Crypto, NFTs and Tungsten Cubes: Giving Cash In 2021

Cash in little wrapped boxes or tucked inside Hallmark cards is one of the most reliable and beloved gifts. But this holiday season, cash gifts are taking a new form as cryptocurrencies and nonfungible tokens, or NFTs.

Giving digital money requires planning, though, as you can’t simply buy one of these assets and send someone a link. Instead, they need someone to have a digital wallet already created, through a provider such as Rainbow, MetaMask or Coinbase. The wallet then holds the assets, effectively acting as a bank account.

“There’s a fixed cost to getting started, and there’s no way around that,” said Lex Sokolin, head economist and global fintech co-head at ConsenSys, a blockchain software technology company. “It is like you’re showing up to your friend’s house in 2002 and giving them an MP3 player and saying, ‘Here’s an MP3 player, now go throw out all your CDs.’”

Hassles aside, many parents, children and even friends are embracing these new products—at least for the more digital-savvy in their lives. Just as stock certificates and savings bonds were gifts with a purpose in years past, gifts of crypto or NFT art can teach the recipient about financial independence, investing and saving.

“Giving money is also giving an education,” said Shari Greco Reiches, wealth manager and co-founder of Rappaport Reiches Capital Management.

With that spirit in mind, here are some of the most 2021 ways to give money—not a gift card in sight.

Crypto starter packs

One easy way to help someone dip a toe into the world of digital currency is giving them a makeshift crypto starter pack.

Alex Salnikov, co-founder and head of product of NFT marketplace Rarible, said he has set up wallets for friends with the promise of then giving them an NFT on the other side. He also recommends products such as Linkdrop, which allow the giver to send onboarding links to begin setting up their own wallets.

Coinbase offers an option to share crypto assets with those not yet set up on their network, along with a message and a “fun little welcome,” said John Zettler, senior product manager at Coinbase. Setting up a wallet on Coinbase is free.

“These are effectively the keys to the community, and with it you make the person a part of said community,” Mr. Salnikov said.

Currency

If someone has already set up their own crypto wallet, Mr. Salnikov recommends giving them the coin or cryptocurrency most useful for their preferred activities, just as you might choose a gift card for their favorite store, rather than a generic Visa gift card.

Unlike setting up the wallet—free on many platforms—these coins don’t run cheap. Bitcoin rose in price from $30,000 at the end of 2020 to nearly $70,000 in 2021. Ethereum, another popular coin, is less expensive at close to $4,300. You can purchase portions of cryptocurrency, however, and every bitcoin is divisible, which means you can buy a slice of one at almost any amount you would like.

Memecoins, or a cryptocurrency related to an Internet joke, such as dogecoin, won’t set you back as much. (At its peak, dogecoin reached 75 cents in May 2021.) Sending these is “really like the financial equivalent of sending a funny cat picture,” Mr. Sokolin said.

NFTs

NFTs are best described as vouchers of authenticity for digital assets, be it art or music or anything else. They have surged in popularity this year, only a few years after they were first created in 2017. Marketplaces such as Rarible, Open Sea and Nifty Gateway can offer multiple ideas for NFT gifts, such as an animated rainbow cat illustration for 0.6 Ethereum and a GIF of dancing Taco Bell tacos for 4 Ethereum.

“It’s a unique digital 1-1 item that only you can own, and that can represent so many different things. So it comes down to: What does the recipient of the gift like?” Mr. Zettler said.

Depending on the desirability and availability of the given item, NFTs can also rise in value. NBA Top Shot allows users to purchase key moments in basketball history; legendary auction house Christie’s now offers original works of art to be purchased as NFTs; and bands such as Kings of Leon are releasing albums as NFTs.

Keep an eye on the price tag: These original collectibles can cost anywhere from a single dollar to the multimillions.

Financial products for children

Setting up a custodial investment account for a child can introduce them to investing, said Jordan Wexler, co-founder and chief executive of gifting platform EarlyBird.

Many brokerages and firms offer this option. Mr. Wexler’s product allows parents, grandparents or other adult gift givers to set up custodial investment accounts for children from birth, complete with video messages for particular celebrations, such as holidays and birthdays.

“There’s such an interesting movement in people not wanting waste anymore and leaning heavily into, ‘How can you charge something emotionally, more than a toy you give?’ ” Mr. Wexler said.

Givers can give anywhere from $15 to $2,500 at a frequency of their choice, doing so as either a recurring or one-time deposit.

Ms. Reiches has a more traditional recommendation: Give money to a 529 plan, which allows parents, grandparents and other adults to invest money that can be used for a beneficiary’s qualified education expenses.

Memestocks

Memestocks surged at the start of this year. Then they fell. Then they rose again. Amid it all, GameStop, AMC and other tickers have become household names.

Giving a share of these stocks is one option to bet on memestocks. You can also purchase a fractional share, Ms. Reiches said. Showing your recipient how to track the progress of their investment can be its own experience.

“Talk to the child about what companies they like and what companies they’re following,” she said. “It can teach discipline, long-term thinking and delayed gratification.”

Tungsten cubes

The Tungsten cube holds special appeal for people who want to take the intangible—the world of cryptocurrency, NFTs and decentralised finance—and make it tangible. These crypto enthusiasts do so with small grey cubes of the metal tungsten, a substance nearly twice as dense as lead. The cubes run anywhere from US$400 for a 2-inch cube to US$3,000 for a 4-inch cube.

Nic Carter, one of the original champions of the cube, said he has previously given them to family and friends for the holidays. But for those out of the joke, the gift may not resonate the way you hope.

“I’d only recommend that as a gift of someone who’s very, very into crypto and on crypto Twitter. Otherwise they’re going to stare at you with a blank face like, ‘What is that?’ ” Mr. Zettler said.

After years in the doldrums, European banks have cleaned up their balance sheets, cut costs and started earning more on loans.

The result: Stock prices have surged and lenders are preparing to hand back some $130 billion to shareholders this year. Even dealmaking within the sector, long a taboo topic, is back, with BBVA of Spain resurrecting an approach for smaller rival Sabadell .

The resurgence is enriching a small group of hedge funds and others who started building contrarian bets on European lenders when they were out of favour. Beneficiaries include hedge-fund firms such as Basswood Capital Management and so-called value investors such as Pzena Investment Management and Smead Capital Management.

It is also bringing in new investors, enticed by still-depressed share prices and promising payouts.

“There’s still a lot of juice left to squeeze,” said Bennett Lindenbaum, co-founder of Basswood, a hedge-fund firm based in New York that focuses on the financial sector.

Basswood began accumulating positions around 2018. European banks were plagued by issues including political turmoil in Italy and money-laundering scandals . Meanwhile, negative interest rates had hammered profits.

Still, Basswood’s team figured valuations were cheap, lenders had shored up capital and interest rates wouldn’t stay negative forever. The firm set up a European office and scooped up stock in banks such as Deutsche Bank , UniCredit and BNP Paribas .

Fast forward to 2024, and European banking stocks are largely beating big U.S. banks this year. Shares in many, such as Germany’s largest lender Deutsche Bank , have hit multiyear highs .

A long-only version of Basswood’s European banks and financials strategy—which doesn’t bet on stocks falling—has returned approximately 18% on an annualised basis since it was launched in 2021, before fees and expenses, Lindenbaum said.

The industry’s turnaround reflects years spent cutting costs and jettisoning bad loans, plus tougher operating rules that lifted capital levels. That meant banks were primed to profit when benchmark interest rates turned positive in 2022.

On a key measure of profitability, return on equity, the continent’s 20 largest banks overtook U.S. counterparts last year for the first time in more than a decade, Deutsche Bank analysts say.

Reflecting their improved health, European banks could spend almost as much as 120 billion euros, or nearly $130 billion, on dividends and share buybacks this year, according to Bank of America analysts.

If bank mergers pick up, that could mean takeover offers at big premiums for investors in smaller lenders. European banks were so weak for so long, dealmaking stalled. Acquisitive larger banks like BBVA could reap the rewards of greater scale and cost efficiencies, assuming they don’t overpay.

“European banks, in general, are cheaper, better capitalised, more profitable and more shareholder friendly than they have been in many years. It’s not surprising there’s a lot of new investor interest in identifying the winners in the sector,” said Gustav Moss, a partner at the activist investor Cevian Capital, which has backed institutions including UBS .

As central banks move to cut interest rates, bumper profits could recede, but policy rates aren’t likely to return to the negative levels banks endured for almost a decade. Stock prices remain modest too, with most far below the book value of their assets.

Among the biggest winners are investors in UniCredit . Shares in the Italian lender have more than quadrupled since Andrea Orcel became chief executive in 2021, reaching their highest levels in more than a decade.

Under the former UBS banker, UniCredit has boosted earnings and started handing large sums back to shareholders , after convincing the European Central Bank the business was strong enough to make large payouts.

Orcel said European banks are increasingly attracting investors like hedge funds with a long-term view, and with more varied portfolios, like pension funds.

He said that investor-relations staff initially advised him that visiting U.S. investors was important to build relationships—but wasn’t likely to bear fruit, given how they viewed European banks. “Now Americans ask you for meetings,” Orcel said.

UniCredit is the second-largest position in Phoenix-based Smead Capital’s $126 million international value fund. It started investing in August 2022, when UniCredit shares traded around €10. They now trade at about €35.

Cole Smead , the firm’s chief executive, said the stock has further to run, partly because UniCredit can now consider buying rivals on the cheap.

Sentiment has shifted so much that for some investors, who figure the biggest profits are to be made betting against the consensus, it might even be time to pull back. A recent Bank of America survey found regional investors had warmed to European banks, with 52% of respondents judging the sector attractive.

And while bets on banks are now paying off, trying to bottom-fish in European banking stocks has burned plenty of investors over the past decade. Investments have tied up money that could have made far greater returns elsewhere.

Deutsche Bank, for instance, underwent years of scandals and big losses before stabilising under Chief Executive Christian Sewing . Rewarding shareholders, he said, is now the bank’s priority.

U.S. private-equity firm Cerberus Capital Management built stakes in Deutsche Bank and domestic rival Commerzbank in 2017, only to sell a chunk when shares were down in 2022. The investor struggled to make changes at Commerzbank.

A Cerberus spokesman said it remains “bullish and committed to the sector,” with bank investments in Poland and France. It retains shares in both Deutsche and Commerzbank, and is an investor in another German lender, the unlisted Hamburg Commercial Bank.

Similarly, Capital Group also invested in both Deutsche Bank and Commerzbank, only to sell roughly 5% stakes in both banks in 2022—at far below where they now trade. Last month, Capital Group disclosed buying shares again in Deutsche Bank, lifting its holding above 3%. A spokeswoman declined to comment.

U.S.-based Pzena, which manages some $64 billion in assets, has backed banks such as UBS and U.K.-listed HSBC , NatWest and Barclays .

Pzena reckoned balance sheets, capital positions and profitability would all eventually improve, either through higher interest rates or as business models shifted. Still, some changes took longer than expected. “I don’t think anyone would have thought the ECB would keep rates negative for eight or nine years,” said portfolio manager Miklos Vasarhelyi.

Some Pzena investments date as far back as 2009 and 2010, Vasarhelyi said. “We’ve been waiting for this to turn for a long time.”