I strongly oppose SEC proposed rule #S7-24-15. My wife and I both have most of our life savings invested in IRAs, both traditional and Roth, with Fidelity Investments. A small but significant portion of our portfolio is currently in the ETF BITO. We were forced to use that ETF because we are not permitted by government regulations to directly own Bitcoin or any other cryptocurrency in our IRAs, a restriction I also object to. I should be allowed to invest my life savings however I wish. I don't need some do-gooders trying to impose their idea of safety and fiscal conservatism on my investments. I need my investments to grow, and I also need them to be sufficiently diversified that they are protected from any contingency and development in the markets. Like nearly all wise investors, we do that by diversifying. Like with most investors, the majority of our funds are in stocks and bonds. But there are circumstances under which both stocks and bonds do poorly, so we also invest a small but significant portion of our portfolio in gold ETFs and to an even smaller extent in cryptocurrency ETFs. These provide diversification, and hedges against various economic scenarios. We might lose every single dollar we put into BITO. We were aware of that when we made those investments. That is why we keep them to a reasonably small percentage of our total portfolio. While we know we could lose 100% of our investment, we consider that very unlikely. We consider it more likely that in the next 5 years we will make 500% or 1,000% on our modest investment. The best guess scenario is it will be somewhere in between. Regardless of what happens, we don't need government oversight by people who have never talked to us, have no idea what our goals, plans, dreams, and strategies are, and who think they know better than we how OUR life savings should be invested. If you are personally scared of cryptocurrencies, then don't invest in them yourself. But leave us alone to make our own decisions. Thank you for your consideration.
Kevin Bastian Comment On Regulatory Notice 22-08
I strongly oppose SEC proposed rule #S7-24-15. My wife and I both have most of our life savings invested in IRAs, both traditional and Roth, with Fidelity Investments. A small but significant portion of our portfolio is currently in the ETF BITO. We were forced to use that ETF because we are not permitted by government regulations to directly own Bitcoin or any other cryptocurrency in our IRAs, a restriction I also object to. I should be allowed to invest my life savings however I wish. I don't need some do-gooders trying to impose their idea of safety and fiscal conservatism on my investments. I need my investments to grow, and I also need them to be sufficiently diversified that they are protected from any contingency and development in the markets. Like nearly all wise investors, we do that by diversifying. Like with most investors, the majority of our funds are in stocks and bonds. But there are circumstances under which both stocks and bonds do poorly, so we also invest a small but significant portion of our portfolio in gold ETFs and to an even smaller extent in cryptocurrency ETFs. These provide diversification, and hedges against various economic scenarios. We might lose every single dollar we put into BITO. We were aware of that when we made those investments. That is why we keep them to a reasonably small percentage of our total portfolio. While we know we could lose 100% of our investment, we consider that very unlikely. We consider it more likely that in the next 5 years we will make 500% or 1,000% on our modest investment. The best guess scenario is it will be somewhere in between. Regardless of what happens, we don't need government oversight by people who have never talked to us, have no idea what our goals, plans, dreams, and strategies are, and who think they know better than we how OUR life savings should be invested. If you are personally scared of cryptocurrencies, then don't invest in them yourself. But leave us alone to make our own decisions. Thank you for your consideration.