Here is the dividend income report for February, 2024.
The monthly dividend income came out to $289.26. The yearly income total for 2024 through the end of the month was $372.58.
The income for February, 2023 was $196.67, and the yearly income for 2023 through the end of February was $295.58.
2023 beat 2022, while so far 2024 is doing better against 2023 than it was last month. I added money to my Roth IRA, but I have not bought any new shares outside of reinvesting dividends since June of 2022. That was also the last month my twelve-month moving average was less that $1,000. My last trade before that was selling RLI in April of 2022.
The twelve-month moving average broke $1,100 for the third time.
In other news, grift-o-currency just will not die. I supposed I should not be shocked that people are still into this, but I am. If you want a store of value, you have gold. Grift-o-currency uses a lot of energy. My only guess is that grift-o proponents are so angry and bitter they just want to watch the world burn. Some people are saying that buttcoin is up because of the approval of buttcoin ETFs. Coin-grifters think this is a sign of grift-o’s success and value.
Which is funny, because for years coin-grifters were saying that grift-o doesn’t need the real financial system (what they call the “fiat”, “centralized” or “traditional” finance). You can be your own bank with grift-o (and look for your hard drive in a landfill if you make a mistake). Now, much like conservatives who love government money for themselves, they think it’s great that the real financial system is selling grift-o ETFs. ETFs themselves are a product of the real financial system. Coin grifters might think they are taking over. I think that the ETF providers are just providing a product they think will sell. ETFs open and close all the time. If grift-o ETFs stay open, it will be because the providers make money on them, not because they are stupid enough to believe any of this garbage. As Molly White pointed out, the original point of grift-o was to not involve a powerful financial institution like BlackRock. The coin-grifters are all frauds for celebrating this. It is proof that all they care about is finding someone to hold the bag.
Many anti-grift-o people feel that grift-o ETFs will lead to the ETF providers or perhaps the whole financial system collapsing. I do not think this will happen. Each fund is a separate legal and financial entity.
And I am not too sure it will make the dent that coin-grifters are hoping. Here are the 22 largest grift-o-currency ETFs listed at ETF DB, data current as of 2024-05-24 1:01 EDT:
| Symbol | ETF Name | Total Assets ($MM) | YTD Price Change | Avg. Daily Volume | Prev Closing Price | 1-Day Change |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| GBTC | Grayscale Bitcoin Trust | $20,128 | 72.44% | 14,036,427 | $59.70 | -3.63% |
| IBIT | IShares Bitcoin Trust Registered | $19,711 | N/A | 42,195,264 | $38.27 | -3.63% |
| FBTC | Fidelity Wise Origin Bitcoin Fund | $11,181 | N/A | 11,247,467 | $58.72 | -3.88% |
| ARKB | ARK 21Shares Bitcoin ETF | $3,370 | N/A | 2,662,081 | $67.13 | -3.62% |
| BITB | Bitwise Bitcoin ETF Trust | $2,512 | N/A | 2,865,792 | $36.63 | -3.50% |
| BITO | ProShares Bitcoin Strategy ETF | $2,250 | 53.69% | 17,830,872 | $27.20 | -3.78% |
| BITX | 2x Bitcoin Strategy ETF | $1,676 | 92.76% | 5,283,047 | $42.97 | -7.17% |
| HODL | VanEck Bitcoin Trust | $671 | N/A | 376,725 | $75.94 | -3.73% |
| BRRR | Valkyrie Bitcoin Fund | $596 | N/A | 684,016 | $19.04 | -3.64% |
| BTCO | Invesco Galaxy Bitcoin ETF | $499 | N/A | 544,909 | $67.20 | -3.70% |
| EZBC | Franklin Bitcoin ETF | $428 | N/A | 348,922 | $38.95 | -3.66% |
| EETH | ProShares Ether Strategy ETF | $95 | 58.39% | 110,284 | $82.16 | 1.37% |
| BITI | ProShares Short Bitcoin Strategy ETF | $80 | -41.83% | 10,020,982 | $7.59 | 3.83% |
| BTF | Valkyrie Bitcoin and Ether Strategy ETF | $56 | 58.23% | 59,189 | $21.08 | -1.08% |
| ARKA | ARK 21Shares Active Bitcoin Futures Strategy ETF | $18 | 53.47% | 5,255 | $64.02 | -3.79% |
| AETH | Bitwise Ethereum Strategy ETF | $15 | 54.39% | 13,277 | $49.83 | 1.22% |
| DEFI | Hashdex Bitcoin ETF | $13 | 51.45% | 8,400 | $76.83 | -3.75% |
| BTOP | Bitwise Bitcoin and Ether Equal Weight Strategy ETF | $11 | 53.54% | 2,694 | $52.42 | -1.00% |
| SETH | ProShares Short Ether Strategy ETF | $9 | -45.96% | 40,472 | $16.81 | -1.23% |
| BETH | ProShares Bitcoin & Ether Market Cap Weight Strategy ETF | $8 | 55.24% | 2,052 | $81.60 | -2.32% |
| BETE | ProShares Bitcoin & Ether Equal Weight Strategy ETF | $6 | 55.87% | 2,633 | $80.29 | -1.29% |
| BITC | Bitwise Bitcoin Strategy Optimum Roll ETF | $1 | 53.26% | 11,023 | $51.06 | -3.79% |
If you do not feel like adding it all up, the total assets comes out to $63.334 billion. BlackRock alone has $2.831 trillion in assets. $63.334B is about 2.25% of 2.831T. I do not think grift-o currency will take over the world. It looks like one of those is an ETF that shorts buttcoin, so perhaps that one should be subtracted. Here are the issuers of the above ETFs, with their grift-o assets, total assets, and grift-o as a percent of their total. I have also included State Street and Vanguard, since they are the two largest ETF providers after BlackRock (which sells ETFs under the “iShares” brand). I am surprised that Fidelity has such a high percent of its ETF assets in grift-o.
| Issuer | Grift-o Assets ($BB) | Total Assets ($BB) | Grift-o Percent |
|---|---|---|---|
| ARK – | 3.388 | 15.19 | 22.30 |
| Digital Currency Group – | 20.128 | 20.14 | 99.94 |
| Bitwise – | 2.539 | 2.54 | 99.90 |
| BlackRock – | 19.711 | 2831.34 | 0.69 |
| Fidelity – | 11.181 | 74.39 | 15.03 |
| Franklin Templeton – | 0.428 | 17.58 | 2.43 |
| Invesco – | 0.499 | 531.53 | 0.09 |
| Proshares – | 2.448 | 71.83 | 3.41 |
| Tidal Investments – | 0.013 | 7.69 | 0.17 |
| Valkyrie Investments – | 0.652 | 0.79 | 82.84 |
| VanEck – | 0.671 | 80.58 | 0.83 |
| Volatility Shares – | 1.676 | 1.97 | 84.89 |
| Vanguard – | 0.000 | 2.62 | 0.00 |
| State Street – | 0.000 | 1.24 | 0.00 |
For one of the ARK funds, ARK Investment Management is a sub-sub-advisor.
I have always felt that if grift-o stays around, it will not replace the big banks, but instead be absorbed and co-opted by them.
It seems like some coin grifters are still true-believing, Fed-hating glibertarians. But it looks like a lot are just speculating. I hear a lot of “I bought some coin at X, and I sold it at Y.” It would be cheaper to have a 24/7 web cam on people rolling dice or flipping actual coins and just placing bets on that. At least gold has industrial uses, lack of decay, and 5,000 years of history on its side. Grift-o-currency is gold nuttery without the good arguments, but it kept the crazy people and found a way to make it as expensive as possible.
Here is a table with the year-to-date amounts, the monthly amounts, and the three- and twelve-month moving averages for each February from the beginning of my records through 2024:
| Month | YTD | Amount | 3MMA | 12MMA |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2024-02 | $372.58 | $289.26 | $1,361.56 | $1,130.51 |
| 2023-02 | $295.20 | $196.67 | $1,146.81 | $1,015.23 |
| 2022-02 | $298.20 | $224.92 | $1,235.58 | $914.87 |
| 2021-02 | $271.23 | $182.83 | $1,253.94 | $883.71 |
| 2020-02 | $208.18 | $196.17 | $1,259.50 | $871.11 |
| 2019-02 | $229.17 | $138.45 | $847.72 | $589.58 |
| 2018-02 | $126.02 | $66.43 | $654.60 | $581.51 |
| 2017-02 | $684.93 | $466.05 | $570.90 | $511.78 |
| 2016-02 | $620.16 | $383.08 | $524.89 | $460.41 |
| 2015-02 | $567.34 | $353.85 | $492.40 | $375.72 |
| 2014-02 | $496.28 | $336.61 | $363.62 | $295.33 |
| 2013-02 | $358.51 | $248.39 | $348.20 | $287.16 |
| 2012-02 | $497.58 | $308.90 | $337.51 | $264.48 |
Here are the securities and the income amounts for February, 2024:
- Vanguard Total Bond Market ETF: $226.50
- Vanguard Total International Bond ETF: $20.62
- Global X S&P 500 Covered Call ETF: $42.14
Being able to drop a topic is an underrated skill.
Data from ETFDB assumed to be in public domain; valid on 2024-05-24. Painting ‘Touch’ by Antonio Giarola (1597 – 1674); image from Wikimedia; image assumed to be under public domain.
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