The Bitcoin Investment Trust is open for business for about a month now. It has been doing well. Up over 55 percent in one month is a good start. Most funds would be happy to get that result for one year.
(Update November 5): It’s over 70 percent now, only a couple of days later…)
They invest only in buying Bitcoins and just holding them, waiting for the price to go up for a factor of ten per year, as it has for the previous years.
Of course people could buy bitcoins themselves. The value they add: They get the bitcoins cheaper, since they know the market and have to deal with less transaction costs at the higher volume they are moving. They store the bitcoins for their customers, removing the substantial risk of getting hacked or robbed. And they are properly audited, so institutional investors can actually buy some bitcoins.
Individual investors can only buy shares if they are “accredited investors“, which means they need to have some wealth to begin with.