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Limitations on crypto advice enabling scams to flourish

news
By miranda-brownlee-momentummedia-com-au
August 31 2022
3 minute read
9 View Comments
Limitations on crypto advice enabling scams to flourish
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The barriers surrounding advice on crypto assets have left SMSFs largely doing their own research, leaving some vulnerable to scams.

Speaking in a recent webcast, Cadena Legal director Harrison Dell said one of the biggest challenges for SMSFs looking to invest in cryptocurrency is the difficulty in obtaining financial advice on cryptocurrency.

One of the requirements for an SMSF investing in cryptocurrency, said Mr Dell, is to have an investment strategy covering this asset class.

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“This creates an issue because financial advisers are not licensed to advise on pretty much all crypto products, nor do many of them really favour them in my experience, although there are some exceptions,” he said in a recent webcast with Crypto Tax Calculator.

“Obtaining an investment strategy that states ‘we’re allocating 10 per cent to crypto’ is not something you’ll get straight from your adviser; you’ll have to do that yourself.”

While a lot of advisers have settled on somewhere between 5 and 10 per cent being an appropriate amount of crypto to hold in a fund, he said, documenting that and getting advice on that is still very difficult to do.

“A lot of advisers are just saying ‘no’, but the answer shouldn’t just be ‘no’; the answer should be ‘we don’t recommend it, but if you want to do it, we can document it properly’ because people are going to do it anyway,” said Mr Dell.

“The ATO is seeing a lot of scams in this space where people are putting their super in certain assets or certain wallets where they actually lose ownership of it really very quickly, and there are pretty disastrous consequences for that.”

Crypto Tax Calculator chief executive Shane Brunette said that at this stage, it’s still very much a case of individuals doing their own research and taking on their own individual risks.

“[Investors] need to understand from their own perspective whether its something worth investing in. Hopefully, that’s part of a diversified outlook where you’ve just got a small amount of funds invested with the hope of taking a view from a technology point of view that [a particular crypto asset] is going to be useful at some point in time and has core fundamental value,” Mr Brunette explained.

“[There’s still] a lot of people making money out of advice which perhaps they shouldn’t be giving in terms of investment strategies, and a lot of this leads back to scams. We see it all the time.”

Mr Brunette noted the collapse of Bitconnect in early 2018, which was shut down after regulators in the US issued a cease and desist order against it.

“A more recent example is the collapse of Terra in the US where we saw some parties saying ‘you can earn 20 per cent interest risk-free yield’. The whole thing then just collapsed to zero even though there were a lot of participants,” he cautioned.

“Looking at this from a technology point of view or even an economic point of view, it was fairly obvious that this wouldn’t stand the test of time.”

Mr Brunette said it is critical that SMSFs and other investors do a lot of research to try and understand it before investing.

“If you don’t understand it, it’s probably not worth investing in. A lot of the participants in this space tend to come from more of a technology background, or even economic or financial, so they’re fairly sophisticated users, and they can actually understand what’s happening,” he stated.

“It gets more dubious if you’ve got someone who doesn’t really have much of a fundamental view from a technology point of view, and they’re trying to form a view of a coin with almost no market value; most of the time, they just get burnt.”

He advised investors to avoid getting their information off YouTube to try and understand the technology itself.

“There is a lot of information out there because there are a lot of engineers and developers building these types of platforms, and they need to understand how it works and what’s going on, and that can really give you an edge,” he said.

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Miranda Brownlee

Miranda Brownlee

Miranda Brownlee is the deputy editor of SMSF Adviser, which is the leading source of news, strategy and educational content for professionals working in the SMSF sector.

Since joining the team in 2014, Miranda has been responsible for breaking some of the biggest superannuation stories in Australia, and has reported extensively on technical strategy and legislative updates.
Miranda also has broad business and financial services reporting experience, having written for titles including Investor Daily, ifa and Accountants Daily.

You can email Miranda on: miranda.brownlee@momentummedia.com.au

Comments (9)

  • avatar
    Interesting question #1: if advisors are not able to advise on Crypto as an asset class and won't put it into an advisor-drafted investment strategy for fear of reprisals, and the various exchanges are prohibited from advising as they are not licenced.....then where is the "advice" coming from?
    Interesting question #2: client requests such as "set me up with a SMSF so I can roll out of APRA and invest it all in property" currently cause conniptions and have seen advisors whacked by ASIC for facilitating it. If a client came to you and said "set me up with a SMSF so I can roll out of APRA and invest it all in Crypto", how do think that conversation would go? How could you possibly deal with that client in light of ASIC's regime of terror?
    Interesting question #3: if Crypto is a legitimate asset class, in the same way as derivatives and shares, and is permitted by the Deed, can you set up a LRBA to invest via SMSF? Anybody seen this happening?
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  • avatar
    If he wants to sack his client, let him do it. This is a free country and he can do whatever he wants.
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  • avatar
    You've got to be kidding! Where does it say SMSFs must invest in crypto? Where does it say that trustees are acting in member's best interests by investing in crypto? Where does it say that crypto is an asset class? Where does it say that advisers must educate themselves to provide advice on crypto given it is a totally unregulated concept? Caveat emptor is the rule that should apply, and you cannot protect stupid people from doing stupid things.
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    • avatar
      Agreeyou can't stop stupid people from doing stupid things. But advisers, administrators & auditors need to take care when stupid people lose money on investments and they lawyer up in attempt to recover losses from their own stupidity.
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    • avatar
      As long as it is permitted by the fund's Deed, it's not specifically blocked by tax or superannuation laws and regulations, it aligns with the risk profile of the fund's members and it's adequately considered and documented in the fund's investment strategy, SMSF trustees have the power to invest in whatever they wish to invest in.

      For this reason alone, if advisers want to remain relevant, I would argue they need to have a rudimentary understanding of how the industry works. Giving clients upfront warning that it is a new, highly risky asset class that you can't advise on it is fine - I completely understand that. Telling clients it's a scam and that they can't do things with their own money or else is an entirely different thing. Might as well retire now or change careers and hfsp.
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  • avatar
    With respect to the headline, they are all scams. Maybe that is why sensible advisers are avoiding them! Imagine your PI insurance premium once they start incorporating questions about whether or not you advise on Crypto.
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    • avatar
      There is nothing sensible about advisers avoiding and actively sacking clients that wish to have an investment in crypto assets. It is clear that they can't provide advice on this asset class at this point in time.

      As long as they are upfront about this with clients and it's adequately documented in client notes and ROAs - as most sensible advisers do - they will be able to wash their hands of any potential litigation.

      You are throwing the baby out with the bath water if you all of the crypto industry is a scam. There is a large cohort of honest and innovative solutions being built in this space, some of which will become the future of our financial systems domestically and internationally.
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  • avatar
    Sorry Mr Dell it will always be a straight NO and I will never facilitate a client buying such a speculative gamble. Even drafting an investment strategy with an allocation to crypto could be implied as a recommendation by AFCA or other parties and I have no intention of putting my head on the chopping block. Furthermore if I advise against it (and FYI I always will) and the client goes ahead and buys crypto anyway then they'll need a new adviser the same day.
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    • avatar
      I agree that if you don't understand something, you shouldn't invest in it and, as an advisor, you shouldn't be providing any advice on it. I empathise with advisors that have to navigate that regulatory minefield.

      That said, it's one thing to give clients sufficient warning of the risks of investing in the crypto space but it's another to sack clients over it!

      hfsp ser
      0
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