{"id":437900,"date":"2022-04-27T01:32:00","date_gmt":"2022-04-26T22:32:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/en.buradabiliyorum.com\/brett-arendss-roi-why-i-dont-want-bitcoin-in-my-401k\/"},"modified":"2022-04-27T01:32:00","modified_gmt":"2022-04-26T22:32:00","slug":"brett-arendss-roi-why-i-dont-want-bitcoin-in-my-401k","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/brett-arendss-roi-why-i-dont-want-bitcoin-in-my-401k\/","title":{"rendered":"#Brett Arends&#039;s ROI: Why I don\u2019t want bitcoin in my 401(k)"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"ez-toc-container\" class=\"ez-toc-v2_0_85 counter-hierarchy ez-toc-counter ez-toc-custom ez-toc-container-direction\">\n<p class=\"ez-toc-title\" style=\"cursor:inherit\">Table of Contents<\/p>\n<label for=\"ez-toc-cssicon-toggle-item-6a40b44b37e45\" class=\"ez-toc-cssicon-toggle-label\"><span class=\"\"><span class=\"eztoc-hide\" style=\"display:none;\">Toggle<\/span><span class=\"ez-toc-icon-toggle-span\"><svg style=\"fill: #dd3333;color:#dd3333\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" class=\"list-377408\" width=\"20px\" height=\"20px\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" fill=\"none\"><path d=\"M6 6H4v2h2V6zm14 0H8v2h12V6zM4 11h2v2H4v-2zm16 0H8v2h12v-2zM4 16h2v2H4v-2zm16 0H8v2h12v-2z\" fill=\"currentColor\"><\/path><\/svg><svg style=\"fill: #dd3333;color:#dd3333\" class=\"arrow-unsorted-368013\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" width=\"10px\" height=\"10px\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" version=\"1.2\" baseProfile=\"tiny\"><path d=\"M18.2 9.3l-6.2-6.3-6.2 6.3c-.2.2-.3.4-.3.7s.1.5.3.7c.2.2.4.3.7.3h11c.3 0 .5-.1.7-.3.2-.2.3-.5.3-.7s-.1-.5-.3-.7zM5.8 14.7l6.2 6.3 6.2-6.3c.2-.2.3-.5.3-.7s-.1-.5-.3-.7c-.2-.2-.4-.3-.7-.3h-11c-.3 0-.5.1-.7.3-.2.2-.3.5-.3.7s.1.5.3.7z\"\/><\/svg><\/span><\/span><\/label><input type=\"checkbox\"  id=\"ez-toc-cssicon-toggle-item-6a40b44b37e45\" checked aria-label=\"Toggle\" \/><nav><ul class='ez-toc-list ez-toc-list-level-1 ' ><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-1'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-1\" href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/brett-arendss-roi-why-i-dont-want-bitcoin-in-my-401k\/#%E2%80%9CBrett_Arendss_ROI_Why_I_dont_want_bitcoin_in_my_401k%E2%80%9D\" >&#8220;Brett Arends&#039;s ROI: Why I don\u2019t want bitcoin in my 401(k)&#8221;<\/a><ul class='ez-toc-list-level-4' ><li class='ez-toc-heading-level-4'><ul class='ez-toc-list-level-4' ><li class='ez-toc-heading-level-4'><ul class='ez-toc-list-level-4' ><li class='ez-toc-heading-level-4'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-2\" href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/brett-arendss-roi-why-i-dont-want-bitcoin-in-my-401k\/#Brett_Arends\" >Brett Arends<\/a><\/li><\/ul><\/li><\/ul><\/li><\/ul><\/li><\/ul><\/nav><\/div>\n<h1><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"%E2%80%9CBrett_Arendss_ROI_Why_I_dont_want_bitcoin_in_my_401k%E2%80%9D\"><\/span>&#8220;Brett Arends&#039;s ROI: Why I don\u2019t want bitcoin in my 401(k)&#8221;<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h1>\n<h2 class=\"article__subhead\" itemprop=\"alternativeHeadline\">\n<\/h2>\n<p><\/p>\n<div class=\"column column--full article__content\">\n<div class=\"article__side\">\n<div class=\"container--sticky not-active\">\n<div id=\"cx-next\" data-nosnippet>\n              <\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div id=\"js-article__body\" class=\"article__body article-wrap at16-col16 barrons-article-wrap\" itemprop=\"articleBody\" data-sbid=\"WP-MKTW-0000813713\" role=\"document\">\n<div class=\"barrons-article-ad-wrapper\">\n<div data-track=\"barrons-article-ad-wrap\" class=\"barrons-article-ad sticky_item\">\n<div class=\"barrons-main-article-ad-target sticky_target body_ad\" aria-hidden=\"true\"><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div data-layout=\"\n                inline\" data-layout-mobile=\"\" class=\"\n          media-object\n          type-InsetArticleReader\n              \n              inline\n  article__inset\n          article__inset--type-InsetArticleReader\n              article__inset--inline\n  \"><\/p>\n<div class=\"media-object-article-reader\">\n<div class=\"audioplayer\" data-sbid=\"WP-MKTW-0000813713\" role=\"region\" aria-label=\"Listen to Article\" tabindex=\"-1\" id=\"articlereader\" data-show-title=\"false\" data-theme=\"wsj-article-reader\" data-show-header=\"false\" data-show-subscribe=\"false\" data-ads-enabled=\"true\" data-save-publication=\"false\">\n        <\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p>       Hooray!<\/p>\n<p> At long last, the company managing my 401(k) plan will allow me to bet up to 20% of my retirement funds on a digital Ponzi scheme that generates no income and has no practical use.<\/p>\n<p>Fidelity Investments, the biggest manager of 401(k) plans in the country, <a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"http:\/\/fidelityinvestments2020news.q4web.com\/press-releases\/news-details\/2022\/Fidelity-Investments-Advances-Leading-Position-as-Digital-Assets-Provider-With-Launch-of-Industrys-First-of-Its-Kind-Bitcoin-Offering-for-401k-Core-Investment-Lineup\/default.aspx\" class=\"icon none\">has announced<\/a> that it will soon allow bitcoin<br \/>\n        BTCUSD,<br \/>\n        <bg-quote field=\"percentchange\" format=\"0,000.00%\" channel=\"\/zigman2\/quotes\/31322028\/realtime\" class=\"positive\">+0.78%<\/bg-quote><br \/>\n       among the investible assets, alongside stocks, bonds, real-estate investment trusts and the like. This is probably terrific <a href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/category\/news\/\" data-internallinksmanager029f6b8e52c=\"2\" title=\"News\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">news<\/a> for bitcoin. But whether it is equally good news for 401(k) plans remains to be seen.<\/p>\n<div class=\"paywall\">\n       <strong>Read: <\/strong>Bitcoin in your 401(k)? Fidelity just introduced it as an option \u2013 when it makes sense, and when it doesn\u2019t<\/p>\n<p>Why is this good for bitcoin? Simple. It gives this very, very, very long string of 1s and 0s a further patina of financial respectability. If a company as renowned as Fidelity is going to allow it in retirement plans, it must be OK, right? And, naturally, this move will greatly increase the market for bitcoin,\u00a0whose only use seems to be to sell it to other\u00a0people.\u00a0Fidelity handles the retirement accounts of 23,000 companies. Its clients have over $11 trillion in their accounts. That\u2019s about 14 times the alleged value of all the bitcoin in the world.<\/p>\n<p>I asked Fidelity why they were making this move. The short answer: Because the customers want it. Fidelity manages 401(k) and other defined-contribution plans on behalf of employers. And a growing number of them have been asking for access to bitcoin \u2014 and other \u201ccryptocurrencies\u201d as part of the plan.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Read:<\/strong> Millennials have solved the retirement crisis<\/p>\n<p>The company added: \u201cFidelity encourages participants to maintain an asset mix within their 401(k) that aligns with their retirement horizon and risk tolerance. Like any other asset within their 401(k), individuals should make sure that any investment in bitcoin is part of their overall asset allocation strategy that maps to their long-term retirement savings goals.\u201d Fidelity says it will work with employers to produce \u201ceducational materials\u201d in order to \u201chelp employees learn more about digital assets so that they can make informed investment decisions.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>I can\u2019t wait to read them. Maybe one of them will finally explain to me what bitcoin is for.\u00a0I\u2019ve been waiting for years for someone to do this.<\/p>\n<p>It doesn\u2019t pay interest or dividends. It doesn\u2019t earn income. And it doesn\u2019t have any particular purpose. It\u2019s not better than cash, <a href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/category\/download-scripts-themes-apps\/\" data-internallinksmanager029f6b8e52c=\"9\" title=\"Download Scripts &amp; Themes &amp; Apps\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">App<\/a>le Pay, Venmo, credit cards, debit cards and so on for buying stuff. It\u2019s not more useful than my bank for transferring money, domestically or internationally. It\u2019s not even as good for money laundering as gold. OK, so I can see it might be useful to get your money out of a war zone or, say, Russia in an emergency. But is that a $800 billion utility?<\/p>\n<div id=\"cx-membership-tile\"><\/div>\n<p>Meanwhile, in a global climate emergency, it is an unmitigated environmental disaster. The bitcoin network <a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/ccaf.io\/cbeci\/index\/comparisons\" class=\"icon none\">uses more electricity than Poland<\/a>, for no good purpose whatsoever. Ending this cryptocurrency mania would be the simplest, quickest win for the green economy.<\/p>\n<p>I love it when the same people on <a href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/category\/social-mediaa\/\" data-internallinksmanager029f6b8e52c=\"1\" title=\"Social Media\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">social media<\/a> \u201clike\u201d Greta Thunberg\u2019s latest comments, and share the latest alarming news about climate change, and then. boast about all the cryptocurrencies they\u2019re trading.<\/p>\n<p>(And people say the younger generation doesn\u2019t get irony!)<\/p>\n<p>The sole purpose of bitcoin is making money \u2014 real money, in things like dollars \u2014 by trading it. bitcoin enthusiasts <a href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/category\/general\/\" data-internallinksmanager029f6b8e52c=\"3\" title=\"General\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">general<\/a>ly dismiss old skeptics like me by pointing out how much it has risen in price: From nothing 13 years ago, and about $100 a decade ago, to around $40,000 today. And of course they\u2019re right. It has.<\/p>\n<p>Never mind the obvious point that even the enthusiasts are measuring the value of bitcoin in terms of supposed \u201cfiat\u201d currencies like dollars.<\/p>\n<p>The real problem is that this is simply a Ponzi scheme. That doesn\u2019t mean the price can\u2019t keep going up. It could do so indefinitely. But it\u2019s still just a Ponzi scheme. All the gains for existing investors come at the expense of new investors. The new money comes in, the old money cashes out. bitcoin itself does nothing.<\/p>\n<p>Bitcoin has been going for just over 13 years. So what? Bernie Madoff kept his scheme going for at least 17. Call us in another 4 years.<\/p>\n<p>Most other investments have value because they produce income. Stocks have value because they pay out dividends (or in some cases could if they wanted to). Those dividends come from profits, which in turn come from creating value \u2014 turning raw materials into a working car or an iPhone, a meal or whatever. (One of the key issues with the U.S. stock market these days is that prices may have risen much further than the companies\u2019 sustainable earnings.)<\/p>\n<p>A company that generated no income, and was never going to, would have no intrinsic value. Imagine becoming a landlord, and buying a house that no one could live in and which could never, ever generate a nickel of rent. What would you pay for it? Why?<\/p>\n<p>Meanwhile bonds, too, have value but only because they pay coupons, which again come out of earnings (or taxes).<\/p>\n<p>Gold<br \/>\n        GLD,<br \/>\n        <bg-quote field=\"percentchange\" format=\"0,000.00%\" channel=\"\/zigman2\/quotes\/200593176\/composite\" class=\"positive\">+0.15%<\/bg-quote><br \/>\n       has the same theoretical problem as bitcoin. Its long, long history as money, and the vast user base of people willing to accept it as money, provides at least some functionality. It\u2019s golden \u2014 pun intended \u2014 for money laundering. There\u2019s a long list of criminals breaking rocks who would still be free if they\u2019d used gold instead of banks for their crimes. Bitcoin doesn\u2019t even offer the same protections. The ledger is public. The U.S. Justice Department can track your bitcoins down.<\/p>\n<p>As we\u2019ve seen this year, commodities you can actually use \u2014 like oil and gas \u2014 have intrinsic value. When someone can explain to me the intrinsic value of bitcoin I\u2019ll be thrilled.<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div><\/div>\n<p><\/p>\n<div class=\"byline article__byline\">\n<p>    <span>By<\/span><\/p>\n<div class=\"author mobile-scrim hasMenu\" data-scrim='{\"type\":\"author\",\"header\":\"Brett Arends\",\"subhead\":\"The Wall Street Journal\",\"list\":[{\"type\":\"link\",\"icon\":\"bio\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.marketwatch.com\/topics\/journalists\/brett-arends\",\"text\":\"Biography\"},{\"type\":\"link\",\"icon\":\"twitter\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/BrettArends\",\"text\":\"@BrettArends\"},{\"type\":\"link\",\"icon\":\"email\",\"url\":\"http:\/\/www.marketwatch.com\/news\/mailto:barends@marketwatch.com\",\"text\":\"barends@marketwatch.com\"}]}' itemscope itemprop=\"author\" itemtype=\"http:\/\/schema.org\/Person\">\n<h4 itemprop=\"name\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Brett_Arends\"><\/span>Brett Arends<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h4>\n<p><ufc-follow-author-widget product=\"marketwatch\" author-id=\"209_MW\" author-name=\"Brett Arends\" signin-url=\"https:\/\/accounts.marketwatch.com\/login?target=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.marketwatch.com%2Fstory%2Fwhy-i-dont-want-bitcoin-in-my-401-k-11651012331%3Frss%3D1%26siteid%3Drss\" panda-api=\"https:\/\/follow-api.marketwatch.com\"><\/ufc-follow-author-widget><\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<blockquote><p><strong><span style=\"color: #ff6600;\">If you liked the article, do not forget to share it with your friends. Follow us on\u00a0<span style=\"color: #ff0000;\"><a style=\"color: #ff0000;\" href=\"https:\/\/news.google.com\/publications\/CAAqBwgKMLG0nwswvr63Aw\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener noreferrer\">Google News<\/a><\/span>\u00a0too, click on the star and choose us from your favorites.<\/span><\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<blockquote>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\">For forums sites go to <span style=\"color: #ff9900;\"><a style=\"color: #ff9900;\" href=\"https:\/\/forum.buradabiliyorum.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Forum.BuradaBiliyorum.Com<\/a><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<blockquote>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong>If you want to read more News articles, you can visit our <span style=\"color: #ff9900;\"><a style=\"color: #ff9900;\" href=\"https:\/\/en.buradabiliyorum.com\/news\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">News category.<\/a><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><span style=\"color: black;\"><a style=\"color: #ff9900;\" href=\"http:\/\/www.marketwatch.com\/news\/story.asp?guid=%7B20C05575-04D4-B545-7C6A-9134F1E56F34%7D&#038;siteid=rss&#038;rss=1\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Source<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&#8220;Brett Arends&#039;s ROI: Why I don\u2019t want bitcoin in my 401(k)&#8221; Hooray! At long last, the company managing my 401(k) plan will allow me to bet up to 20% of my retirement funds on a digital Ponzi scheme that generates no income and has no practical use. Fidelity Investments, the biggest manager of 401(k) plans&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":437901,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/images.mktw.net\/im-532078\/social","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[70897],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-437900","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/437900","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=437900"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/437900\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/437901"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=437900"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=437900"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=437900"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}