Digital asset specialist firm Monochrome Asset Management has launched a research facility to address a knowledge gap it has identified among advisers with regard to investments in Bitcoin.
Monochrome Research is a new service the manager is offering free of charge, providing digital asset education and information to advisers covering common concerns, questions and potential misconceptions about this asset class, Monochrome head of distribution Craig Hobart told selfmanagedsuper.
“We’ve launched five ‘packets’ of information initially and we have more currently in production that will be released in the ensuing weeks and months,” Hobart said.
The topics covered by the initial release include the evolution of digital assets and Bitcoin, as well as how to value these specific items.
“We don’t actually provide a single solution to this issue, but we do share the different methodologies being used. It’s a bit like when you buy a share in a company you have different ways of valuing the company, whether it be using a price-to-earnings measure, internal rate of return, intrinsic value or a discounted cash-flow model,” Hobart noted.
“Everyone has their own method of valuing something and all we’ve done is shared what the industry is exploring in terms of different ways to determine a price point for Bitcoin.”
Other subjects Monochrome Research explores include digital asset regulation, how to access Bitcoin and the ethical considerations in discussion about Bitcoin between advisers and clients.
An additional benefit for advisers is that their access to the service will be acknowledged for their continuing professional development (CPD) requirements.
“We’ve created content that has passed the CPD accreditation process both for ASIC (Australian Securities and Investments Commission) requirements and for FASEA (Financial Advisers Standards and Ethics Authority) requirements and we feel that’s a good thing for the advice community,” Hobart revealed.
The establishment of Monochrome Research has come as a result of research the manager conducted among the advisory community about digital assets.
“We found that 77 per cent of advisers had had conversations with their clients about digital assets in the last 12 months and that 82 per cent of them, importantly, said they were not equipped to respond to that conversation,” Hobart said.
“So that yawning gap was the reason that Monochrome Research came into existence.”
