as the U.S. struggled to emerge from the Great Financial Crisis, which severely impacted private businesses' access to funding through the traditional capital markets. Thanks to the JOBS Act, private businesses received enhanced abilities to raise capital – including through crowdfunding – by creating shares in the form of securities. Ten years on, the results of the JOBS Act have been incredible.
Interest Rates Are Going Up. And That Can Also Impact Your Investments.
Mar 31, 2022
In March 2022, the Federal Reserve issued its first rate hike in more than three years. This move increased U.S. interest rates by 0.25%, and reinforced the market expectation that more rate hikes are coming. So, what are interest rate hikes and why do they matter to investors?
What Is Stagflation?
Mar 30, 2022
You may have heard the term “stagflation” in recent days and wondered, what it is and why does it matter to me? Stagflation is the combination of a stagnant economy and inflation. Put another way, stagflation occurs when an economy’s gross domestic product (GDP) declines at the same time that the price of goods and services rises (inflation).
Three Things Investors Should Know About Private Equity
Mar 10, 2022
Private equity (PE) is a type of alternative investment that provides the ability to gain exposure to companies that are not traded publicly. Previously, private equity was only accessible to individuals and businesses with high net worths. While PE funds have historically outperformed the S&P 500 by significant margins, access has been unevenly distributed.1,2 In the last decade, that has changed in three significant ways.
2021 In Review
Jan 4, 2022
2021 was a banner year for creative destruction. In Joseph Schumpeter’s economic theory of “creative destruction,” innovation happens from within before moving outward. From Coinbase’s initial public offering (IPO) to Securitize tokenizing funds that track S&P indices1 for the first time, 2021 marked a year of working from within the old system to make something new.
Alternative Asset Allocation for Hedging Inflation
Dec 20, 2021
For experienced and institutional investors, outpacing inflation has been top of mind lately. In the following article, we will review alternative asset allocation strategies for volatile markets.
Investing Through Black Swan Events
Dec 14, 2021
This is the first post in a series to discuss what’s trending in private equity and alternative investments. Today, we face the unexpected head on.
Selling Your Start-up Equity
Aug 17, 2021
Say you’ve been working at your start-up for a couple years and want to generate some cash by selling a portion of your vested stock. That should be easy, right? According to research from Stanford University, 56% of employees are not permitted by private-company employers to sell their stock. But what are the options for the other 44% who can sell? This depends on a few key factors. First, is there demand by outside investors for the stock or a mechanism in place to facilitate the transaction? Second, how do you find a platform to sell your shares on?
Benefits of Alternative Asset Investments
Jun 25, 2021
Why alternatives? Alternative investments offer opportunities for individual and accredited investors to find better returns, diversify portfolios, realize tax benefits and lock into predictable and passive cash flows. And these benefits are far more advantageous than you might think. Once only accessible to select institutions and high net worth clients, alternative assets are emerging as an attractive investment class for individual and accredited investors.
Shifts in Value Creation: The Rise of the Private Markets
Jun 23, 2021
Would it surprise you to know that many of the largest investable market in the United States is not the public stock market, and that this market creates more value for investors than the public market? While the internet revolutionized the trading of public stocks in the 1990s, it has barely made a dent in the trading of private securities, until now. And during that time, there’s been a profound paradigm shift between the public and private markets, and it’s changing how and where value creation occurs for shareholders.
The Road to Digital Finance: How Did We Get Here?
Jun 2, 2021
Today, many of us consider the financial institutions we interact with to be, or at least to offer, fully-digital services. The truth is, very few of them are actually fully digital. The majority of our financial system still relies on some aspect of manual human interaction; but thanks to the demand for more digital processes, things are quickly changing for the better.
What is a Digital Asset Fund?
May 31, 2021
First, let’s start with the word fund: what is it? Why does it exist? Well, just as there are “rainy day funds” or “emergency funds,” investors use funds to set aside money for a specific purpose. In this case, the money is usually pooled together from a group of investors who have interest in achieving a similar investment objective or outcome. Due to increased popularity, there are many fund types available, the most popular being mutual funds and exchange traded funds (ETFs).
Alternative Assets Explained
May 27, 2021
Thinking about diversifying your portfolio? When most people think about investing, they typically consider traditional investments. But Investments are not just limited to stocks and bonds. Alternative assets are becoming increasingly more available and are a unique way to diversify your portfolio. They offer a variety of advantages and interesting opportunities for investors.
Basics of a Security Token
May 27, 2021
Technology, updated regulations, and a new breed of fintechs are making investments more accessible and efficient on a multitude of levels. Securities like private company stocks, bonds, real estate interests, and soon even more traditional assets like public Exchange Traded Funds will become fully digital thanks in big part to blockchain technology. With the emergence of digital asset securities, the evolution of financial markets is poised to enter a new age.
The Not-So-Beginners Guide to Blockchain
May 27, 2021
Chances are you’ve heard terms like cryptocurrency, Bitcoin, and blockchain before; and chances are you’ve also heard many misconceptions about them that can cause confusion about the world of blockchain.
Differences between Public Markets and Private Markets
May 27, 2021
Securities make up a growing proportion of transfers around the world, yet the majority of them are difficult to trade since the ability to sell depends on the market they’re traded in. There are two types of markets: the public market and private market, and both act as a way for companies to finance themselves as well as a medium for investors to invest their capital. While both are predominant in the global economy, there are significant differences between the two and great variation of access across them.
Accessing Primary and Secondary Markets
May 12, 2021
Although the word market has several meanings, in finance, the term refers to the capital markets. While the markets themselves may be deconstructed into several submarkets, the primary and secondary markets denote the majority of where securities are traded. Securities are typically created in the primary market and traded in the secondary market.
