Pre-proposal Feedback - Market Research Report for Investment of DASH into Retirement Funds

B

Ben Ritchie

New member
Hi All,

I would love some feedback on a pre-proposal just submitted to develop a Market Research Report for DASH to assist Retirement Funds make an investment in DASH. It has been submitted on Dash Treasury - p-3054. Copy Below.

Thanks in Advance
Ben

Copy of Proposal:

Dash Treasury Proposal

RE: Market Research Report for Investment of DASH into Retirement Funds

Hi, My name is Ben Ritchie (Full Bio Below) and I am a Dash Investor and supporter of the vision of Dash. I am based in Australia and primarily assist High Net-worth individuals and Institutional Investors, invest in Cryptocurrencies.

In Australia, in order to make an investment into a Superannuation Fund (Retirement Fund / 401(k)) it is necessary to document the Investment Research showing that the investment is sound and shows merit. I am sure that Retirement Funds are similar to other areas around the world.

To date, I have been facilitating investments of Bitcoin. Some of my clients have dabbled into Ethereum and Ripple also, however I have not been able to provide them with sufficient market research into these products due to the time commitment and cost/benefit reward of preparing the necessary documentation. As a result the few who have invested into anything other than Bitcoin have had to prepare their own Investment Research, which to be quite frank, is unclear and unstructured, and may not hold up in the event of an audit.

I believe that Dash has a unique opportunity to gain significant additional exposure to Retirement Portfolios, which would increase its demand and resulting price. My proposal is to document and complete the following:

  • Provide an overview of the Crypto Currency Market, the Fit Tech Revolution, New Kind of Money and how these markets work
  • Provide an overview of Crypto Currency being a New Asset Class, with exceptional returns, low correlations, and its diversification benefits
  • Provide an overview of Dash includings its history, development teams, partnerships, marketing, applications, unique structures/eco-system of Master Nodes, Treasury and Miners.
  • Describe the challenges to mass adoption and how Dash seeks to overcome these challenges.
  • Describe Blockchain Technology - what it is, how it works, and why it is secure
  • Include future predictions of the future of Dash, fully referenced by third party comments.
The Investment Research will be fully referenced and presented in a document that is professional graphically designed. I estimated to be between 30 and 40 pages once completed. It will be hosted on a website for two years and available for free download to the broader community. I will update it at no additional cost to the Treasury on the 1 year anniversary of the completion of the initial Investment Research Document.

Assisting with the Research, compilation of the document and graphic design will be:

  • Team at Bitcoin Trader
  • Three friends/business associates who combined hold 7 Dash Master Nodes, one of whom recently attended the DASH Conference in London and another who attended the Bitkan Conference in HongKong
The cost of the Proposal, including research, graphic design, website hosting, my time and that of my research team, and subsequent updates is 250 Dash, split 125 Dash upfront and 125 Dash on completion/the following month. I expect the project to be completed in 6-8 weeks.

As I mentioned, I am an investor and supporter of Dash. There is significant Institutional Funds flowing into Crypto Currency at the moment and it’s important that Dash positions itself early as a trusted long term investment opportunity. Supporting the creation of this documentation will ensure the many Crypto Managed Funds, Institutional Investors, and Wealthy Individuals can consider Dash as a part of their portfolios.

If you have any questions with the proposal please let me know.


Ben Ritchie Bio

  • Business history spans 20 years
  • Bachelor Commerce (Acc and Bus. Law)
  • Chartered Accountant Qualified in 2000 & ex-Deloitte
  • Financial Controller & Acting CFO & Company Secretary ASX Listed Co
  • Serial Entrepreneur
  • CEO Bitcoin Advisors Pty Ltd - specialising in on-boarding Self Managed Superannuation Funds, and High Net Worth Investors into Cryptocurrencies
  • COO Digital Capital Management - Newly created Management Company of what will possibly be Australia’s first Licensed Crypto Fund due to launch on 1 December 2017
  • Authorised Partner of Bitcoin Trader
  • Blockchain & Crypto Enthusiast
 
Great proposal. I think anything that can bridge the gap between us the converted and the mainstream is a great idea. Can only see positives in having a professionally created document targeting high net worth investors and fund managers. Looking forward to seeing the final result.
 
I have a small concern. The Dash Core Team has been careful and intentional to avoid promoting Dash as an investment vehicle or more specifically a security. In the U.S., and especially as regards the Security and Exchange Commission, we're talking about the 4 part Howie test to determine if something is a security or not. As I understand it, according to the Howie test, Dash is not a security and so we avoid becoming entangled and regulated by the SEC.

That doesn't mean I'm not in love with the idea of allowing millions and millions of regular folks to participate in, and benefit from, and push forward the mission of Dash supplying honest and easy money to the world.

Of course, Australia is not the US, and different rules almost certainly apply, and may very well be less cumbersome than what we have in the U.S. But many countries let the SEC set the tone for how they approach the matter of determining security/not security.

Don't take my word for it, as you just saw about all of my (very limited) understanding of the regulatory hurdles that may touch the Dash ecosystem.
 
Thanks for your support.
BoomDashOpera said:
Great proposal. I think anything that can bridge the gap between us the converted and the mainstream is a great idea. Can only see positives in having a professionally created document targeting high net worth investors and fund managers. Looking forward to seeing the final result.
Click to expand...
 
Thanks for taking the time to respond. I see your view point however the two points are separate in whether something is classified as a security and whether it is an investment. DASH is certainly seen as an investment and the pure nature of Master Nodes locking away such a large percentage of the coins in circulation encourages long term investment.

In the report I do not wish to consider looking at whether its classified as a security or not. The intent is to show that it is has significant development support, unique structure, active community, industry support and plenty of strong use cases (all fully referenced) that provide indication that it is a a market leader as a digital currency (exchangeable not store of value) and a sound mid to long term investment.

solarguy said:
I have a small concern. The Dash Core Team has been careful and intentional to avoid promoting Dash as an investment vehicle or more specifically a security. In the U.S., and especially as regards the Security and Exchange Commission, we're talking about the 4 part Howie test to determine if something is a security or not. As I understand it, according to the Howie test, Dash is not a security and so we avoid becoming entangled and regulated by the SEC.

That doesn't mean I'm not in love with the idea of allowing millions and millions of regular folks to participate in, and benefit from, and push forward the mission of Dash supplying honest and easy money to the world.

Of course, Australia is not the US, and different rules almost certainly apply, and may very well be less cumbersome than what we have in the U.S. But many countries let the SEC set the tone for how they approach the matter of determining security/not security.

Don't take my word for it, as you just saw about all of my (very limited) understanding of the regulatory hurdles that may touch the Dash ecosystem.
Click to expand...
 
Dash certainly appears to be a new and exciting asset class. And I concur with your assessment that Dash has all those positive attributes going for it.

I'm just alerting you to the fact that if you asked Ryan Taylor tomorrow if Dash is a good investment, I'd bet you a cheeseburger he would say no. This post nicely summarizes his position regarding using abundant caution in promoting Dash as an investment. You just have to think about what the investors would think if they put a bunch of money into Dash and then run across a statement by the CEO that Dash may not be a good investment.

https://www.dash.org/2017/06/28/OpenLetter.html

Yes, there is some subtlety and nuance and fine distinctions being drawn here.
 
Anything that's regulated can be altered and changed by higher powers. Meaning any work you do to implement a system could be deemed as illegal to operate at anytime and anyone who could have invested in Dash in 401k's funds could potentially be confiscated. Last thing I'd want is a higher power being able to lower the price of Dash at any moment. I'd want every Dash owner to have Dash held on private wallets not institutions, this way a repeat of an event of mount gox would leave Dash unaffected.
 
I know Ben personally and his Bio is indeed correct.

In Australia we have Superanuation retirement accounts which are governed by many regulations. These accounts can be self managed and when a person invests into an asset they are required to provide paperwork on this.

Having this available and uptodate would be a template for self managed super funds who wish to have exposure to Dash.

Ben, would you also consider a number of Dash meetups/information sessions for people in Western Australia?
 
Vedran Yoweri said:
Can you explain how a market research report about dash, funded by dash would have any value?
Click to expand...

I'm not the proposer and I don't know him from Adam. But it seems clear if he enables whale investors to put millions of dollars into the Dash ecosystem, the value of Dash will go up. And clearly, he has already (and very astutely I might add) identified Dash as one of the best, if not THE best crypto game in town.
 
solarguy said:
Dash certainly appears to be a new and exciting asset class. And I concur with your assessment that Dash has all those positive attributes going for it.

I'm just alerting you to the fact that if you asked Ryan Taylor tomorrow if Dash is a good investment, I'd bet you a cheeseburger he would say no. This post nicely summarizes his position regarding using abundant caution in promoting Dash as an investment. You just have to think about what the investors would think if they put a bunch of money into Dash and then run across a statement by the CEO that Dash may not be a good investment.

https://www.dash.org/2017/06/28/OpenLetter.html

Yes, there is some subtlety and nuance and fine distinctions being drawn here.
Click to expand...

Thanks for taking the time to direct me to the Letter from Ryan Taylor. I can see the distinction that Ryan is making in his open letter. Dash is seeking to position itself as a utility not an investment and you could draw similarities to AUD or USD for example – no one advertises USD as an investment, however it is actively traded as an investment (FOREX markets).


Just to clarify I am not actively advertising DASH and do not intend to do so. I work with clients who seek out alternative investments, primarily for the purposes of their private Superannuation Funds (in Australia these are known as Self-Managed Superannuation Funds “SMSF”). These clients seek medium to long term investments.


The investment in Australia in SMSF’s is significant with nearly 600,000 SMSF’s at 30 June 2017 holding AUD$696.7b in assets (https://www.superguide.com.au/smsfs/smsfs-lead-the-super-pack-again). There is strong arguments that cryptocurrencies represent a new asset class and myself and my colleagues are currently seeing a strong demand or them for this reason. It is hard to tell is a client is caught in the hype of the market, however our approach is always systematic and compliant to ensure that they fully understand the nature of their investment and how to safeguard it. All the investment money that we deal with is currently being directed only towards Bitcoin, Ethereum and Ripple and we are working hard to slowly increase this offering to Litecoin, Bitcoin Cash and Dash by making sure that we have the necessary documentation in place, relative price stability and adequate liquidity providers.


The investors that we deal are typically sophisticated investors (defined in Australia as having net assets in excess of $2.5m or earing $250,000 for two consecutive years), understand the technology remains in beta and is subject to risk, and are seeking long term investments with the possibility of providing them superior returns. The will only look at the best investments within the cryptocurrencies and DASH is now falling into this category.

I hope that helps clarify my opinion on your points. Thanks again.
 
Vedran Yoweri said:
Can you explain how a market research report about dash, funded by dash would have any value?
Click to expand...
Thanks for your comment and raising a great point I should include in the proposal.


As some further background, the Trustee of a Superannuation Fund in Australia must consider a number of aspects including:

· parity of risk and projected return from the Fund’s investment with its objectives and expected cash flow requirements,

· adequate diversification of the Fund’s investment across asset sectors,

· that a strategy should specify what portion of the Fund monies are invested in particular asset classes.


Cryptocurrency is not currently recognised by the Australian Tax Office for tax purposes as currency but instead a capital asset.

The Trustee must show to have researched the investment in order to determined that this investment should be allowed in the Fund to achieve long term asset growth, hedge against inflation and maintain purchasing power (as it is still an asset that can be exchanged in place of currency), and can be stored in such a way that the asset is protected from theft.

The DASH Market Report would provide the education to Trustees to ensure that the DASH investment in the Fund is well understood. It will also outline the requirement for a dedicated hardware cold wallet storage device. This, with relevant safeguards in place will allow Executors access should there be a death of any Trustee of the Fund. With all this it would then be seen as a sound and suitable investment.
 
MizzyMax said:
Anything that's regulated can be altered and changed by higher powers. Meaning any work you do to implement a system could be deemed as illegal to operate at anytime and anyone who could have invested in Dash in 401k's funds could potentially be confiscated. Last thing I'd want is a higher power being able to lower the price of Dash at any moment. I'd want every Dash owner to have Dash held on private wallets not institutions, this way a repeat of an event of mount gox would leave Dash unaffected.
Click to expand...

Agreed. There is certainly no signs in Australia of Cryptocurrencies or DASH being considered illegal so at this stage it is considered a low risk. I would note that clients/investors, including the ones that I frequently speak with, understand the risks associated with an investment in this industry and are financial secure and can shoulder a loss if that is the case. It is low risk at this stage though.
 
solarguy said:
I'm not the proposer and I don't know him from Adam. But it seems clear if he enables whale investors to put millions of dollars into the Dash ecosystem, the value of Dash will go up. And clearly, he has already (and very astutely I might add) identified Dash as one of the best, if not THE best crypto game in town.
Click to expand...

Thanks. Dash is clearly a well co-ordinated, well supported cryptocurrency that has a solid future and has experienced significant price growth this year not based on hype but on value. The future is exciting.
 
ewok said:
I know Ben personally and his Bio is indeed correct.

In Australia we have Superanuation retirement accounts which are governed by many regulations. These accounts can be self managed and when a person invests into an asset they are required to provide paperwork on this.

Having this available and uptodate would be a template for self managed super funds who wish to have exposure to Dash.

Ben, would you also consider a number of Dash meetups/information sessions for people in Western Australia?
Click to expand...

Thanks for your support and vouching for my skills.

I would certainly consider this. Dash would certainly get air time will all presentations I conduct once we have the documentation and liquidity providers in place to support a compliant and secure purchase for our clients.
 
If you do the due diligence and produce such a report, how many of the investors in this category would see it? Just those with your firm? All of them in Australia?

And yes, you have divined the subtle differences alluded to!
 
solarguy said:
If you do the due diligence and produce such a report, how many of the investors in this category would see it? Just those with your firm? All of them in Australia?

And yes, you have divined the subtle differences alluded to!
Click to expand...

The proposal includes the creation of a website which will allow the document to be downloaded for a two year period. I am also prepared to update the report after 12 months at no additional fee to the treasury (I would incur a real costs in design fees and time spent). I suspect that with the rate that Dash is evolving that after 2 years the document will need a complete overhaul.

Those in our network will also receive it as a part of their education. My associate recently presented on cryptocurrencies to the Australian Investors Association and Australian Shareholders Association and received a request to return. With the contention in the Bitcoin community currently there is a desire for them not to place all their investment into one cryptocurrency but to spread it with a balanced portfolio.
 
The game changer for crypto and ICOs is that you don't need to be an "accredited investor" to participate. Crypto is a once-in-a-lifetime wealth redistribution.

However, getting access to funds, either through executors (on death) or power of attorney (due to incapacity), is a big deal. Sure, it can all be achieved with multisig but this isn't realistic for many people.

The biggest problem I have with this pre-proposal is conflict of interest i.e. paid endorsement.
 
Just to clarify on the concern or paid endorsements.

If I currently have a client who is looking to invest say AUD$100,000 into cryptocurrencies, I can only offer them Bitcoin, Ethereum and Ripple to choose from. If this documentation is completed, I would be able to offer them Bitcoin, Ethereum, Ripple and Dash. This won't change the volumes or payments I receive in anyway as my remuneration is based on the overall volume. The DASH Market Research would just allow my client to investment into Dash also. In addition as its openly available, others would be able to invest using the documentation in their Superannuation Funds also.

Supporting further investment can only be a positive for the overall community.
 
this doesn't look right to me.
we pay us$ 75000 for a website and a report with publicly available information saying dash is a great investment. such documents already exist for bitcoin and only some chapters would need to be adjusted for dash.

- we should welcome investors, but not be selling dash as a investment. for moral and legal reasons.
- us funding this report makes it a (very expensive) advertorial.

Ben Ritchie said:
The DASH Market Research would just allow my client to investment into Dash also
Click to expand...
Why should we pay you so you can service your clients? Is it not already your job to service your clients? everybody likes making double money but come on.

don't like it.
 
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