Just the Tip of the Wall Street Iceberg

Sometimes, numbers need a little bit of context…

There are 466 crypto funds created to date… nearly 100 just this year… and more than $7 billion in crypto funds waiting to be unleashed…

These figures come from a new study by Crypto Fund Research. The growth of assets managed by crypto funds has also been impressive…

But let’s not get carried away. Compared with traditional hedge funds, this is peanuts.

The top 500 non-crypto hedge funds manage around $1 billion or more of assets…. each!

More than 700 hedge funds were launched in 2017, and there were 156 crypto fund launches in 2017, according to the Crypto Fund Research report.

Crypto fund investing is just scratching the surface.

It isn’t so much in its infancy as it is in its pre-infancy.

It’s more like an incubation period.

Crypto funds account for less than 0.1% of total hedge funds’ assets.

Crypto’s Mysterious Behavior

But there is something interesting – some would say even mysterious – going on here.

Logic would dictate a downturn in funds launched this year. Bitcoin prices have fallenafter peaking in January.

No eyebrows would have been raised.

After all, fund creation in 2017 was seen as the result of rapidly rising bitcoin prices. A slowdown this year would have been viewed as an understandable reaction to fallingprices.

Further, these are professional investors who nurture the savings of the wealthy. They pay attention to how prices are trending.

Yet, the opposite happened.

Crypto funds are on pace to beat last year’s total launches… despite sluggish prices and a continuing lack of regulatory clarity from the government.

The question is…

WHY?

I’ve identified three big reasons.

1. Transformational technologies. Transformational technologies don’t grow on trees. Before the blockchain came along, there was the internet. Before that? We had the car, airplane and television. And before that, we had Edison’s light bulb and Franklin’s electricity. That roughly averages out to transformational technology coming along once every other generation. There’s FOMO at play here, but that’s not the whole story. Imagine if the stock market went south. How many funds would be starting or increasing their stake in the S&P 500, DJI or Nasdaq? NONE. So why have professional investors ignored falling prices and jumped into bitcoin?

2. The proving grounds. We’re about to find out how well these technologies work and if they can scale. Over the next two years, more than 75% of the active fintech blockchain projects will go from proof of concept to live production. In the meantime, the crypto and blockchain industries are attracting many of the world’s best developers, entrepreneurs… and investors. Marc Andreessen (Andreessen Horowitz)? Check. Fred Wilson (USV)? Check. Mike Novogratz? Check. Benchmark and Sequoia? Once again, check.

And now we see other VC money pouring in, catching up to hedge funds investing in crypto. Take a look at this chart…

Existing tech/fintech VC firms are expanding their investments into blockchain startups and launching their own blockchain funds.

3. The beginning of the end of the final hurdle. Here’s why you need to pay attention to my Co-Founder, Adam. He’s seeing what professional investors are also noticing: the establishment of secure, regulated custody of crypto for institutional investors. The lack of a custody solution has kept institutional investors out of the crypto markets. But that barrier is about to go away. “It’s being built out right now,” Adam says. “The ‘institutional catalyst’ theory that I (and others) have proposed is on track. In fact, the case is stronger than ever.”

Bitcoin isn’t getting the most positive press these days. But serious and professional investors understand how little this matters.

They know bumps are part of the journey. They’ve avoided knee-jerk reactions to falling prices. Instead, they’re focused on the enormity and unusual upside of the investing opportunity.

We’ve asked ourselves, What will happen to the price of bitcoin if hedge fund investments in crypto go from 0.1% to, say, an easily attainable 10%?

The number we’ve come up with may be a little conservative, but we think it’s memorable nonetheless.

If you’re curious, I have great news for you.

My colleague Adam will be revealing it to everybody who tunes in to a special event he’s headlining a week from today.

This is one of the most important events we’ve ever hosted for our readers. If you want to know how you can reserve your limited-time spot for this special event – when Adam will specify how YOU can take advantage of the coming explosion in bitcoin and cryptocurrency prices – just click here.

Invest early and well,

Andy Gordon
Co-Founder, Early Investing

I can’t believe this “surfer dude” beat all those Wall Street legends... ​650 of the world’s biggest and brightest minds... I’m talking about legends like Mario Gabelli... David Einhorn... Joel Greenblatt... and Rick Rieder... who, combined, manage more than $5 trillion. All were forced to bow down to one “unheard of” trader from Laguna Beach. Click Here to discover the strategy he used while he had sand between his toes.

Source: Early Investing

The Lime IPO Guide for the $1 Billion Scooter Company

Exclusive Lime IPO Guide: It may seem like a novelty, but electric scooters are bringing in serious money.

Lime, which was founded in 2017 and just started offering electric scooters in May 2018, is now valued at $1 billion.

Lime IPO

And the industry, along with Lime’s valuation, is only going to get bigger…

The global electric scooter and motorcycle industry will be worth $22 billion by 2024, and that has investors salivating over the prospects of getting in early on scooter startups like Bird and Lime.

Now, there’s no indication a Lime IPO will happen in 2018.

But to be prepared if it does happen, we wanted to provide Money Morningreaders with a Lime IPO Guide.

In this exclusive report, we’ll answer all your questions, so you’ll know if you should buy Lime stock if there is a public offering.

And the first question we’ve been asked is, “How does Lime work?”

How the $1 Billion Electric Scooter Company Lime Works

Lime works similarly to Uber.

The entire process of finding a ride and payment is handled through an app.

Through the Lime app, users locate scooters near them. They pay $1 to unlock a scooter and pay a ride fee of $0.15 per minute.

Lime users then ride their scooter to their destination and leave it for the next user to come along.

Customers don’t have to worry about charging the scooters, either.

VIDEO

How to Lime

At night, individuals are paid to collect scooters, charge them, and then leave them in highly trafficked areas for morning use.

After knowing how Lime works, the next question our readers have been asking is, “Who are the founders of Lime?”

How Toby Sun and Brad Bao Founded Lime

Toby Sun and Brad Bao founded Lime in 2017, but it was originally called LimeBike.

Lime still offers bike rentals, but its scooter launch in May helped attract more investors to make it a billion-dollar company.

Sun’s LinkedIn profile says he’s currently attending the University of California, Berkeley, and he was the Product & Marketing Manager for PepsiCo Inc.(Nasdaq: PEP) from 2005 to 2011. Before being a co-founder of Lime, he was an investment director for Fosun Kinzon Capital from 2014 to 2017.

Bao also has an impressive background, with stints at Tencent Holdings Ltd.(OTCMKTS: TCEHY) and International Business Machines Corp. (NYSE: IBM), according to Angel.co.

And tech giants are buying into their vision…

On July 9, Lime announced it raised $335 million in a round led by Google Ventures, which lends capital to “bold new companies.” Some of its investments include Slack, Stripe, and 23andMe.

Lime also said Uber took part of this funding round.

Stunning: New innovation will be like “adding twin turbos to the Bitcoin engine” – and could send its price to $100,000. Learn more

With a total of $467 million raised, Sun’s and Bao’s company is now valued at more than $1 billion.

Because the company was only founded one year ago, anxious investors wanted to know how they can invest in the scooter startup before the Lime IPO…

Can Retail Investors Buy Lime Stock Ahead of the Lime IPO?

Unfortunately, retail investors can’t buy Lime stock ahead of the Lime IPO.

Right now, only institutional and accredited investors have the ability to invest in Lime. Once the company decides to go public, regular investors will get their chance to own a slice of the company. But it might not be a bargain…

A team of bankers will determine a Lime IPO offering price, which will only be available to a select few before going on a stock exchange.

For example, Snap Inc. (NYSE: SNAP) offered shares to big banks, hedge funds, and wealthy insiders for $17 per share on March 1, 2017.

When retail investors could first buy shares of SNAP on March 2, 2017, they had to pay $24 per share.

That means those who paid $17 per share made a profit of 41.17% in a day just for being a well-connected individual.

Fortunately, retail investors don’t have to sit on the sideline and wait for the Lime IPO.

In fact, owning shares of Alphabet Inc. (Nasdaq: GOOGL) is a backdoor investment strategy for Lime.

And owning GOOGL could give you a 20% profit in the next year to roll over into the Lime IPO…

Why You Need to Own Shares of GOOGL Before the Lime IPO

An early-stage investment like Lime can send the GOOGL stock price higher.

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Yes, electric scooters themselves could make Alphabet money, but the bigger picture is they could lead to billions in revenue thanks to the data that can be collected from Lime.

Here’s how…

Alphabet can utilize Lime’s data for its mapping systems and alternative transportation startups. Thanks to Lime, Google will know how long people use electric scooters, where they take them, and the daily, weekly, and monthly usage of customers.

And gathering data is how Google was able to make nearly $100 billion in advertising revenue last year.

The data from Lime could provide vital information for Sidewalk Labs, which is part of Alphabet’s investment portfolio. The New York–based company wants to reinvent cities through technology to improve quality of life.

A major focus is mobility, with the goal to improve the convenience of transportation, reduce costs, and enhance safety.

Sidewalk’s website says that could be through self-driving technology, but it could also include electric scooters now that Alphabet is invested in Lime.

And this isn’t just a far-fetched plan to build a super city…

The city of Toronto is currently working with Sidewalk to bring innovations to a new neighborhood called Quayside. From there, executives will use what they learned to work on an 800-acre area in Canada.

It’s hard to estimate how much revenue this could generate for Alphabet, but the U.S. federal government spends nearly $500 billion on contracts for goods and services each year. With U.S. President Donald Trump promising to upgrade infrastructure across the country, Google could start winning more of that $500 billion federal contract pool with the knowledge it gains.

“Google will be gaining insights about urban life – including energy use, transit effectiveness, climate mitigation strategies, and social service delivery patterns – that it will then be able to resell to cities around the world,” Wired.com said in a January report.

While shareholders wait to see investments like Lime pay off for the long term, they can also make a profit in the next 12 months.

Susquehanna Financial Group projects the GOOGL stock price will trade for $1,500 in the next year, a 19.8% climb from today’s (Aug. 14) price of $1,252.

But that might be too conservative of a prediction for an innovator like Google.

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Source: Money Morning