As Bitcoin soars Israelis missing out on cryptocurrencies

Cryptocurrency investors abroad are ecstatic after the election of Donald Trump who promised to support digital currencies. Several major overseas institutional investors have placed the leading cryptocurrency Bitcoin, which has reached a record high of $89,000, in their investment portfolios. But in Israel the picture is completely different.

Israeli institutional investors (investment houses and insurance companies, which manage long-term public savings and pension funds), are still wary about investing in cryptocurrencies. According to the Bank of Israel’s Financial Stability Report, the Israeli public owns an estimated $1.5 billion in cryptocurrencies, representing 0.1% of the asset portfolios held by the public.

In the first quarter of 2024, Israel ranked 22nd among Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) countries in terms of cryptocurrency adoption, according to data published by the Bank of Israel. In calculating investment in digital currencies in relation to GDP, Israel ranks lower than most OECD countries, but much higher than the United States, which was ranked 37th, and third from last. But these numbers date back to the end of the first quarter of 2024, before it began to seem likely that Trump would win the presidential race.

The Bank of Israel said: “An analysis of private wallets with an Israeli connection that contain Bitcoin reveals about 3,000 such wallets, most of which contain assets worth less than $10,000. Only about 60 wallets contain an amount higher than that.”

The volume of institutional investments in digital currencies as part of their long-term investment portfolios is still small, and if this is done at all in the shares of companies operating in the field, and not directly in digital currencies. This is due, among other things, to difficulties in obtaining the required regulatory approvals.

After years of a cautious approach to cryptocurrencies, the Securities Commission in the summer approved an amendment to the articles of association of a stock exchange that for the first time allows non-banking members of the exchange (mainly institutional entities) to offer their clients trading and trading. Cryptocurrency custody services.

In addition, the Israel Securities Authority is examining mutual fund prospectuses that will follow cryptocurrency futures contracts. It is expected that in the first half of 2025, prospectuses will be approved and then mutual funds will be offered to the public linked to the currency price, through futures contracts.

Published by Globes, Israel Business News – en.globes.co.il – on November 12, 2024.

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