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Here's How Much Investing $1,000 In Bitcoin On Jan. 1, 2020 Would Be Worth Now

Chris Katje
·2 min read

Bitcoin and its strong performance has been one of the biggest investing stories of 2020. Investors continue to pour more money into cryptocurrency. Here’s how well bitcoin performed in 2020.

Bitcoin Performance: Bitcoin has surged in price and hit all-time highs in December.

Investors who put $1,000 in bitcoin on Jan. 1, 2020, would have been able to purchase .13966 bitcoin based on a starting price of $7,160.

Bitcoin traded at $23,605 on Dec. 23, which would make that .13966 Bitcoin worth $3,296.67. That represents a return of 230% on the original theoretical investment.

The SPDR S&P 500 (NYSEARCA: SPY), which tracks the S&P 500 and is one of the most popular ETFs, is up 15% in 2020.

The performance of bitcoin in 2020 has outpaced the broader market and popular large caps like Apple Inc (NASDAQ: AAPL) and Amazon.com (NASDAQ: AMZN), which have year-to-date gains of 80% and 75%, respectively.

Shares of Tesla Inc (NASDAQ: TSLA) are up over 660% in 2020, beating the performance of bitcoin.

Lolli, which rewards consumers with bitcoin for shopping, tweeted that putting a $1,200 stimulus check into bitcoin would be worth $4,146 as of Dec. 22.

Related Link: 8 Stocks To Play Bitcoin’s Resurgence

Stock Performance: Many of the stocks associated with bitcoin have surged in 2020, including miners and cryptocurrency trading platforms.

The Grayscale Bitcoin Trust (OTC: GBTC), which offers investors exposure to bitcoin, is up 271% in 2020 and has seen large inflows.

MicroStrategy Incorporated (NASDAQ: MSTR) has made headlines in 2020 for putting its cash into bitcoin and also raising money to buy additional bitcoin. The company has spent over $1.1 billion in 2020 on bitcoin and now owns 70,470 bitcoin.

See more from Benzinga

© 2020 Benzinga.com. Benzinga does not provide investment advice. All rights reserved.

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Well, when you purchase a home for real estate, it brings you a return on investment.For instance, when you purchase a condo and rent or lease it out, it offers you returns on investment at least every month or every six months based on the terms of your agreement with your tenant. But when you purchase a home to live in, you will have invested, but you will not get any returns. If anything, you will be the one putting money into it through maintenance, mortgage payments, and all other costs mentioned earlier. Plus, a house can never be an investment if you don't plan on selling it at any point. What makes an investment an investment is your control over its ownership. In other words, a real estate investment is referred to as such because you can buy it when its value is low and sell it when the value is high, making profits.But your primary residence is different because you cannot just wake up one morning and decide to sell it unless you are hard-pressed for cash, which in most cases means you will take any offer leading to losses.Also, when you sign that home-buying agreement, your money is automatically locked down, and the only way you can get it back is by selling it or taking a home equity loan. When you rent or lease, you free up your cash, and you can use it to invest in opportunities that grow your wealth.Sure, you could argue that rent is expensive, but this is not a good enough reason to buy a home since there are plenty of modern, well-equipped, low-income apartments that'll help you keep costs low. Housing Values Aren't Always High It's true that a house increases in value as time goes by. Due to inflation, a house bought for $100,000 is by now worth over $600,000. That means selling it will bring you good profits. However, keep in mind that the real estate market is incredibly volatile.The value of your home might be high now, then it may drop steeply due to a real estate market crash and/or other external factors. For instance, during the great financial recession of 2007-2009, real estate market values experienced a sharp decline, which saw sellers incur massive losses. Existing listing values plunged from $7.1 million to $4.1 million, marking a 25% decline in the value of homes sold during this period. What does this have to do with buying a home? Well, you may buy a home expecting it to increase in value, but instead, find that its value is incredibly low when you badly need to sell it off. The result? You end up selling it at a loss. Keep in mind that some factors are out of your control. For example, the real estate market may not crash, but due to other components such as increased crime, the value of homes in the neighborhood you bought your home in goes down. Such an occurrence will make it almost, if not, impossible to find a buyer who's willing to get it off your hands, even at a buying price.In other words, unless you have a magical crystal ball, there's no telling what will happen next with the general, or your local, real estate market.So if you are buying a home now with hopes that its value will increase in the future, then you are better off not buying one because you potentially could be massively disappointed.Owning A Home Ties You Down Unless you are wealthy and can afford to buy a home in different parts of the country, homeownership tethers you to one location. If you get a fantastic job or entrepreneurship opportunity, you cannot just pack up and go. 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For instance, when you purchase a home, especially in an HOA community, you need to ensure the yard is well maintained, clean out gutters, repaint your exterior regularly, and other similar tasks. Not everyone is cut out for that level of responsibility, and if this describes you, then never buy a home. Homeownership Doesn't Define YouOwning that modern condo is great, but you can still enjoy living in it without having to deal with the stress of ownership by simply leasing. Homeownership doesn't in any way define your success. So, if you've never wanted a home, do not buy it because your peers own multiple houses. After all, homeownership leaves little to be desired.See more from Benzinga * Click here for options trades from Benzinga * Amazon Opening Three San Antonio Facilities * The Psychology Behind M1 Finance's Platform And Its Focus On Financial Well-Being(C) 2020 Benzinga.com. Benzinga does not provide investment advice. All rights reserved.

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  • Cramer's 'Dream Market' Of Alternative Fuel Stocks: Quantumscape, Plug Power And More

    Tech stocks along with banks, aerospace, retail, and many other sectors have all had "their day in the sun" and now is the time for investors to pay closer attention to a "dream market" of alternative fuel companies, according to Jim Cramer.Hydrogen Power: At top of the list are potential power giants of the future like Plug Power Inc (NASDAQ: PLUG), Cramer said Tuesday on "Mad Money." The hydrogen fuel cell company has seen its stock skyrocket more than 1,000% in 2020. Fellow hydrogen cell company Bloom Energy Corp (NYSE: BE) is up 300% while Ballard Power Systems Inc (NASDAQ: BLDP) is up 200%.EV Play: Self-driving electric vehicles won't be possible without companies that manufacture the technology that powers the cars.Luminar Technologies Inc (NASDAQ: LAZR) is a manufacturer of laser-based sensors and competes against Velodyne Lidar Inc (NASDAQ: VLDR).EV cars will need access to charging stations. At the forefront of that market is Blink Charging Co (NASDAQ: BLNK) and its stock has soared from a 52-week low of $1.25 to a high of $48.70 in 2020.But at the end is Cramer's top pick, Quantumscape Corp (NYSE: QS), a maker of a lighter and faster-charging battery for EVs.Related Link: Watch Out, Elon Musk. These EV Startups Are Trying To Take On TeslaRare Earth Minerals: Rare earth mineral company Mp Materials Corp (NYSE: MP) is a U.S.-based company with "a hammerlock" on magnets for electric engines, Cramer said.Why The Interest: These "alternative energy-adjacent companies" boast expertise in unique technologies that used to be "too expensive" but have now become a lot cheaper to produce, Cramer said.The group is also benefiting from a potential catalyst from a Joe Biden administration that will be more supportive of alternative energy, Cramer said.See more from Benzinga * Click here for options trades from Benzinga * Ripple, XRP And The SEC: What You Need To Know * Corona Beer Sales Reportedly Unaffected By Unfortunate Name Association(C) 2020 Benzinga.com. Benzinga does not provide investment advice. All rights reserved.

  • Alibaba U.S.-Listed Shares Tumble Most Ever on China Monopoly Probe

    (Bloomberg) -- Alibaba Group Holding’s U.S.-listed shares tumbled the most ever on concern over China’s inquiry into alleged monopolistic practices at the e-commerce company.Affiliate Ant Group Co., the other pillar of billionaire Jack Ma’s internet empire, was also summoned to a high-level meeting over financial regulations. The pressure on Ma is central to China’s broader effort to rein in an increasingly influential internet sphere: Draft anti-monopoly rules released November gave the government wide latitude to restrain entrepreneurs who until recently enjoyed unusual freedom to expand their realms.The Alibaba inquiry is “a warning that winds have shifted,” Bloomberg Intelligence said in a research note. The risk, analyst Vey-Sern Ling wrote, is that business operations “could face long-term headwinds” as a result of such moves.The stock fell 13% in its biggest one-day drop on record. The decline took Alibaba to its lowest level since July, and the stock is now down 30% from an October peak. Roughly 141 million shares exchanged hands, the most for a single session since its 2014 debut.Alibaba said in a statement it will cooperate with regulators in their investigation, and that its operations remain normal.Once hailed as drivers of economic prosperity and symbols of the country’s technological prowess, Alibaba and rivals like Tencent Holdings Ltd. face increasing pressure from regulators after amassing hundreds of millions of users and gaining influence over almost every aspect of daily life in China.“It’s clearly an escalation of coordinated efforts to rein in Jack Ma’s empire, which symbolized China’s new ‘too-big-to-fail’ entities,” said Dong Ximiao, a researcher at Zhongguancun Internet Finance Institute. “Chinese authorities want to see a smaller, less dominant and more compliant firm.”Read more: Jack Ma Goes Quiet After Ant Group’s Spectacular UndoingThe State Administration for Market Regulation is investigating Alibaba, the top antitrust watchdog said in a statement without further details. Regulators including the central bank and banking watchdog will separately bring in affiliate Ant to a meeting intended to drive home increasingly stringent financial regulations, which now pose a threat to the growth of the world’s biggest online financial services firm. Ant said in a statement on its official WeChat account it will study and comply with all requirements.Ma, the flamboyant co-founder of Alibaba and Ant, has all but vanished from public view since Ant’s initial public offering got derailed last month. As of early December, the man most closely identified with the meteoric rise of China Inc. was advised by the government to stay in the country, a person familiar with the matter has said.Ma isn’t on the verge of a personal downfall, those familiar with the situation have said. His very public rebuke is instead a warning Beijing has lost patience with the outsize power of its technology moguls, increasingly perceived as a threat to the political and financial stability President Xi Jinping prizes most.Alibaba slid 8% in Hong Kong to a five-month trough Thursday. Asia’s largest corporation after Tencent has led losses among China’s internet sector leaders since Ant’s IPO got yanked, taking the overall toll to roughly $200 billion. Tencent and internet services giant Meituan finished more than 2.6% lower, while SoftBank Group Corp., Alibaba’s largest shareholder, sank 1.7% in Tokyo.While China is preparing to roll out the new anti-monopoly regulations, the country’s leaders have said little about how harshly they plan to clamp down or why they decided to act now.China’s internet ecosystem -- long protected from competition by the likes of Google and Facebook -- is dominated by two companies, Alibaba and Tencent, through a labyrinthine network of investment that encompasses the vast majority of the country’s startups in arenas from AI to digital finance. Their patronage has also groomed a new generation of titans including food and travel giant Meituan and Didi Chuxing -- China’s Uber. Those that prosper outside their orbit, the largest being TikTok-owner ByteDance Ltd., are rare.The House That Jack Ma Built Is China’s Own Creation: Tim CulpanThe anti-monopoly rules now threaten to upset that status quo with a range of potential outcomes, from a benign scenario of fines to a breakup of industry leaders. Some analysts predict there’s a crackdown coming, but a targeted one. They point to language in the regulations that suggests a heavy focus on online commerce, from forced exclusive arrangements with merchants known as “Pick One of Two” to algorithm-based prices favoring new users. The regulations specifically warn against selling at below-cost to weed out rivals.But Beijing’s diverse agencies appear to be coordinating their efforts -- a bad sign for the internet sector.“There is nothing that Chinese Communist Party doesn’t control and anything that does appear to be gyrating out of its orbit in any way is going to get pulled back very quickly,” said Alex Capri, a Singapore-based research fellow at the Hinrich Foundation.Read more: Down $290 Billion, China Tech Investors Mull Nightmare ScenariosThe campaign against Alibaba and its peers got into high gear in November, after Ma famously attacked Chinese regulators in a public address for lagging the times. Market overseers subsequently suspended Ant’s IPO -- the world’s largest at $35 billion -- while the anti-monopoly watchdog threw markets into a tailspin shortly after with its draft legislation.The People’s Daily, the mouthpiece of the Communist Party, warned Thursday that fighting alleged monopolies was now a top priority. “Anti-monopoly has become an urgent issue that concerns all matters,” it said in a commentary coinciding with the probe’s announcement. “Wild growth” in markets needs to be curbed by law, it added.The chances that Ant will be able to revive its massive stock listing next year are looking increasingly slim as China overhauls rules governing the fintech industry, which in past years has boomed as an alternative to traditional state-backed lending.China is said to have separately set up a joint task force to oversee Ant, led by the Financial Stability and Development Committee, a financial system regulator, along with various departments of the central bank and other regulators. The group is in regular contact with Ant to collect data and other materials, studying its restructuring as well as drafting other rules for the fintech industry.“China has streamlined a lot of the bureaucracy, so it’s easier for the different regulatory bodies to work together now,” said Mark Tanner, managing director of Shanghai-based consultancy China Skinny. “Of all the regulatory hurdles, this is the biggest by a long shot.”Dissecting China’s Crackdown on Its Internet Giants: QuickTake(Updates closing prices in New York.)For more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.comSubscribe now to stay ahead with the most trusted business news source.©2020 Bloomberg L.P.