Is it good? Is it bad? Doesn’t matter, because it’s here.
While debate continues to rage over the efficacy of investing in Bitcoin and other so-called cryptocurrencies in retirement accounts, platforms are increasingly available to make it happen. The latest, Equity Trust Company, announced that it has launched its digital asset platform.
Through myEQUITY, Equity’s account management system, clients can invest in digital currencies within an IRA.
The company claims the “new platform simplifies the digital currency investment process by providing an easy-to-use interface enabling both individual investors and institutional partners, on behalf of their clients, to quickly place orders for digital currency using tax-advantaged funds from IRAs.”
“The digital asset platform marks the most recent in a series of technology investments made by Equity Trust,” Dave Allen, Chief Operating Officer of Equity Trust Company, said in a statement. “We’ve invested in technologies that align with our broader strategy of delivering innovations and industry-leading capabilities that truly optimize client value by speeding up the investment timeline and simplifying the process.”
“Recognizing the demand from clients and other investors to use their IRAs, and the potential tax benefits they offer to investing in digital currencies,” Allen added, “Equity Trust sought to simplify access to this emerging asset.”
The platform integrates a client’s Equity Trust account with fully redundant “cold storage facilities”—a secure method of long-term storage of digital currency—eliminating the customer risk associated with holding their own “keys.”
As long as IRS guidelines are followed, investment gains from digital currency generated in the IRA may be tax-deferred, a potential benefit and differentiator for those investing in digital currency, the company notes.
“For example, in 2017 Bitcoin prices surged and many investors profited, but it also created a significant tax impact. If the investments were made through an IRA, taxes could have possibly been mitigated or deferred until retirement.”
With more than 20 years serving financial markets, John Sullivan is the former editor-in-chief of Investment Advisor magazine and retirement editor of ThinkAdvisor.com. Sullivan is also the former editor of Boomer Market Advisor and Bank Advisor magazines, and has a background in the insurance and investment industries in addition to his journalism roots.
