Just thought I'd ask some opinions- could companies who are not directly involved in mining or developing bitcoin infrastructure raise capital on bitcoin exchanges? I mean, if a company had considerable bitcoin denominated assets and was actively engaged in growing the bitcoin ecosystem, could it trade on bitcoin exchanges? Would there be investors who would invest in such companies?
I ask because it seems like most of the stock being traded on bitcoin exchanges are mining bonds, and I don't see how these can be good long term investments considering the continually increasing difficulty. I know a bunch of fiat is being put into bitcoin startups right now, but I am not seeing any really solid companies that are soliciting bitcoin from investors. I guess this is really only relevant for people like me who have no interest in holding wealth in fiat and still want to make medium to long term investments in non-mining businesses. I am sort of envisioning bitcoin exchanges as forming a parallel economy that can minimize our contact with "old world" of dollars and euros. It's my personal belief that it is more beneficial to everyone if wealth moves, and I don't want to hoard bitcoins hoping that the value will go up- I want to use them to support meaningful businesses that are in line with my political and philosophical ideals, regardless if the value goes up or down.
Maybe someone in this forum can point me towards such opportunities, because it seems like the venture capitalists with the really big money are getting all the action right now. Are there any crowdfunding platforms that are working with bitcoins?
Clearly you need to do more reading if you think only mining securities are valid. Take a look at what is offered on MPEx: two gambling sites and a stock/option exchange. No mining assets.
If you look carefully at BTCT.co, you will find some non-mining assets there. The AsicMiner thing is kind of an exception to mining, because they are actually making the hardware (and selling it), so mining is only a portion of the company. You can also look at BitVPS, BTC-BOND, ESECURITYSABTC, and GOLD as other non-mining assets (also, the pass-throughs to the MPEx assets). There are others on BitFunder as well, and I think IBB listed on CryptoStocks. Of course, be very careful and do your own research before investing into anything.
The reason there are so many mining assets is because they are easy to set up and can be quite lucrative for the operator, basically they are having people buy them a mining rig for free. Wether they are actually good for investors can be debated.
