If you have been watching the price trend of Bitcoin you might have noticed that seems to be growing at a steady pace. And the reason for this has been claimed to be connected to Bitcoin going ETF soon. At least that is expected. Abbriviations enough, because going ETF also seems to create an ATH for BTC. Are you still with me on this one? Let's brake this down a bit. First, what does an ETF stand for? It simply means: Exchange Traded Fund. And the reason this is being made such a big deal, really pumping the price of Bitcoin, and others too, is because it would mean a major breaktrough for the Blochchain financial technology. And this could really turn the tables for a lot of Cryptos, like Steem...

The way an ETF {Exchange Traded Fund} works, simplified, is that one can trade in things like Bitcoin, without actually owning any real BTC. Just like one could 'own' Gold, but not have the real goods to take care of in some large vault. Instead it is a promise that there is proof, by a certificate, that it is backed by the value of real Gold. This means that holders of this promise trust a company to actually have this asset under their control, they will hold the Gold. Now there is more possible here, but that would make it more complex to explain. Now you can imagine that a company holds a lot of Bitcoin in cold-storage on paper wallets. Just like the Gold that is being held in vaults.

Now the total value of the asset, a stockholder company has, can be divided into small parts. Not by splitting up Gold or dividing Bitcoin into Satoshi, but by offering shares in the company. This means the total Bitcoin capital held in stock by the company can be traded, in smaller representing parts, on the stock market. Trading in Bitcoin shares, with a direct connection to the price developement of BTC on the whole trading market. And stocks can be traded the whole day through and have a low management cost attached. That could be very intersting for private investors. No need to hold real Bitcoin anymore, no wallet needed, just trading in the usual way, just another asset in the portefolio of a stocktrader.

There needs to be a lot in the funds

This is a logical explanation for the constant All Time High {ATH} records of Bitcoin recently. And to some extend this is interesting for other cryptos too, like Dash for instance. One of the Cryptos that really has a way of connecting to the real world economy on its own. Surely for all Cryptos in the trading top one hundred, where our beloved Steem is too! With the expected approval of the Bitcoin EFT on the stock market, this is going to bridge the gap between Cryptos and Wallstreet. And experts state that there is a 50/50 chance that the American Securities and Exchange Commission {SEC} will aprove the Winklevoss Bitcoin Trust to enter the market.

One could forsee an even bigger run on Bitcoin happening soon. And it wil become more scarse when a lot of BTC gets to be put into cold storage. Less available to trade directly, while the traditional Financial Markets will go for the Stocked version of BTC, held by the Trustfund that the Winklevoss brothers have set up. Therefore it seems totally explainable why the price of Bitcoin seems to brake record after record, and my prediction of 2500 Dollar per BTC might be reached in the very near future. Although some market predictions expect it to go even beyond that to 5000 Dollar. There is a buzz, and its Blockchained...

Why should Steem, and other crypto, owners even care?

Even if you are not here due to an interest in blockchain technology, it still might have been a good choice that you got here anyway. Because if Bitcoin becomes an Exchange Traded Fund {ETF} on the traditional Stock Market, then this will surely put the Blockchain technology out there. It becomes a legal trading Asset and this will also have an effect on the other Open Ledger Blockchain developements. And for you and me, being here, at a unique Social Media Platform on a Blockchain, could have its advantages. Being the first of a kind that is in the top 100 of the Crypto market is key here. With the 1 year birthday of Steem closing in there might be many reasons to celebrate.

Steem is already getting noticed by the traditional financial world. Getting mentioned in financial technology publishings, in the same sentence as Bitcoin, that will be read more and more, means exposure beyond belief. Especialy with a growing interest in the upcoming decision about the Exchange Traded Fund for the WinkleVoss Bitcoin Trust. Any post about that in the media covering traditional financial markets mentioning Steem is free advertising that money cannot buy. Even if the Bitcoin EFT gets postponed by the American Securities and Exchange Commission {SEC}, the blockchain breakthrough already has been made. And Blockchain will be the Buzzword of 2017, that alone will get more investors in Crypto exchanges and draw more attention to the Steem platform... Good for Cryptos and good for you and me having Steem in our accounts here.

A Put or Call, if it were pure binary trading?

Lately there seems to be a sudden growth in interest for Cryptos, mostly Bitcoin, although Dash even seems to have more growth potential. This pushes the price up for a quite a few Cryptos through due market demand presure. Steem may still be a bit behind in price expectation and it might stay hovering between 9 and 11 dollar cents for a while. Hard to predict as it still oscilates quite a bit, one could say it is kind of neutral overal currently.

For Bitcoin there is a binary {two choices, price trend up(call) or down(put)} trading market online by the way. But I will not offer you a link, because I think it is short term gambling on a price change, but speculation makes it sound nicer, I guess. Also there are huge financial risks involved, like playing roulette in a Casino where you put every bet on red or black. It is like a gamble on a football game, except you won't have the choice of a tie. Yet, when the ETF for Bitcoin gets accepted, then there will be binary trading for that on the traditional trading market too. Again drawing a lot of attention in for Cryptos, the Blockchain and anything related to that, like a Social Media Platform as Steem. Now I would put a call on that...

What would your guess be? Will prices keep going up for many of the top hundred Cryptos, even it the ETF is postponed? Or would one set a Put on ones binary bet. Meaning that you think the price of BTC and others will drop if the ETF gets postponed at the 11th of march 2017. Or might one set a Call, meaning that the price of BTC and other Cryptos will go up, anyway. Somehow my guess is that the price of Cryptos, mainly in the top of the one hundred with the highstest ranking market capacity, will actually benefit a lot by the growing attention in the mainstream media and the mass acception of the blockchain technology.

Even just the attention is already worth a lot. And any mention of our beloved Social Media platform on a blockchain, Steem, in that, is a huge benefit to all of us, active here in any form. Being it as an investor, curator or content creator, it will somehow have its benefits at the longer term. But we might already have something to celebrate at the first birthday of Steem...

Rien ne va plus, s'il vous plaît*

Remember, as always, in all of these kind of trades, only risk what you are willing and able to lose. And although you might agree with me at some points, or disagree, your guess will be as good, or as bad, as mine. Hopefully it was helpfull explaining something that you came about lately but did not understand and I was able to clearify it a bit for you.

And as I do most of the time when I post about these kind of subjects, I do end with a twist, to make clear that a lot in these markets is a mostly gamble, just named speculation. For that to succeed you might need a crystal ball, tea leaves and what I found very succesfull lately: three pigs, a bucket and some truffels. No more bets please...*

All I want to state with that is, I guess: stay real.

Have a good one!

photo cc0 public domain courtesy of Michael Wuensch at PixaBay

EDIT NOTE: Changed some sentenses that just did not seem to make any sense.