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Learning the Future of Finance: Our Accredited Crypto Advisor Certification Program Begins Today!

Crypto advisor education

Crypto advisor education

Financial Advisors, not only is it your time to shine, but it’s time to declare you the “crypto heroes” you are meant to be! Sarson Funds aims to educate all financial advisors about digital assets through its accredited certification program to make you a certified Crypto Advisor. The first session of an eight-part series begins today. 

Accredited by the Investments and Wealth Institute and in partnership with Digital Wealth News, Sarson Funds wants to empower financial advisors to be “crypto heroes” to millions of American investors who have otherwise been detached from the accelerated growth of digital assets.

The eight-part certification program will occur bi-weekly, beginning today and coming to completion on December 19th, 2021.  When the program is completed, each attending financial advisor will not only earn CE credits, but will also receive a certification as a crypto advisor from Sarson Funds, awarded in the form of a non-fungible token (NFT), an industry first. Can’t attend a session on the exact air date or time? Don’t worry, the series will be recorded and uploaded to allow aspiring crypto advisors to complete their certification whenever they would like.

Sarson funds has been serving the Financial Professional community and their clients for several years, providing cryptocurrency and blockchain technology education services and investment solutions. It is time to share the depth of our expertise with the rest of the financial community through our proprietary crypto advisor education program.

There is still time to join the first series. Contact us today or click here to learn more and register.  

As always, please follow us on Twitter, LinkedIn and Facebook for the latest developments in the crypto space.

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Get Updated on the Latest Digital Asset Trends: Join Our Community

Join our community

Join our community

As summer winds down, the digital asset market is heating up once again.  From new cryptocurrencies that will help protect our data from quantum computers, to new ways to earn while playing games – the last couple of weeks have witnessed a resurgence among digital assets and their utility. This article is an update of all you need to know from the last two weeks in the digital asset market.

The U.S. Senate voted and passed the hastily drafted infrastructure bill on August 10th, 2021, which will provide over $550 billion in additional funds for the nation’s infrastructure. 11 Amendments were approved and it is estimated that roughly 20% of Americans will be affected by taxing crypto to help fund the bill.  We will monitor further development as the bill makes its way through the U.S. House of Representatives. 

Stablecoins continued to be a focus. The U.S. Central Bank is continuing its efforts to create a central bank digital currency (CBDC). Circle, the principal operator of USD Coin (USDC), is seeking to become a federal bank. Currently, Circle runs USDC under state banking regulations. 

The London Hard Fork went Live and ETH is now officially a deflationary asset as Ethereum transaction fees that were previously shared with miners are now burned. 

Sarson Funds launched the Cryptocurrency ESG Strategy, a cryptocurrency investment strategy designed for financial advisors and accredited investors to offer exposure to environmental, social and governance-focused cryptocurrencies.  

DraftKings partnered up with Autograph.io, Tom Brady’s new NFT platform, and began selling Sports-focused NFTs, starting with Tom Brady, which sold out fast and are reselling for significant markups. 

Both Amazon and Walmart are hiring crypto-experts.  Walmart, while furthering efforts with digital currency integration, is trying to identify the needs of its shoppers and create innovative crypto products to supply to that demand.  Microsoft is exploring blockchain technology for fighting software piracy via the Ethereum network.  Ethereum 2.0 hit a new milestone by reaching a volume of staking topping over $21 billion.   

The Dogecoin Foundation has been renewed with Elon Musk’s representative Jared Birchall and Ethereum Founder Vitalik Buterin joining the board of advisors.   The Foundation has picked Liechtenstein as the potential location for their HQ. 

Crown Sterling’s Crown Sovereign token (CSOV), a quantum-resistant digital asset, will be listed on Bitcoin.com Exchange in late September. 

Wells Fargo Bank has filed paperwork with the S.E.C. for a Bitcoin fund in a limited partnership with NYDIG and FS Investments.  Institutional investors continue herding into the crypto space.  

For more on the latest developments in the crypto ecosystem, we encourage your to join our communities. Follow us on Twitter, LinkedIn and Facebook for the latest developments in the crypto space, and subscribe to our newsletter, here.

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Diversifying Your Portfolio: How NFTs May Fit Into Your Financial Strategy

NFTs in Your Portfolio

NFTs in Your Portfolio

Crypto markets have been moving sideways since late May 2021. As the market cools off, Investors are actively searching for new outlets to find booming rewards in the crypto space. Many investors have been increasing allocations drastically into the non-fungible token (NFT) markets. NFTs are digital assets that are stored on-chain that show a unique ownership of that specific asset.

Let’s break it down a bit.

On March 11th, digital artist named Beeple sold a piece of digital art titled, Everydays: The First 500 Days, for a whopping $69 million. The owner of this piece now has total custody over this artwork the same way Lillie P. Bliss owns van Gogh’s “The Starry Night.” Of course, anyone has the ability to google an image of the painting, download it, and then print it out and hang it on their wall, but it’s not the same as owning the original.

The same goes for NFTs. Typically, NFTs are minted by the ERC-721 standard on the Ethereum blockchain. The tokenized aspect of NFTs allows for transparent ownership verification on a blockchain, which records the entire transactional history of an asset all the way back to its creator. It is easy to distinguish authentic and inauthentic ownership. Since NFTs use the Etheruem blockchain, they interoperable with marketplaces such as Opensea or Rarible. Most NFTs have speculative value and are only worth what others will pay, but some NFTs hold different value propositions. Their value may be linked to a classic movie scene that may be highly demanded in the future as an NFT, or an up and coming artist that users believe will rise in popularity.

If you’re familiar with NFTs, you may have heard about the recent price boom happening throughout the Axie Infinity community. Axie Infinity is a blockchain based role-playing game (RPG) that revolves around the use of digital characters called Axies. Axies are represented as NFTs and feature similar gameplay to Pokemon, but are more immersive. Players have the ability to buy, sell, trade, breed, and battle their Axies. Breeding and battling your Axies ultimately makes them more valuable as they gain powers from their unique histories, thus, the more you play the further your character advances. This exemplifies the concept of a “play-to-earn” game design, whereby players can create economic value simply by advancing the stories of the limited in-game Axies. Players are economically incentivized to play these games as they can transact with their NFT outside of the game in which it originated. Axie has gained so much traction as a transmittance network for NFTs across games and platforms that we have seen Axie Infinity (AXS) price increases of greater than 500% from June 15 to July 15th, 2021, with a year-to-date price increase of 14,000%.

Axie is not alone in the trending price jumps in the NFT markets. Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC) is a limited collection of NFTs that are individually represented by uniquely designed Apes. Many artists structure these types of collections by assigning attributes with varying rarities to different features of the Ape. When BAYC was first released, users would purchase the opportunity to be randomly given a selected Ape. Depending on the rarity of the attributes, prices of these NFTs vary based on how rare these features may be. Features to consider include different furs, facial expressions, headwear, clothing and many other accessories. Being an owner of these NFTs opens the door for endless opportunities within the BAYC world. Owners are granted a membership that allows them to interact in metaverses and gain access to exclusive airdrops of other tokens and NFTs built by the BAYC developers.  The resale value of a BAYC will currently run you around a minimum of 3 Eth, which is a ridiculous price increase given they initially were being sold for .08 Eth upon release. That is a minimum return on investment of 3700% in just a few months from their sell out date of April 31st, 2021. Prices of Bored Apes have reached incredible heights of close to 50 Eth, roughly $132,000 at the time of sale.

NFTs have even begun to emerge in the decentralized finance (DeFi) world of crypto as well. DeFi City is a new project that uses NFTs to interact with your active yield farming and staking pool positions. In Defi City users have the ability to purchase a scroll which contains an NFT representing a city that acts as a one stop shop for all your DeFi activity. DeFi City’s goal is to create an in-game dashboard that allows its users to visualize and manage their farms and keep track of key proponents of their performance across multiple decentralized exchanges. This will lower the entry barrier for new users in the crypto and DeFi spaces.

Investing in NFTs during a sideways drifting market so far appears to be beneficial as a financial professional. The non-fungible token market has seen staggering volume increases year to year as they have only been an emerging crypto asset class for a few years now. Total market volume is up from the first half of 2020 to the first half of 2021; from $13.7 million to $2.5 billion, respectively. It’s not too late to consider NFTs as another way to diversify your portfolio by potentially getting involved in these investable assets to either add or subtract risk to your holdings. There are endless use cases for NFTs and tokenization potential for both tangible and intangible assets. From battling avatars to timeless works of art, the future of NFTs relies on the boundless creativity of the free market.

By Zachary Profeta

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Bananas, Bitcoin, and Beyond: Blockchain Insights from Mark Cuban

Bitcoin-And-Beyond-Blockchain

Bitcoin-And-Beyond-Blockchain

You’d be hard-pressed to find a more recognized tech investor than Mark Cuban. The serial entrepreneur founded multiple 90s tech companies including Microsolutions and Broadcast.com before becoming a prominent investor in the 2000s. With many claims comparing today’s blockchain hype with the internet of the 90s, we’re investigating the ideas of leaders like Cuban who successfully emerged from that explosive tech era.

In recent tweets directed at popular gold enthusiast and Bitcoin critic Peter Schiff, Mark Cuban, owner of the Dallas Mavericks, wrote, “…BTC/Eth are technologies that can make you a banker, allow friction-free exchange of value, and are extensible into an unlimited range of biz and personal applications.” He continued in a second tweet, “What we are seeing built w/ crypto today is just proof of concept…” “…But Gold won’t ever change. This is why it will die as a SOV [store of value].” For those who recall the October 2019 headline “Tech Billionaire Mark Cuban Picks Bananas Over Bitcoin“, Cuban championing Bitcoin might come as a surprise. Fortunately, the billionaire has recently appeared on numerous talk shows to explain why he has newfound enthusiasm not just for Bitcoin, but also for trending cryptocurrency applications such as DeFi and NFTs. Let’s take a closer look at Mark Cuban’s latest thoughts on the world of cryptocurrencies.

DeFi

“DeFi”, or decentralized finance, is a quickly growing cryptocurrency category that makes financial services more accessible through decentralization. DeFi’s recent maturation seems to be making the choice between bananas and bitcoin more difficult for Cuban. As the standalone guest on March 9th’s “Blockchain & Booze” episode, Mark updated listeners on his position, saying, “In terms of utility, pre-DeFi, a banana had more utility than bitcoin because I can eat a banana. Now the utility has changed. There are so many things that you can do now. If I’ve got my bitcoin, whether it goes up or down in value, I can take a percentage of that and borrow and lend and earn income, and be my own personal banker.” So, while Mark still believes that “Bitcoin is an algorithmic source of scarcity and a store of value”, the broader DeFi ecosystem is what gives it real utility. 

As a true leader in crypto, Mark isn’t just subscribing to a popular narrative—he’s getting his hands dirty. According to an interview with Decrypt, he’s teaching himself Solidity. Solidity is the programming language native to the Ethereum blockchain, where most DeFi smart contracts have been built so far. While Mark isn’t shy about the risks of investing in crypto assets, he speaks enthusiastically about his predictions for the future of the space. In the same Decrypto interview, Mark imagines a future where smart contracts remove the need for inefficient intermediaries like insurance companies or accounting firms, which are vulnerable to human error and corruption. In short, Mark says, “…simplification of smart contracts is what gets me excited. Because now, all these SaaS [software-as-a-service] companies, all these different companies, I could see just disrupting the f–k out of them…” Well put, Mr. Cuban. 

NFTs

While DeFi’s growth exploded in mid-2020, NFTs are the latest hot topic in crypto. In essence, “non-fungible tokens” are uniquely identifiable blockchain-based assets that grant their owner immutable ownership. By enabling digital assets such as art, music, video-game items, etc. the ability to give true ownership to consumers, many digital services are ripe for disintermediation. Though the value proposition behind NFTs may be unclear at first glance, Mark thinks they are more digestible among younger consumers. “The crypto natives, particularly Gen Z, their most valuable assets are on their phone…” “…That’s why people my age don’t fully understand that this is not a transition, this is not hard, this is natural.”, Mark wrote in his January 31, 2021 Blog Maverick post titled “The Store of Value Generation is Kicking Your Ass and You Don’t Even Know it”.

Ever the early adopter, Mark has already tried out creating his own NFTs. “I just took GIFs of me going to work out and I put them out there for $25 apiece, thinking no one’s gonna spend any money on this. Then I was asked, ‘What would you like your royalties to be?’ Oh my god. What a game-changer, that just changed the nature of selling anything digital, period, end of story.” Traditionally, the “starving artist” is paid only once for their work, even if it goes on to resell for millions. Similarly, musicians face restrictive gatekeepers and costly distributors to get their music to the masses. The “game-changer”, as Mark points out, is NFT technology’s ability to make digital collectibles more rewarding, both financially and intrinsically, for artists and collectors alike. 

What’s next?

We’ve previously covered why the unprecedented institutional interest in crypto assets is changing the game this market cycle. Now more than ever, we can look toward prominent investors for clues on the next cryptocurrency trends. As a veteran of the dot-com bubble, Cuban’s cautiously optimistic involvement in DeFi and NFTs is exciting for many crypto enthusiasts. Still, many wonder: Are we in a bubble? Only time can tell. Irrational exuberance seems inevitable for certain crypto assets, especially among NFT markets where prices may become more driven by financial motivation than subjective intrinsic valuation. But with leaders like Mark seemingly long on the space, we remain focused on finding the best projects in the crypto universe.

By Nathan Frankovitz

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How These Pioneers Prove Women Belong in Crypto

Long gone are the days where women play a back-seat role in the workplace, on Wall-Street, or in investments as a whole. Since the birth of Bitcoin in 2009, there has been a strong incentive to change the name of the game. A newfound solution to making finance universally more accessible, not just for the few, but for all. In 2021, we still have a way to go before the crypto-space is considered to have a gender-equal ratio. However, we can at least note that decentralized finance allows for the potential of this growth in significantly better ways than the traditional finance system. Women seek to understand crypto, they’re curious and they’re ready to invest. Read along to discover why more women are turning towards digital assets and how they are carving their paths in this industry.

Traditional Finance

There are countless challenges alongside leveling the investment playing field and achieving financial freedom in our traditional system. In 2020, the national pay gap in the United States is still roughly 18%, with not a single US state paying females higher than males (on average). Therefore, resulting in increased difficulties for women attempting to build their 401k’s and plan for retirement in a way as effectively as men can. Due to the large disparities in active income, more and more women are looking for ways to invest in forms of passive income…cue cryptocurrencies. 

How Crypto Supports Females

The main differentiator between digital assets and the traditional banking system stems from the blockchain. Decentralized finance allows for transactions to occur without passing through a third-party intermediary, granting individuals complete control and freedom over their own assets. Not only is this more efficient, but it is also cheaper and provides a sense of security that is often overshadowed when interacting with third-party sources. Gemini conducted a survey that found “Among those planning to invest in crypto, 40% are women.” Additionally, “ 39% of millennial women say that they would be more interested in crypto if they knew it could make finance more accessible.” These numbers thus prove not only the desire but the intense need for women to feel empowered by their financial options and decisions, instead of discouraged like other, often mistreated minorities do in the traditional sector. 

Women in Crypto

Although there is progress to be made, we wanted to highlight some special women who have redefined the cryptocurrency marketplace. First off, we have Elizabeth Stark. This double-ivy league graduate co-founded the company Lightning Labs in 2016. Lightning Labs is a “second layer” protocol that helps make the blockchain run more efficiently. Lightning Labs is just one of her many accolades as she is concurrently a research fellow making decisions informing public policy about crypto. One of Stark’s famous quotes is “Welcome to Bitcoin, you can’t tell people what to do.” Stark is a huge advocate for all things crypto because of the financial freedom crypto empowers, as the removal of intermediaries makes for a more accessible future of finance. 

This article wouldn’t be complete without the mention of Katie Haun, a former partner at Andreessen Horowitz. She was introduced to Bitcoin in the currency’s early days, utilizing blockchain’s capabilities to investigate criminal activity. Flashforward a decade and Haun is now considered “The Face of Credible Crypto” as she serves as an independent director on the board for the now billion-dollar company, Coinbase. When giving advice about crypto to the public she says, “Don’t let yourself think ‘Oh, it’s too complex, I don’t want to go dive deep in it.’ You don’t need to dive deep in it, just go learn something about it that you didn’t know.” Haun encourages all individuals to be patient with the crypto space as it is ever-changing and evolving. 

Another female cryptocurrency advocate and partner at Andreessen Horowitz is Arianna Simpson. Simpson founded the investment fund Autonomous Partners, which specializes in cryptocurrency and digital asset allocations. When it comes to crypto, she wants to remind women “it doesn’t take a P.H.D to understand it,” it just takes a will to learn.

End Remarks 

These women and many more are firing up the female community to feel empowered to redefine wealth and educate themselves towards reaching financial freedom. At Sarson Funds, we believe in transparent and unbiased education for all individuals regardless of gender. To learn more about our investment strategies visit our YouTube Channel, follow us on social media, or visit our website to learn more about our holistic educational approach to crypto and digital asset investing.

By Abigail Almonte

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Ethereum: Pioneering the Future of Financial Services

Ethereum: The Future of Financial Services

Ethereum: The Future of Financial Services

Congratulations—you’ve made it down the Bitcoin rabbit hole, and now you’re asking the tougher questions. If Bitcoin is the ultimate digital store of value, then what are all these other cryptocurrencies up to? What is Ethereum, how does it differ from Bitcoin, and why are prominent investors suddenly talking about it? Perhaps you’ve seen Ethereum’s (ETH’s) impressive price appreciation and are curious about future price movement. In this article, we will uncover Ethereum’s present use cases, recent price appreciation, and remaining upside potential.

Native to the Ethereum network, Ether (ETH) is a cryptocurrency like Bitcoin. However, Bitcoin’s value is commonly understood as a function of its adoption as a decentralized and deflationary store of value. In contrast, Ether’s value is derived from user demand for smart contract execution on the Ethereum network. In essence, smart contracts execute decentralized applications (dApps) automatically, creating value in part by eliminating the need for central authority. Because Ethereum’s bandwidth is limited, users pay transaction fees with Ether to incentivize miners (network transaction validators) to process smart contract execution. Since anyone can create a dApp, the Ethereum network has become a vibrant and competitive ecosystem for technological innovation. With promising opportunities to decentralize and automate (read: disrupt) some of the world’s most valuable markets in finance, logistics, real estate, and more, exposure to Ethereum and its dApps may be a critical component to the modern investor’s successful portfolio.

So, what dApps exist today that contribute to Ethereum’s soaring values? Lending protocols such as Aave (AAVE) and Compound (COMP) enable users to earn interest or borrow crypto instantly. Synthetix (SNX) enables users to issue and trade synthetic assets that track the price of external assets, such as US dollars or exchange-traded stocks, making derivatives more accessible and liquid. Decentralized exchange (DEX) protocols like Uniswap (UNI) facilitate automated trading of Ethereum tokens through liquidity pools, allowing users to maintain custody of their assets as opposed to being held by centralized exchanges. Though these are only several examples, these rapidly growing dApps demonstrate real adoption and represent a broader wave of change which echoes Bitcoin’s ethos of decentralization: the decentralization of finance, or “DeFi.” Observing this trend begs the question: How much higher can ETH’s valuation go?

At the time of writing, Ethereum’s market cap is hovering around $200B USD; one year ago, today, that figure was $13B. Still, Ethereum accounts for only a miniscule share of wealth when compared to the stock markets. Globally, stock markets have an estimated value approaching $90T. But the financial markets don’t end there. Low-end estimates of global derivatives markets are $560 trillion. High-end estimates reach as high as $1.2 quadrillion. Considering the recent advent of dApps like Synthetix, it seems that Ethereum may just be getting started tapping into these markets.

When faced with Ethereum’s exploding levels of innovation and adoption, it is easy to get carried away with such numbers. In truth, nobody can precisely predict the extent to which Blockchains such as Ethereum will continue to replace legacy financial systems. Nevertheless, it is crucial to understand the enormity of Ethereum’s upside potential and consider the risk of not being exposed to its growth. At Sarson Funds, we believe the trend of decentralization will continue to manifest itself through Ethereum and other blockchain-based technologies like DeFi. For education and news updates on other emerging cryptocurrency sectors like NFTs, DAOs, stablecoins, internet-of-things, data sovereignty, and more, follow us on Twitter, LinkedIn, and check out our newsroom.

By Nathan Frankovitz

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9 Things Financial Advisors Must Know About Crypto

9 Things Financial Advisors Must Know About crypto

9 Things Financial Advisors Must Know About crypto

As digital assets and the crypto ecosystem continue to grow, it is apparent that traditional banking services will be an entity of the past. Peer-to-peer transactions allow for the continual growth towards individual financial freedom and flexible decentralized banking. With the world changing for the better, the cryptocurrency market is here to stay. Financial advisors will need to familiarize themselves with the in’s and out’s of decentralized finance in order to better serve their clients in a timely and efficient manner.

Financial advising is about relationship building. Crypto must be discussed to satisfy fiduciary responsibility.

Communication is at the heart and foundation of every advisor-client relationship. It is critical for clients to know their advisor has their best interests in mind while both parties adapt to the world of crypto. Although digital advances have made strides for financial freedom and accessible banking, problems are still likely to arise. When navigating certain investment concerns, clients look to a face they can trust to discern solutions with. The dependency on their advisors to help consult when these problems arise is equally as important, especially in an emerging digital financial industry. 

Know what to pitch, and what not to pitch (not all cryptocurrencies are created equal).

Not all cryptocurrencies are created equal. Coins such as Bitcoin and Ethereum are less risky than most digital assets on exchanges. For example, Bitcoin’s accessibility is stronger than competing Altcoins due to the greater volume of software, merchants, exchanges and implementations which help support operations. Your clients’ needs will vary, so if an elderly woman is looking to diversify her portfolio, she may want to stick with a safer cryptocurrency such as Bitcoin etc. However, other clients may have more flexibility and different risk tolerances that are important to note and pitch accordingly.

Leverage your fiduciary responsibilities as a means to have a conversation built on trust.

Understanding that not all coins are fit for every investor and articulating the wide variety of risks is essential to building trust.  Communicating that you would never advocate for an asset that was against your clients’ risk preference will help clients feel more comfortable. With accessibility to technology, instant transactions and the luxury of banking from the comfort of one’s home, people often forget the overwhelming importance of a financial plan. Clients will still rely upon advisors to maintain their fiduciary responsibilities at the epicenter of their financial relationship. There are decisions that technology cannot take all the responsibility for, and having an understanding of when or why clients should make a particular decision is crucial. 

Transition the conversation from Short-Term expectations to Long-term investment strategies.

Investing in digital assets can be more similar to venture capital time horizons. There are many opportunities to profit in the short term, but the industry is young, so it is best to approach crypto from a longer-term investment horizon than typical equities entertain. With an ever-changing market, it is important not to be caught in a panic sell or impulse buy, but rather plan for investments that will serve well over time. It is important to see what coins are consistently growing in the market, as these will prove to achieve the most long-term value, as opposed to coins that are hot today and gone tomorrow.

Be prepared to provide regular updates on industry developments, especially regulatory changes.

In order to best serve your clients, you will need to welcome industry advancements with open arms. The introductory days of investment apps, Venmo and online banking at one time seemed foreign, and now they have been universally adopted.  The same progression will likely follow suit for digital currencies and assets. The gradual regulation of cryptocurrencies will make the market more stable and suitable for a variety of client investments. Thus, it is essential to be aware of regulatory decisions as they will directly affect the universal adoption of cryptocurrencies. 

As a result of staying up-to-date on industry trends, be prepared to pitch new types of digital assets and investment opportunities.

Decentralized finance (DeFi) is a great example; there are constant changes that are taking place within the industry. The marketplace for DeFi services will only go up from here, as we have seen the cryptocurrency market-cap already reach a trillion dollars.  Being prepared to educate your clients on new opportunities will increase the likelihood that they invest in these at an earlier stage for the best growth opportunities. As we watch the value of coins such as Bitcoin and Ethereum continually rise, remember they too started at the bottom. Being on the initial cusp of innovative coins and technologies can prove to be a beneficial payout for your customers. You want to be confident in your knowledge so that you can pitch the most lucrative and fruitful investment opportunities.

Digital Assets are not just about financial well-being, they’re about massive changes occurring at the societal level.

You want to be prepared to explain why cryptocurrencies matter to society. While they are great investments, there is risk, and addressing the fundamental value proposition of digital assets will make the conversation easier. It is important for clients to understand that the mainstreaming of digital assets allows for every individual to participate in an economy without barriers imposed by fees, geographical borders, or other boundaries. Being able to explain the large variety of use cases involved, as well as the capabilities of the decentralized structure will help clients see that this conversation is about more than just finance. 

You don’t have to go at it alone, there are plenty of educational resources and asset managers to support you and your clients as you gain exposure to digital assets.

Blockchain technology is only growing as the Crypto industry is here to stay in 2021. Advisors will need to embrace the power and potential of this industry by doing their due diligence and staying informed. Luckily, Wall Street-focused educational and marketing firms like Sarson Funds specialize in educating financial advisors to support their clients in their digital asset discovery with resources ranging from policy overviews, investor guides, investment strategies and more. Additionally, Sarson Funds can actively manage your client accounts based on risk tolerance. 

It’s never too late to get involved with digital assets. 

 Although the industry has experienced unprecedented growth, it has significant room to run. Institutions are investing, corporations are adding it to their balance sheets, and governments are clarifying the regulatory landscape. All of which is to say that this is only the tip of the iceberg. As influencers ranging from Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos to rapper Soulja Boy are showing interest, the conversation is certainly continuous and ever-developing. Regardless of who you are, digital assets are here for you.

By Abigail Almonte

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Dogecoin: “The People’s Crypto” Examined

Dogecoin Value Proposition

Dogecoin Value Proposition

In the wake of Robinhood and other stock brokerages putting a hold on purchases of GME, AMC, and other stocks, a new movement has been started to buy Dogecoin. The movement largely traces back to popular Twitter account @wsbchairman posting a tweet on January 27th saying “a lot of you are talking about Dogecoin? What’s that? A meme crypto?”

In many ways, a meme crypto is the perfect way of describing Dogecoin. While it may not have many fundamentals or active developer activity behind it, it certainly has a social movement behind it. And that social movement is currently being lead by Elon Musk, Gene Simmons, Soulja Boy, and a whole community of Reddit investors who have proven they are a force to be reckoned with when it comes to moving financial markets. Even well-respected crypto investors have started to chime in and accept the idea that Dogecoin could really become “the people’s crypto” because of the lack of involvement from hedge funds and traditional financial institutions, further contributing to the “people’s currency” narrative.

Could the prospects of a truly fair token distribution and grassroots investor growth be enough to outpace the growth of bluechip DeFi protocols with better fundamentals and real use cases and value accrual? It will ultimately be up to the market to determine, but it certainly doesn’t seem like a smart bet to gamble against Elon Musk and the growing prevalence of meme culture.

By Bradley Whitton

Dogecoin logo source: https://github.com/dogecoin/dogecoin

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Crypto Likes the Stock: How Blockchain Empowers WallStreetBets to Trade “Stonks” on Their Own Terms

Wall Street Bets Finds Easy Solution to Censorship in Mirror Finance

Wall Street Bets Finds Easy Solution to Censorship in Mirror Finance

The market revolution surrounding WallStreetBets (WSB), Gamestop (GME), and electronic trading platforms Robinhood and TD Ameritrade is inspiring a renowned cry for financial freedom in traditional finance markets. The overarching realization many investors are experiencing is that the United States’ “free market” is not so free after all, as Robinhood and TD Ameritrade took actions to limit trading on GME and AMC to protect Wall Street hedge funds from collapsing. At the cost of small-scale investors, Wall Street’s vulnerabilities are being protected by the platforms originally designed to empower we the people, and we the people are furious. 

Crypto and blockchain-based solutions have quickly surfaced to quench the modern investor’s need for a censor-free, frictionless financial system. Mirror Finance is bridging the gap between Wall Street, everyday investors, and crypto, as this decentralized financial (DeFi) protocol gives barred investors a pathway toward true financial freedom. Mirror Finance is a DeFi protocol on the Terra blockchain that allows the creation, use and trading of synthetic assets known as Mirrored Assets (mAssets). mAssets are designed to mirror the price behavior of real-world assets on a blockchain, giving traders all over the world 24/7 access to financial markets without actually owning or transacting with real assets.

Crypto synthetic assets are blockchain-based financial instruments that combine derivative products like futures, options and swaps to imitate and track the value of any traditional asset, allowing for crypto integration with traditional finance. These crypto synthetics enable users to trade these mirrored-assets at their real-time value 24/7, 365 days a year regardless of stock market hours. Mirror brings the financial freedom that crypto offers to traditional finance, permitting fractional ownership, open access and freedom from censorship for everyday investors.

WallStreetBets investors looking for more exposure to WSB-pumped stocks that were censored by Robinhood and TD Ameritrade can regain their stance with these assets through synthetic replicas on Mirror’s protocol. 

The collusion between Wall Street and electronic trading platforms is awakening our society to the true need for decentralized finance. Inspired? So are we. We hope the capabilities that Mirror brings to the world will empower the finance community to continue bridging the gaps between traditional and decentralized finance to inspire the next frontier of financial services.

By Liam McDonald