Private markets and other alternatives
A brief note on crypto as an alternative
3 min
Cryptocurrencies — Bitcoin, Ether and thousands of others — have become a prominent alternative asset. They are digital, decentralised and not issued by any government, and they earned their place in this category by being almost entirely uncorrelated with traditional finance in their early years.
Why this lesson is deliberately short
Crypto has its own dedicated track in this education centre, covering how blockchains work, wallets, custody, the major coins, and the very real risks in depth. Here we only locate crypto within the broader alternatives map — for anything beyond the overview, go to that track.
Where it sits among alternatives
- Return: extraordinarily high potential and extraordinarily high realised volatility — multi-fold gains and multi-fold drawdowns within single cycles.
- Risk: among the highest of any asset discussed here. Prices are speculative, the regulatory picture is still evolving, and self-custody carries the risk of irreversible loss through lost keys or hacks. Treat exposure as money you can afford to lose entirely.
- Liquidity: the large coins trade 24/7 with high liquidity; smaller tokens can be thin and hard to exit.
How a retail investor can access crypto
- Spot crypto ETFs / ETCs — listed funds tracking Bitcoin or Ether without you holding keys; the simplest, most familiar route.
- Regulated exchanges — buy and hold coins directly, with the custody responsibility that entails.
The honest summary: crypto is the newest, most volatile and least proven member of the alternatives family. A small, deliberately sized allocation — never the core of a portfolio — is the disciplined way to treat it. The dedicated track has the full picture.
This content is for educational and informational purposes only and is not investment, financial, tax or legal advice. Trading and investing carry risk, including the possible loss of capital. Any performance shown by third-party tools is hypothetical and not a promise of future results. Do your own research and consider professional advice before making any decision.