Bitcoin
En jämförande studie om risk och avkastning på europamarknaden
This study is about the potential advantages as an investment option in a portfolio. The study shows that the incorporation of bitcoins in a portfolio, even to a small degree, gives significant increases of both risk and return. The different studied portfolios sharpe ratio rises, which in turn shows that the risk reducing return increases when bitcoins is used as an investment option.This study is based on Virtual Currency, Tangible Return: Portfolio Diversification with Bitcoins by Brière, Oosterlinck and Szafarz. The authors of this study have compared their own results with the study mentioned and seen its similarities and differences. The study investigated a total of eleven different assets percentage return over 192 weeks ranging from July 2010 to March 2014. The risk, return and other calculations have been made using the formulas in the programs Microsoft Office Excel and Open Office Calc. The results show that bitcoins give a significant increase in risk and return, but that the increases is bigger on the worlds market compared to the european market.When investing in bitcoin the authors point out that there are still risks that can not be calculated in this type of study and is something that investors should be aware of, for example hackers. Risk, security, trust and confidence are discussed and analyzed in the study to increase understanding of the nature of bitcoins. To summarize, the authors agree with Brière, Oosterlinck and Szafarz by drawing the conclusion that digital currencies should be taken seriously as an investment option.