Latest news with #RupertCarlyon
RNZ News
27-05-2025
- Business
- RNZ News
What's going on with the price of bitcoin?
The value of a single bitcoin has grown by 25,481 percent over the past decade. File photo. Photo: AFP Bitcoin is again near record highs, and there are predictions its value could further increase. Last week, the cryptocurrency reached a peak of NZ$189,367 before dropping back a little into the start of this week. Bitcoin's total market capitalisation is now about US$2.15 trillion. Over the past 10 years, the price of a single bitcoin has lifted from about US$430 to US$110,000 - an increase of 25,481 percent. A number of factors are credited with the increase including more institutions investing in Bitcoin exchange-traded funds, increasing demand for digital assets and regulations become increasingly supportive, particularly in the United States where President Donald Trump has vocally leant support to cryptocurrencies. Rupert Carlyon, who offers a cryptocurrency fund through Koura KiwiSaver, said bitcoin was still a small asset class. "About 70 percent to 80 percent is tied up with long-term holders... so when you put it together, if you've only got $400 billion or $500b of tradable bitcoin, it doesn't require a huge change in buyer behaviour for prices to start spiking." He said a recent trip to the US showed him how much nervousness there was about the US dollar. "Everyone talks about the nervousness around the dollar and the deficits and what it means for inflation... that's one of the biggest shocks I had in terms of the investment conversations... it's no longer a fringe conversation around deficits leading to hyperinflation and currency devaluation." He said central banks around the world were also looking at diversifying away from US dollar assets, which h was one of the reasons the price of gold had increased significantly. "There's only so much gold that people can hold and then there is a very high holding cost so it's not an easy asset to own. "I think people are increasingly thinking 'at what point do we start looking at bitcoin and digital assets as an alternative?" He said bitcoin was still "trading on a promise" of what could be to come. "We haven't actually seen the delivery. If you think about what might make this actually really happen, we haven't seen a huge amount of detail around what happens with Trump and his promises around crypto. You still haven't seen the central banks go properly into bitcoin. "Some of it's priced in, there's no question, but ... the reality will create a much more violent move than the potential, which is the world we're trading in at the moment." He said an investment in bitcoin would have outperformed by several times an investment in high-performing stock like Nvidia. "It is interesting though - both are basically bets on a new future. The current market cap for Nvidia is $3.2 trillion where as Bitcoin has a market cap of $2.2 trillion. The reason for greater return on Bitcoin is more about where it started. In 2015 it was still very fringe and not really seen as something that would move into the mainstream, whereas Nvidia was still a great business back in 2015." Sharesies investment lead Gus Watson said Sharesies investors were growing their invsetments in crypto exchange-traded funds. "As of today, there is over $60 million invested in these via the platform. To help diversify their portfolios through crypto, Sharesies investors are predominantly using funds tracking the price of bitcoin. About three quarters of these crypto holdings are via US-listed ETFs, with the remainder held via the NZX-listed Smart Bitcoin ETF." University of Auckland associate professor Alex Sims agreed there was potential for further bitcoin growth. People could hold it without relying on a third party, she said, no one needed "permission" to withdraw it and use it in the way they would if they were dealing with a bank that had to meet anti-money laundering requirements. "[There are] lots of reports of people being questions about why they want to withdraw their money plus instances of bank accounts of 'dissidents' being frozen including in New Zealand. Third, the amount of Bitcoin that will be issued is known. Again contrast that with quantitative easing in fiat." She said it was not guaranteed, though, that bitcoin would continue to have any value, let alone increase in value. "It's not as safe as gold in terms of a store of value and is a risky asset." James Quinn-Kumar, director of community engagement at Binance, said bitcoin had come a long way in terms of trust, accessibility and maturity. On 22 May 2010, 10,000 BTC was traded for two pizzas - worth just USD$41 at the time. Today, that same amount of Bitcoin would be worth over USD$1 billion. "It's hard to think of a better illustration of Bitcoin's rise," he said. "In just 15 years, we've gone from pizza purchases to portfolio allocations. That's a signal of profound market evolution." Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero , a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.
1News
23-05-2025
- Business
- 1News
Benefits, KiwiSaver to be means-tested — so why aren't pensions?
A Government decision to means-and-income-test support available to children and younger people, but not alter the eligibility for NZ Super, has prompted questions from some commentators. As part of Budget 2025, the Government announced it would income-test eligibility for the Best Start payment in the first year of a child's life. This will affect about 60,000 families who previously would have been able to access the money, before being income tested in the child's second and third year. Teenagers who are receiving JobSeeker benefits will be assessed against a "parental assistance test" which will determine whether their parents could provide them financial support. The member tax credit in KiwiSaver will be halved and not available to anyone earning over $180,000. But anyone earning at that level was still entitled to the full NZ Super payment. "As one of my team members commented — this Budget was all about taking away from young people and giving to the older generation [through] extra cancer treatment, rates relief for Gold Card members and continuation of NZ Super," said Rupert Carlyon, founder of Koura KiwiSaver. "For young people, we are now means testing KiwiSaver contributions, Best Start payments and not providing welfare to those under the age of 20." He said younger people would also be affected by a lower level of investment in infrastructure. Financial journalist Frances Cook told Breakfast she was 'very concerned' by some of the changes made to KiwiSaver. (Source: Breakfast) "The Budget is described as a budget forcing people to pay their own way where they can. Though NZ Super remains untouched, despite hundreds of thousands of Kiwis receiving it that do not need it." He said NZ Super should be means tested in the same way but it was not politically feasible for the government to do so. "Young people need to be better at voting to drive through change that benefits them." Shamubeel Eaqub, chief economist at Simplicity, said he too thought it was interesting that the KiwiSaver incentive would not be available to people earning more than $180,000 but no such test applied to the pension, which costs nearly $25 billion a year. "It's incoherent... incentives for Kiwis to save for their future is means-tested, but New Zealand Super — which is universal welfare for older people — is untouched." Asked on Nine to Noon her thoughts on means-testing superannuation, Nicola Willis said it was not the Government's policy. "We remain committed to universal New Zealand superannuation." She said National had not yet had a caucus discussion on changes to superannuation. "But I'm on the record at the last election campaign that we campaigned for the age of eligibility for New Zealand superannuation to be lifted. That was to make New Zealand superannuation more affordable, and more sustainable, and to reflect the fact that New Zealanders are working for much, much longer. We campaigned on that because I believe it was the right thing to do… Labour weaponised that against us."
RNZ News
22-05-2025
- Business
- RNZ News
Budget 2025: High earners can't get KiwiSaver credit - but they can get the pension
National Finance Minister Nicola Willis. Photo: RNZ / Samuel Rillstone A government decision to means-and-income-test support available to children and younger people, but not alter the eligibility for NZ Super, has prompted questions from some commentators. As part of Budget 2025, the government announced it would income-test eligibility for the Best Start payment in the first year of a child's life. This will affect about 60,000 families who previously would have been able to access the money, before being income tested in the child's second and third year. Teenagers who are receiving JobSeeker benefits will be assessed against a " parental assistance test " which will determine whether their parents could provide them financial support. The member tax credit in KiwiSaver will be halved and not available to anyone earning over $180,000. But anyone earning at that level is still entitled to the full NZ Super payment. "As one of my team members commented - this Budget was all about taking away from young people and giving to the older generation [through] extra cancer treatment, rates relief for Gold Card members and continuation of NZ Super," said Rupert Carlyon, founder of Koura KiwiSaver. "For young people, we are now means testing KiwiSaver contributions, Best Start payments and not providing welfare to those under the age of 20." He said younger people would also be affected by a lower level of investment in infrastructure. "The budget is described as a budget forcing people to pay their own way where they can. Though NZ Super remains untouched, despite hundreds of thousands of Kiwis receiving it that do not need it." He said NZ Super should be means tested in the same way but it was not politically feasible for the government to do so. "Young people need to be better at voting to drive through change that benefits them." Shamubeel Eaqub, chief economist at Simplicity, said it was interesting that the KiwiSaver incentive would not be available to people earning more than $180,000 but no such test applied to the pension, which costs nearly $25 billion a year. Asked on Nine to Noon her thoughts on means-testing superannuation, Nicola Willis said it was not the government's policy. "We remain committed to universal New Zealand superannuation." She said National had not yet had a caucus discussion on changes to superannuation. "But I'm on the record at the last election campaign that we campaigned for the age of eligibility for New Zealand superannuation to be lifted. That was to make New Zealand superannuation more affordable, and more sustainable, and to reflect the fact that New Zealanders are working for much, much longer. We campaigned on that because I believe it was the right thing to do… Labour weaponised that against us." Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero, a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.
