Bitcoin taking over Japanese stock market - 05/06/17

There is no way around ignoring the comparisons between today's cryptocurrency mania, and the Dot Com boom of 20 years ago. In fact, with the number of cryptocurrencies expanding almost daily, and investors piling into them without even having the slightest idea of what these cryptos represent, Bitcoin mania is now even affecting equity markets and stock prices in countries such as Japan.

The speculative frenzy in bitcoin is spilling over into the Tokyo Stock Exchange.
Remixpoint Co., Infoteria Corp. and Fisco Ltd., have all seen volatile swings in their share prices after announcing businesses related to digital currencies.

Remixpoint has more than doubled since tying up with Peach Aviation Ltd. to let customers pay for tickets with bitcoin.
Infoteria, up 58 percent in the past month, is testing ways to let shareholders vote by proxy using blockchain, bitcoin’s underlying technology.
Fisco, a financial information services provider, began operating a bitcoin exchange last year and is up 26 percent since early May.

All of these gains coincide with bitcoin’s rally, with the value of the virtual currency doubling against the U.S. dollar since early May.
That has made the stocks of the these small-cap companies an attractive way for speculators to invest in cryptocurrency markets without buying them directly. That’s because investors can make bets via their brokerage accounts instead of taking risks with bitcoin exchanges, according to Naoki Murakami, a well-known day trader in Japan.

“From about a month ago when all these virtual currencies started spiking like crazy, we began seeing the so-called ‘stocks of the virtual currency bubble,”’ said Murakami, a frequent speaker at investor conferences. “Not everyone is sure they can trust bitcoin exchanges. And some don’t have accounts there. That’s why they’re using the stock market to speculate.” - Bloomberg

With money being extremely cheap today for investing just as it was during the Dot Com boom of the middle to late 1990's, and the wealthy having little trust in the value and stability of their own sovereign currencies, then cryptocurrencies and the businesses which are tied to them will continue to see billions poured in to provide a means of wealth protection, and that ever elusive demand for something that provides a modicum of yield.

Source: http://www.thedailyeconomist.com/