Other Alternative Investments - Articles & White Papers
Articles and research on other alternative asset classes (those outside of mainstream alternatives). Some alternatives within this section are insurance-related, so there are a number of white papers on catastrophe bonds, reports on reinsurance securities, and securities backed by life settlements (secondary market for life insurance policies). Is volatility an asset class? This is debatable, but we have included in this section papers on volatility as an asset class or "opportunity class", including the use of short volatility to... enhance portfolio returns. Master Limited Partnerships are another, relatively new alternative asset, and our listing includes white papers on MLPs, which provide relatively high income with stable cash flows. Other exotic alternatives include institutional investment in wine and institutional investment in art, with one paper examining the characteristics of art funds and their typical investments, while another examines the history of bubbles in the art market. PwC author a report on alternative investment asset classes which considers oil and gas MLPs and insurance flavored products, among others.
As we pass one of two major annual windows for contract renewals in Insurance-Linked Securities, asset owners are watching closely to see whether the recent rise in premiums will be sustained or reduced. Multiple investment consultants have urged investors towards CAT bonds and ILS during the first half of 2018. Yet bfinance…
This paper explores how entrepreneurs can use initial coin offerings - whereby they issue crypto tokens and commit to accept only those tokens as payment for their products - to fund venture start-up costs. We show that the ICO mechanism allows entrepreneurs to generate buyer competition for the token, giving it value. We…
Cryptocurrencies are digital assets designed as a medium of exchange and are not controlled by central governments. They work through blockchains, which are public transaction databases that act as distribution ledgers. There is no shortage of interest in cryptocurrency, driven in part by stratospheric returns in 2017:…
This paper develops a nuanced approach that distinguishes between three archetypes of tokens: currency, investment, and utility tokens. It analyzes the differential implications of each of these types, and their hybrid forms, for EU securities regulation.
In the first quarter of 2018, the Financial Stability Board (FSB) discussed potential financial stability implications from crypto-assets. It agreed that crypto-assets do not pose a material risk to global financial stability at this time, but supported vigilant monitoring in light of the speed of developments and data gaps…
Are cryptocurrencies the future of money, Ponzi schemes, speculators’ dreams, or just a prosperity gospel? While there is money to be made in the short run, this column argues that cryptocurrencies are lousy investments and will eventually reach a price of zero.
The 2018 Global Risk Index quantifies the impact of unpredictable shocks on the world’s most prominent cities which, together, yield 41% of global GDP. The Index compiles the impacts of 22 types of threats into a single measurement of economic loss called GDP@Risk.
Blockchain technology innovation is proliferating in the private investment fund industry. Using a hand-selected dataset of private investment fund advisers that utilize blockchain technology in various functions (N=120), this article shows that the private fund advisers who utilize blockchain technology are able to generate…
The recent turbulence in the stock market has fueled debate amongst global investors concerning the importance of portfolio diversification and capital allocation in to alternative markets. This report defines the genetics of Fine Wine as an asset class and its relationship with global equities. Our findings confirm that…
Much hyperbole surrounds cryptocurrencies—either they herald a new high-tech payments era without interference from the state, or they are a speculative fad which will sooner or later crash and burn. In support of the first view, the growth and proliferation of these cryptocurrencies is taken as evidence that they meet a…
Questions still surround bitcoin. After all, the digital currency experienced wild highs and outrageous lows in 2018 — its value has risen above US $19,000 and sunk below $6,000 per coin. The first question might be which version of bitcoin to focus on. Besides bitcoin’s initial incarnation, there are the products of bitcoin…
Bitcoin has received much investor attention in recent years, however, there remains a lot of scepticism and lack of understanding of this cryptocurrency. We contribute to the growing literature of Bitcoin by examining the intraday variables of the leading Bitcoin exchange with the highest information share from 1st November…
The Venezuelan government recently announced a de facto 95% devaluation of the bolivar and in the process pegged it to the value of the government’s newly issued crypto-come-oil-currency
This will be an interesting development to follow. Not least because it is the first time a government or central bank has pegged…
The music industry is making money again. After a turbulent period which began with illegal file sharing sites such as Napster entering the market and the rapid decline in sales of CDs and vinyl, the sector is becoming profitable again. This is to a large extent due to the revenue generated from the likes of Spotify and…
We provide a dynamic asset-pricing model of (crypto-)tokens on (blockchain-based) platforms, and highlight their roles on endogenous user adoption. Tokens intermediate transactions on decentralized networks, and their trading creates an inter-temporal complementarity among users, generating a feedback loop between token…
The growth of peer-to-peer exchanges and the blockchain technology has led to a proliferation of cryptocurrencies and to a massive increase in the number of investors who actually negotiate digital money. Cryptocurrencies trade at prices which is mainly driven by investor sentiment, becoming a potential source of financial…
This paper has been tagged with: 'crpytocurrencies, blockchain, machine learning, bitcoin'. It is entitled, 'Crypto-Currency Investing Examined (2018)' and has been saved under 'currency management, other alternatives'.
We propose factor models for the cross-section of daily cryptoasset returns and provide source code for data downloads, computing risk factors and backtesting them out-of-sample. In "cryptoassets" we include all cryptocurrencies and a host of various other digital assets (coins and tokens) for which exchange market…
