So I have held some GBTC in my Roth IRA for some time. I’ve been overall pretty happy with the situation. However, when I look at historical performance of GBTC, the variability of the premium worries me. During the bull run of 2017, the premium touched 100% a few times. And then during 2018 fell down close to 0% at some points.
I am okay holding GBTC now during a bull market, but I would like to transition to something else prior to the next bear market, that way I can hopefully sell when the premium is substantial and just buy actual BTC in a crypto IRA.
I’ve investigated some options. It seems like there are so called “checkbook IRAs” that allow you to open your own accounts with exchanges and purchase coins directly, which you could then transfer to cold storage and hold your own keys.
I’ve heard the downside of the checkbook type IRA is that you take on a lot of responsibility to do everything by the book and if you mess anything up you could compromise the status of your funds and could lose the tax protection afforded by an IRA or Roth IRA in my case.
Another option available are few companies that offer crypto IRAs that have institutional custody of the coins. You don’t get to hold the keys yourself, but there is less chance of screwing something up and causing a large taxable event. Companies here are bitcoinIRA (high fees, take percentage of your crypto every year), broad financial (better fee structure, but still taking a percentage of your holdings every year), itrustcapital (flat monthly fee, 1% of all trades, but no annual percentage), AltoIRA (similar time broad financial fees)
Of those three, based on fees only, itrustcapital seems like the only one that would be tolerable to me. But I don’t know if any of those companies are really trustworthy. I opened an account with itrustcapita and moved a small amount of money there to test out. They have not been very responsive to me and it’s not possible to call them on the phone. They make you take a phone call reservation two weeks in advance. Not ideal if a problem ever comes up.
Has anyone had experience with any of these companies or other alternatives? I don’t think I want to take on the burden of the so-called checkbook IRA, but it is probably the most cost effective one and gives you the most control over your funds.
Would appreciate hearing experiences of others here.
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