Ahead of the Curve: Traditional Stocks Capitalizing on the Bitcoin Boom

With the crypto craze seemingly only beginning, a few non-crypto companies have leveraged themselves to capitalize early. And it’s these companies’ stocks that are reaping the benefits of such first-mover status in the explosive crypto space.

Early Birds Get the Worms: CME, Graphics Processors Companies Are Ones to Watch

Graphics Processing firms like AMD and NVIDIA have had strong performances in the stock market so far in 2017 courtesy of an explosion of user interest in mining cryptocurrencies in general, particularly the ASIC-resistance Ethereum blockchain.

And in 2018, the shares of the Chicago Mercantile Exchange Group (CME) look poised to enjoy the “crypto bump” – a potential forthcoming investment boon on the heels of the CME’s fresh announcement that they’ll be listing Bitcoin futures in Q4 2017.

Indeed, the three aforementioned firms are among the first in the world whose shares are being increasingly tethered to, and boosted by, the performance of the ever-wild cryptocurrency space.

For CME’s part, they’re among the largest futures and options exchanges in the world, meaning they’ll be well positioned to take advantage of the increasingly rocketing interest in cryptos in mainstream and institutional circles.

#Bitcoin futures contract specifications are now available. Learn about tick size, block thresholds and more. https://t.co/qiEE1BrPVF pic.twitter.com/njOVqAZPxe

— CMEGroup (@CMEGroup) November 7, 2017

And for GPU manufacturers like AMD and NVIDIA, 2017 has already been a fruitful year – mainly thanks to the unprecedented interest in GPU mining that’s materialized over the past 11 or so months.

This booming interest is exemplified perfectly by the performance of NVIDIA’s shares, rising more than 50% between January and August alone. The crypto-boost was a sight for sore eyes for the firm, as their bread-and-butter gaming sales were down more than expected in Q1 and Q2.

NVIDIA CEO Jensen Huang told Marketwatch in August that cryptocurrencies’ effects on the stock market aren’t going anywhere anytime soon:

Crypto is here to stay, and the market will grow to be quite large. It’s not likely to go away anytime soon. There will be more currencies to come – they will come from different nations. We stay very close to the market, and understand the dynamics very well.

Perhaps the interesting aspect of investing in shares like NVIDIA’s or CME’s, then, is that doing so allows investors to capitalize from the periphery of the crypto community without actually having to get down into the nitty-gritty of cryptocurrencies – especially at a time when the space is still premature and volatile in “the trenches,” as it were.

Traditional, more risk-averse traders might find these crypto-related, but not crypto-based, stocks attractive alternatives to investing in cryptocurrencies themselves in 2018 and beyond.

Goldman Sachs Among Darkhorse Stocks for Crypto-Watchers to Look Out For?

With a recent report out of the ever-reputable Wall Street Journal claiming powerhouse trading firm Goldman Sachs is looking to start their own Bitcoin trading operation, there could be a flight of speculative investors to Goldman’s shares in the weeks ahead.

Nothing is official yet, of course, but Goldman Sachs’ CEO Lloyd Blankfein hasn’t exactly been mum on the topic of cryptocurrencies as of late.

In a recent interview with CNBC, Blankfein explained that “I wouldn’t preclude” setting up a Bitcoin trading desk at Goldman Sachs.

And that would be a titanic legitimizing move for the entire crypto space if it really were to materialize. All eyes are on Blankfein and Goldman Sachs for now.

Still thinking about #Bitcoin. No conclusion – not endorsing/rejecting. Know that folks also were skeptical when paper money displaced gold.

— Lloyd Blankfein (@lloydblankfein) October 3, 2017

What’s your take? Is it better to just invest in cryptocurrencies themselves, or are these stocks interesting in their own right? Tell us where you stand in the comments below!

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