Wealth Managers Want Clarity on Bitcoin Rules: Reuters

Leuthold Group Chief Investment Officer Jim Paulsen told Reuters he is frustrated by not being able to hold bitcoin for his clients.

• Leuthold Group manages $1 billion but regulatory barriers prevent the firm from holding cryptocurrency.
• “What I like about bitcoin is … its correlation to stocks and other assets is extraordinarily independent,” Paulsen told Reuters.
• In lieu of holding the asset itself, wealth managers are clamoring for the approval of bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs) that would meet the legal standards required of traditional investments, according to the report.
• The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has not ruled whether mutual funds can own cryptocurrency directly, according to Robert Jenkins, global head of research at Refinitiv Lipper.
• The report comes as Wall Street players (and their clients) increasingly embrace bitcoin as an asset akin to gold.
• BNY Mellon announced a crypto custody service last month; Goldman Sachs announced this week it was launching a cryptocurrency trading desk.
• According to Jimmy Lee, CEO of Wealth Consulting Group, financial advisors are frustrated by not being able to manage crypto for their clients. Many investors end up pursuing it on their own, Reuters reported.

Read more: State Street Would Be the Fund Administrator for VanEck’s Pending Bitcoin ETF