Ether , which was trading at $ 3,338 in late June , was given a surprise boost on May 23 when the Securities and Exchange Commission approved ETF applications for the coin from Grayscale Investments , Bitwise , iShares , VanEck , Ark Invest , Invesco , Fidelity and Franklin Templeton .

In late May , Edelman predicted that the price of bitcoin — another cryptocurrency that recently saw its own ETF funds come to market — will rise to $ 420,000 by 2030 . He based his prediction on the fact that Wall Street firms and registered investment advisors are now accelerating their plans to own bitcoin and shares of bitcoin ETFs

and include them on their platforms .

“ If I ’ m bullish on bitcoin and predicting a [ fivefold ] increase , I ’ m equally bullish on that much or more with Ethereum ,” said Edelman . ( Ethereum is the name of the ether coin ’ s blockchain technology .)

“ These ETFs now have more than $ 60 billion in assets ,” he said . “ So wirehouses want in on this and are all racing to get due diligence done .”

He predicted billions in investment dollars will flow into the funds from advisors , broker-dealers and possibly banks . If 1 % of the world ’ s $ 740 trillion in assets were invested in crypto , it would equal $ 7.4 trillion in these assets , he has calculated .

“ I have a very simple set of arithmetic that explains why I believe by 2030 bitcoin will be $ 430,000 ,” he said . “ I can ’ t give you a simple set of arithmetic for Ethereum for the simple reason that I don ’ t know exactly how many Ethereum coins there are .”

There are 19.6 million bitcoins in existence , which represent 93.7 % of the total of 21 million coins that can ever be mined , he said .

“ As bitcoin ’ s price has risen dramatically , so has Ethereum ’ s and other coins as well . I believe that will continue . So if I am very bullish on bitcoin and predict a five times increase over the next five years , I think we ’ ll see something similar , perhaps bigger for Ethereum ,” Edelman said .

He said the political climate is also becoming much more accommodating to cryptocurrency , thanks in large part to the big political action committees that big Wall Street banks , broker-dealers and crypto companies have funded and are using to apply pressure .

The most famous of the PACs is Fairshake , a crypto-focused group with a reported $ 110 million in funds to support both Democratic and Republican congressional candidates favoring U . S . crypto innovation .

Fairshake spent $ 10 million on an ad campaign that helped Democratic Rep . Adam Schiff , a crypto supporter , defeat Rep . Katie Porter in the race to fill the California Senate seat vacated by the late Dianne Feinstein .

“ These ETFs now have more than $ 60 billion in assets . So wirehouses want in on this and are all racing to get due diligence done .”

— Ric Edelman

So far , Fairshake and other PACs have spent more than $ 40 million to support crypto-friendly candidates in Alabama , California , Texas , Maryland and North Carolina .

“ Suddenly , a whole bunch of Democrats are interested in crypto ,” Edelman said .

— Tracey Longo

States Are Stepping Up Efforts To Tax Former Residents , Advisors Say

Continued from page 10

says Barbara Taibi , a partner for private client services at Eisner Advisory Group in Iselin , N . J . But advisors should ask whether the client ’ s resident state has the same exclusion , she says .

Finally , clients should watch the timing of their relocations .

“ It ’ s common for executives who have made significant fortunes in equity to move out of a state right before a major liquidity event to avoid capital gains ,” Pantekidis says . States are getting wise to this and auditing for exactly when a former resident has moved , he says .

— Jeff Stimpson

14 | FINANCIAL ADVISOR MAGAZINE | JULY / AUGUST 2024 WWW . FA-MAG . COM