How to buy Bitcoin or Ethereum in Singapore? Will I buy more Bitcoin or Ethereum today? (as a Singapore Investor in 2024)

For those who haven’t been following Bitcoin (or crypto in general).

Bitcoin’s price has been doing pretty well of late, both in the runup to the spot ETF approval, and especially after the ETF approval.

This week alone, Bitcoin jumped from $52,000 to as high as $64,000 at one point.

Unlike the previous 2021 cycle though, retail mania around Bitcoin (or crypto) seems pretty muted so far.

This is interesting because it suggests that if things really get crazy, there could be more room to run for Bitcoin.

So I decided to do this article to discuss 2 questions:

1. Would I buy more Bitcoin or Ethereum today?
2. How to buy Bitcoin or Ethereum in Singapore?

What is the bull case for Bitcoin / Ethereum (or crypto in general)?

In my recent article on Top 3 Growth Stocks to buy in 2024.

I listed Bitcoin / Ethereum as one of the 3 big thematic plays in 2024.

The logic here, is that Bitcoin has proven itself to be the ultimate vehicle of speculation, being more volatile than a 3x levered NASDAQ ETF.

And Bitcoin seems to frontrun liquidity moves.

So if you think the Feds are going to ease monetary policy in 2024/2025.

Then Bitcoin may be one of the best vehicles to bet on that happening.

Not only that but you have fundamental events in:

1. Spot Bitcoin ETF approval (allowing a whole new class of investors to access spot Bitcoin via an ETF)
2. Bitcoin halving in mid April (which historically has led to strong moves in Bitcoin’s price)

Whatever the case, Bitcoin’s price has been doing well of late.

From it’s low of $16,000 in late 2022, Bitcoin is up almost 3.8x:

Ethereum is the alternative to Bitcoin.

You can see that while Bitcoin is close to its all time highs, Ethereum is still a fair bit below all time highs.

Which suggests that if we get an extended bull run, there may be more upside in Ethereum vs Bitcoin.

And you can argue that if a Bitcoin spot ETF can be approved, it’s only a matter of time before we see an Ethereum spot ETF.

Would I buy more Bitcoin or Ethereum today?

Full disclosure that I hold positions in both spot Bitcoin and Ethereum, including a basket of alt-coins.

If there’s anything we’ve learnt from the 2021 cycle.

It is that the more parabolic the rally on the way up.

The more vicious the drop on the way down.

The moves from Bitcoin / Ethereum the past few weeks (months?) have been pretty explosive.

Which suggests that this won’t end well – and will likely end in tears at some point.

But for investors prepared to ride the volatility – that doesn’t mean you can’t make money in the short term.

As shared above, I think what’s interesting for me is that the retail sentiment this cycle hasn’t been as crazy as it was in 2021.

Which suggests that if the liquidity taps get unleashed in 2024, there could be further upside here.

So I may be open to buying more Bitcoin or Ethereum here, although short term I would probably watch for a pullback after the huge move this week.

And I would be watching closely for signs of over-exuberance / reversal.

Don’t forget to take profits – think about your exit strategy

As shared in the Growth Stocks article though.

If you want to buy stuff like crypto, I highly suggest thinking of your exit strategy before you go in.

Too many people will double their money, hold on for a 4x, and end up riding it all the way down to a loss.

Don’t forget to take profits at some point.

Sometimes earning money is the easy part.

Keeping the money, is a whole different story.

How to buy Bitcoin in Singapore? (as a Singapore investor in 2024)

Given that Bitcoin spot ETFs have now been approved, there are 2 ways for Singapore Investors to buy Bitcoin:

1. Buy the US listed Bitcoin spot ETF
2. Buy spot Bitcoin

Buy the US listed Bitcoin spot ETF

This one is as simple as using any broker with US market access.

And buying the US listed Bitcoin ETF.

I’ve extracted the list of top Bitcoin ETFs by AUM below.

Grayscale Bitcoin Trust (GBTC) is the largest AUM wise, but this is legacy because Grayscale was around even as a private fund even before Bitcoin ETFs were approved.

And fees wise, Grayscale Bitcoin Trust charges a ridiculous 1.5% management fee, which is just daylight robbery in this day and age.

So investors are better off going with the next largest Bitcoin ETF – iShares Bitcoin Trust from Blackrock (IBIT).

iShares Bitcoin Trust (by Blackrock)

I’ve extracted the key details below.

AUM is $7.2 billion but growing steadily.

ETF fee is 0.25%, waived to 0.12% for the first 12 months.

First mover advantage is huge in the ETF space, and given this is now the second largest Bitcoin ETF, there is a good chance it goes from strength to strength.

How to buy iShares Bitcoin Trust (by Blackrock)

Buying iShares Bitcoin Trust is no different from buying any other US listed ETF.

Just look up IBIT, and use your stock broker to buy.

And voila, you have exposure to Bitcoin via the ETF:

How to buy spot Bitcoin in Singapore (as a Singapore Investor in 2024)

What if you wanted to own spot Bitcoin directly?

Well, you’ll need to use a Crypto exchange.

And in this space – things have changed a lot since the previous bull cycle in 2021.

FTX has gone bankrupt.

Binance is no longer available to Singapore investors.

And a lot of the smaller crypto exchanges have either shut or closed access to Singapore investors (because of difficulty in complying with MAS regulations).

Coinhako – Singapore crypto exchange

The one that I have been using so far, which has survived through the up and down cycles – is Coinhako.

It’s a Singapore run crypto exchange, licensed under MAS regulations, and has access to most of the big coins.

As a Singapore exchange, it also has options such as funding via Paynow, and withdrawal to local SGD bank accounts.

If you wanted to buy spot Bitcoin or Ethereum or the big coins, Coinhako would be able to fulfil it.

Fees have come down to 0.6% (used to be 1.0%).

However you can easily buy a 15% discount code for fees.

And if you use the referral code below you get another 10% discount off fees, which bring all-in fees to 0.45%.

Referral Code for CoinHako – 10% discount on trading fees

Use Invitation Code: CwHdSgU

Or link: https://www.coinhako.com/affiliations/sign_up/CwHdSgU

Is it better to buy spot Bitcoin instead of ETF Bitcoin?

You may ask why bother buying Bitcoin spot at 0.45% trading fees, when you can just buy a Bitcoin ETF and pay 0.25% annual fees + brokerage fees.

Well I suppose if you’re a true crypto purist, buying Bitcoin via an ETF is sacrilege.

Here you have a decentralised currency supposedly outside of the global financial system, the solution to money printing.

And your solution is to buy it via a BLACKROCK ETF, to boost Larry Fink’s coffers?!

Unbelievable.

But on a more practical note.

If you want to transfer the Bitcoin into a hardware wallet, or to move it around.

You won’t be able to do that with the ETF, it has to be spot Bitcoin.

And owning spot Bitcoin saves you the annual 0.25% fees to Blackrock.

What would I do – buy spot Bitcoin or ETF Bitcoin?

But I leave it up to individual investors for this one.

If you just want to gain price exposure to Bitcoin the ETF is probably the easier and safer option.

You can buy it via a stock broker, and don’t need to worry about getting hacked or losing your Bitcoin.

But if you are a crypto purist, buying the ETF is pure sacrilege and you should be ashamed of yourself for even thinking about it.

Personally all of my Bitcoin exposure up till now has been via spot Bitcoin.

But going forward, I may consider buying the ETF for easier access, and safer custody.

ETF Bitcoin for me will purely be for trading purposes though, I will always hold spot Bitcoin simply for the ideological purposes.

How to buy Ethereum in Singapore? (as a Singapore investor in 2024)

With Ethereum, there is no spot ETF available (okay there is Grayscale ETF but it is a private fund and has to be traded OTC).

So the only way is to buy spot Ethereum via Coinhako above.

BTW – we share commentary on Singapore Investments every week, so do join our Telegram Channel (or Telegram Group), Facebook and Instagram to stay up to date!

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Alternatives to Coinhako? To buy spot Bitcoin, Ethereum or Crypto as a Singapore Investor

If you don’t want to use Coinhako?

Some alternatives are:

• Coinbase
• Gemini
• com
• Independent Reserve

I’ll just share thoughts on some of them quickly.

Coinbase

Coinbase is the US listed crypto exchange, which Blackrock uses to custodise their Bitcoin.

So this is probably the safest option outside of an ETF.

But in my experience with Coinbase as a Singapore investor, I found that it wasn’t as customised for Singapore investors as Coinhako was.

Fees at 0.6% are not that cheap too, although it does go down the more you trade.

Personally I preferred Coinhako, but feel free to check out Coinbase if you prefer alternatives.

Other crypto exchanges?

Both Gemini and Crypto.com are fairly big players that you’ll remember from the 2021 bull run.

Fees are pretty decent if you use the professional trading platform (0.4% for Gemini Active Trading Platform).

Although fees go much higher if you want to trade via mobile, so there are quite a few nuances to navigate in terms of how you buy.

You can also try Independent Reserve, which is an Australian crypto exchange that is open to Singapore investors.

Fees at 0.5% so they are competitive, but personally I’ve not tried it myself.

Closing Thoughts

And there you have it!

How to buy Bitcoin or Ethereum in Singapore.

Unlike in 2021 (or 2018).

It has become much easier to buy crypto today.

Which also means the potential upside has gone down, now that this asset class has become more mainstream.

Whatever the case, as investors you don’t need to be too dogmatic sometimes.

Bitcoin (and Ethereum) have proven to be good vehicles to bet on global liquidity.

But no doubt this will end poorly at some point – so never fall in love with the investment.

At a certain time, please remember to take profits, otherwise you might just give it all back.

Referral Code for CoinHako – 10% discount on trading fees

Use Invitation Code: CwHdSgU

Or link: https://www.coinhako.com/affiliations/sign_up/CwHdSgU

This article was written on 1 March 2024 and will not be updated going forward.

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