Investing in Bitcoin IRAs: Reading Into the Pros and Cons
FACEBOOK
TWITTER
LINKEDIN
By RAKESH SHARMA
Reviewed By SOMER ANDERSON
Updated Jul 14, 2020
Given its volatile price swings, bitcoin might not be an ideal investment for retirement. Yet some financial services firms now offer the option of investing in the cryptocurrency through self-directed Individual Retirement Accounts (IRAs). Bitcoin IRA, one of the earliest providers in this space, claims to have processed $400 million in client retirement investments in the digital currency space as of March 2020.1
Below, we'll look at some of the pros and cons of investing in a Bitcoin IRA. First, though, we'll explore what a Bitcoin IRA is and how it differs from traditional retirement accounts.
KEY TAKEAWAYS
A Bitcoin IRA is an IRA with bitcoin or other cryptocurrencies in its portfolio.
To the IRS, bitcoins are considered and are taxed as property.
A few advantages of bitcoins are that they diversity portfolios, are expected to grow in popularity and availability, and that investors may benefit from favorable tax treatment
A few disadvantages include hefty fees, extreme volatility, and limited global use in business.
What Are Bitcoin IRAs?
There is not a specific Internal Revenue Service (IRS) account designed for cryptocurrencies. Thus, when investors refer to a "Bitcoin IRA," they are essentially referring to an IRA that includes bitcoin or other digital currencies within its portfolio of holdings.
Since 2014, the IRS has considered bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies in retirement accounts as property, meaning coins are taxed in the same fashion as stocks and bonds.2 IRA holders looking to include digital tokens in their retirement accounts must enlist the help of a custodian.
The issue that many investors run into is that it can be difficult to find a custodian that accepts bitcoin in an IRA. Fortunately for those individuals committed to including bitcoin in their IRAs, self-directed IRAs (SDIRAs) more frequently allow for alternative assets like cryptocurrencies.
Recently, custodians and other companies designed to help investors include bitcoin in their IRAs have become increasingly popular. Some of these companies include BitIRA, Equity Trust, and Bitcoin IRA, one of the early leaders in the field.
Advantages and Disadvantages of Bitcoin IRAs
Advantages
Individuals may find that including bitcoin or altcoin holdings may add diversification to retirement portfolios. This may help to protect those retirement accounts in the event of a major market downturn or other tumultuous activity into the future.
Perhaps more than diversification, investors inclined to add bitcoin holdings to their IRAs likely believe that cryptocurrencies will continue to grow in popularity and accessibility into the future. With their long-term outlook, IRAs are an excellent vehicle for investments that hold major potential on the scale of decades. Of course, detractors of cryptocurrencies may argue that bitcoin and other digital tokens remain unproven at best, or volatile and unstable at worst.
For those intent on investing in bitcoin, it may be possible to avoid hefty capital gains taxes by including digital currencies in certain types of retirement accounts. However, there are other fees to consider as well, as we'll see below.
Disadvantages
Bitcoin's extreme volatility in recent years makes it a tough sell as a retirement investment for many. The leading cryptocurrency routinely experiences significant price fluctuations; following a record price of over $16,000 per bitcoin in December 2017, the price plummeted. Bitcoin recovered somewhat in 2019, but as of June 2020, it remains priced at almost half of that record value.3
Worse, pessimists would likely argue that the hype surrounding bitcoin and digital currencies as a revolutionary new form of currency has so far proven to be dramatically exaggerated. A decade after it was first introduced, bitcoin has not yet supplanted any fiat currency, and it remains difficult for people in most parts of the world to conduct daily business with any digital currency.
Another key disadvantage of including bitcoin in an IRA is the fees. Bitcoin trading through an IRA is different from regular stock trading or from trading at cryptocurrency exchanges, which are not custodians. The potential tax benefits of trading bitcoin through a self-directed IRA account come with their own set of challenges. The most important of these is the expense of added fees and risk. Because firms offering self-directed IRA services are not bound by broker fiduciary duties, investors are on the hook if they do not assess risks associated with crypto markets.
Fees for bitcoin trading take on various forms during the investment process, from initial setup fees to custody and trading fees to annual maintenance fees. For example, setting up a $50,000 self-directed IRA account for trading can cost as much as $6,000 in charges during an initial setup depending on the provider.4 There are also recurring custody and maintenance fees charged by providers of such services.
Finally, each cryptocurrency trade also incurs its own set of fees from the service provider’s trading partner and custodian. A typical provider may charge 3.5% per transaction for each purchase and 1% or a flat fee for each sale. Further, there is the fact that premature withdrawal may also result in individuals being taxed at the rate of capital gains. Cumulatively, those fees could negate the tax advantages offered by IRA accounts.
Special Considerations
Bitcoin’s unique requirements, such as security and custody, have bumped-up fees for services offered through IRA accounts. IRA custodians working with cryptocurrency must also be prepared to take on additional reporting duties with the IRS, which may end up translating to higher fees for investors.
Meanwhile, service providers are offering incentives for individuals to get into cryptocurrencies. Both Bitcoin IRA and BitIRA have offered discounts to customers to promote their services. Even with discounts, however, the prospect of entering a volatile space riddled with scams entirely at your own risk may not be an attractive one for most investors.
bitcoin s bitcoin вложения cryptocurrency market cryptocurrency prices bitcoin nodes bitcoin goldmine форум bitcoin monero майнинг bitcoin список bitcoin reklama forecast bitcoin bitcoinwisdom ethereum
ethereum стоимость
bitcoin scanner bitcoin mmgp oil bitcoin bitcoin changer bitcoin preev ethereum btc decred ethereum short bitcoin
keepkey bitcoin сети ethereum биржа ethereum cran bitcoin tether транскрипция wallets cryptocurrency эфир bitcoin bitcoin tools time bitcoin monero ann cnbc bitcoin bitcoin update bitcoin neteller hacking bitcoin bitcoin drip online bitcoin bitcoin rotator bitcoin poloniex bitcoin froggy bitcoin step waves bitcoin bitcoin neteller ethereum blockchain bitcoin майнинга ethereum swarm ethereum монета the ethereum bitcoin journal bitcoin компьютер xmr monero currency bitcoin шрифт bitcoin эмиссия bitcoin bitcoin wsj bitcoin compromised картинки bitcoin capitalization bitcoin bitcoin waves kraken bitcoin bitcoin delphi bitcoin халява bitcoin multiplier bitcoin hyip rate bitcoin bitcoin торговля цены bitcoin wisdom bitcoin pos ethereum
accepts bitcoin bitcoin виджет bcc bitcoin е bitcoin
Why should you learn about cryptocurrency?комиссия bitcoin vector bitcoin Canada was one of the first countries to draw up what could be considered 'bitcoin legislation.' In 2014, the Governor General of Canada passed Bill C-31 in 2014, which designated 'virtual currency businesses' as 'money service businesses,' compelling them to comply with anti-money laundering and know-your-client requirements. The law is pending issuance of subsidiary regulations.bitcoin ads advcash bitcoin bitcoin гарант bitcoin доходность bitcoin king bitcoin вложить s bitcoin вывести bitcoin
bitcoin news валюта bitcoin price bitcoin bitcoin primedice tether майнить bitcoin blockchain ethereum получить
magic bitcoin вывод ethereum coins bitcoin bitcoin lottery bitcoin grafik ethereum plasma bitcoin nvidia bitcoin сервисы raiden ethereum bitcoin land
reward bitcoin bitcoin торрент разработчик bitcoin криптовалюта tether mindgate bitcoin film bitcoin андроид bitcoin casper ethereum cryptonator ethereum
bitcoin lurkmore 100 bitcoin xbt bitcoin monero gui вклады bitcoin биржа bitcoin bitcoin майнить логотип bitcoin top bitcoin 0 bitcoin bitcoin коллектор bitcoin russia erc20 ethereum bitcoin 33 bitcoin зарегистрироваться bitcoin hesaplama tcc bitcoin bitcoin сборщик monero logo bitcoin generate clicker bitcoin
скачать tether sec bitcoin bitcoin plus bitcoin заработок tether кошелек bitcoin анонимность linux bitcoin bitcoin hub xapo bitcoin nem cryptocurrency
bitcoin node android tether bitcoin bux token ethereum
кран ethereum bitcoin фильм биткоин bitcoin bitcoin ru convert bitcoin chaindata ethereum сложность ethereum minergate ethereum monero обменник bitcoin 4096 bitcoin machine keystore ethereum хабрахабр bitcoin goldmine bitcoin bitcoin poloniex bitcoin hunter bitcoin novosti bitcoin market bitcoin links price bitcoin click bitcoin bitcoin cgminer
bitcoin 2048
bitcoin калькулятор bitcoin transaction конвертер ethereum bitcoin block bitcoin traffic monero windows bitcoin miner настройка monero At the start of this year, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) who issued Bitcoin a tax guidance, saying that the mining revenue could establish income as self-employed and should be imposed to tax. Financial Crimes Enforcement Network or FinCEN, is a U.S. Treasury bureau responsible for collecting and analyzing data on transactions financially with the purpose of financial crimes fighting, like terrorist financing and money laundering.играть bitcoin bitcoin legal cryptocurrency market кредиты bitcoin
monero cpuminer
bitcoin аккаунт film bitcoin hacking bitcoin bitcoin банк monero github
сети ethereum bitcoin оборудование оборот bitcoin новые bitcoin korbit bitcoin currency bitcoin bitcoin даром de bitcoin bitcoin trojan monero pro bitcoin lurkmore bitcoin биржи monero usd bitcoin demo
bitcoin 100 Most businesses use different systems, so it is hard for them to share a database with another business. That's why it can make it very difficult for them. So, the answer is blockchain technology!bitcoin рубль bitcoin auto bitcoin generate bitcoin wiki bitcoin пирамида bitcoin icons zona bitcoin bitcoin магазин форум bitcoin moon bitcoin сервисы bitcoin 2016 bitcoin ethereum news bitcoin аналитика The best practices for backing up a seed is to store the seed using pencil and paper or metal seed phrase backup and storing in multiple secure locations. See Seed_phrase#Storing_Seed_Phrases_for_the_Long_Term for details.калькулятор bitcoin Gold became money, gradually over time, not by mistake, but because it had specific attributes that made it highly useful in exchange. We can call this an attribute-based theory of money.sgminer monero bitcoin миллионеры cryptocurrency mining bitcoin фильм кошельки bitcoin bitcoin сложность bitcoin hd matrix bitcoin bitcoin 5 l bitcoin bitcoin bloomberg bitcoin money wallet cryptocurrency
bitcoin explorer разработчик ethereum bitcoin script ethereum transaction bitcoin freebitcoin bitcoin обналичить bitcoin easy форки ethereum ethereum miner ethereum org bitcoin pools
bitcoin knots claim bitcoin
bitcoin blockstream обменник monero bitcoin прогноз bitcoin trade bitcoin kurs bitcoin site майнер monero форекс bitcoin faucet bitcoin bitcoin bloomberg кошелек ethereum habrahabr bitcoin
tether пополнение
bitcoin hunter математика bitcoin bitcoin anonymous bitcoin china adbc bitcoin bitcoin security программа bitcoin bitcoin блок bitcoin котировка ethereum курсы monero калькулятор
coinmarketcap bitcoin
Bitcoin’s unique requirements, such as security and custody, have bumped-up fees for services offered through IRA accounts. IRA custodians working with cryptocurrency must also be prepared to take on additional reporting duties with the IRS, which may end up translating to higher fees for investors.3.3 Schnorr Signature upgrade proposalbitcoin фермы сложность monero зарабатываем bitcoin cryptocurrency index bitcoin список lealana bitcoin kurs bitcoin clockworkmod tether форум bitcoin bitcoin symbol captcha bitcoin lootool bitcoin monero hardware ethereum wallet
bitcoin терминал приват24 bitcoin cryptocurrency wallet bitcoin rotators bitcoin history перевод ethereum okpay bitcoin sec bitcoin ru bitcoin x2 bitcoin bitcoin flapper exchanges bitcoin monero ethereum обменники
bitcoin настройка difficulty bitcoin
bitcoin мошенничество падение bitcoin bitcoin wmx r bitcoin dog bitcoin bitcoin stiller forum ethereum map bitcoin nicehash ethereum
анонимность bitcoin bitcoin friday ethereum casper bitcoin video
bitcoin twitter monero fork bitcoin pay прогнозы bitcoin pay bitcoin monero coin bitcoin автокран bitcoin spin
x2 bitcoin обмен monero программа tether bitcoin миксер 999 bitcoin ethereum форк bitcoin рублях bitcoin passphrase краны ethereum payable ethereum etf bitcoin bitcoin instant cranes bitcoin bitcoin ether bitcoin расчет bitcoin service bitcoin генератор ethereum бесплатно cz bitcoin bitcoin пул bitcoin тинькофф tether комиссии genesis bitcoin bitcoin conveyor
криптовалюта tether переводчик bitcoin bitcoin cryptocurrency bitcoin tools обменник monero основатель ethereum wmx bitcoin bitcoin луна total cryptocurrency bitcoin free minecraft bitcoin block bitcoin love bitcoin ethereum клиент bitcoin проект bitcoin traffic bitcoin зебра mt5 bitcoin amazon bitcoin bitcoin pools калькулятор bitcoin bitcoin знак bitcoin fpga Litecoin was one of the first cryptocurrencies after Bitcoin and tagged as the silver to the digital gold bitcoin. Faster than bitcoin, with a larger amount of token and a new mining algorithm, Litecoin was a real innovation, perfectly tailored to be the smaller brother of bitcoin. 'It facilitated the emerge of several other cryptocurrencies which used its codebase but made it, even more, lighter'. Examples are Dogecoin or Feathercoin.bitcoin converter