Investing in Bitcoin is similar to investing in any financial product. There is risk involved and you need to ensure you have done your research so you enter into the investment with your eyes wide open.
In general, there are three types of cryptocurrencies:
- Store of value
- Transactional
- Utility
Bitcoin is generally considered as a store of value. Currencies like Litecoin and Bitcoin Cash are usually considered transactional, and Ethereum and Ripple are utility-style coins. Any kind of speculative investment needs to be tempered with research. Any of the different types of currencies have the capacity to increase in value. They also have the capacity to decrease in value.
Definitions
Store of Value
An investment that is used as a store of value is any form of wealth that maintains its value without depreciating. Examples of this are gold and other forms of metal. They are good stores of value as their shelf lives are essentially perpetual, whereas a good such as milk is a terrible store of value due to its natural process of spoilage.
Transactional
A transactional currency refers to funds that you would use day-to-day for purchases. For example, your morning coffee would generally be purchased with a transactional currency, you wouldn’t use a store of value currency for this purpose.
Utility
A utility cryptocurrency is typically used to perform functions other than traditional currency. For example, Ethereum was created as a decentralised open platform for applications. It has an associated currency called ether which can be charged in exchange for compute power, but this is not the primary function of the platform.
Fiat
Fiat currency refers to government issue currency. Independent Reserve supports 3 fiat currencies – Australian dollars, United States dollar, and the New Zealand dollar.
Self-managed super fund
Like other super funds, SMSFs are a way of saving for your retirement. Generally, the main difference between an SMSF and other types of funds is that members of an SMSF are the trustees. This means the members of the SMSF run it for their own benefit.
Exchange trading
At a high level, there are three main vehicles for investing in Bitcoin: personally, through a company, and in Australia through a self-managed super fund (SMSF). Independent Reserve supports all three account types.
Personal/company
Investing personally or through a company account is the method most people are familiar with. This is where you commit personal/company fiat funds to buy Bitcoin in the hope that it will increase in value. To do this you simply need to create an account with Independent Reserve, pass our verification process, and deposit money with us from your personal or company bank account.
Self Managed Super Fund
Self-managed super funds or SMSFs are currently the only way you can invest your superannuation into crypto. Read more about SMSFs and Bitcoin here.
OTC
OTC trading is used when you have a large amount of fiat or crypto to trade in one block. Read more about OTC trading here.
Withdrawing Bitcoin
Independent Reserve allows easy bitcoin withdrawals to external hardware and software wallets. We support withdrawing to all major bitcoin address types, including native segwit (bech32). To learn more about withdrawals, see here.
