A Nightmare Week for Crypto, Retirement Planning Lessons for FAs from the NFL – Plus, the Latest M&A, Recruiting, Strategic Partnerships and People Moves

To My Fellow WSR Community Members:
Last week we looked at cryptocurrency from a cybersecurity angle and as that story published, a very different crisis roiled the crypto markets. If you have clients in cryptoassets you certainly heard about it – a stablecoin named TerraUSD crashed and brought down with it its sister currency Luna.
In the aftermath, Bitcoin, Ether and most every other coin and token fell and even Tether, another stablecoin pegged to the USD, untethered in a frightening moment of weakness, leaving us with that roller-coaster-stomach feeling much like the time when commercial paper threatened to “break the buck” and treasury yields flatlined in the 2008 Great Financial Crisis.
The Coming Crypto Flight to Quality
Expect the proverbial flight to quality to ensue across the crypto space insofar as wealth management and asset management firms involved in crypto are concerned.
No, crypto assets are not going to completely disappear, contrary to the hard-core doomsayers in the wealth space. At least, no more so than dot-coms entirely disappeared after the spring of 2000.
Instead, we will likely see a much-needed shakeout of crypto, with the more fundamentally sound assets and players persevering, which will lead to a more robust crypto space over the long run.
When It Sounds Too Good…
But in the near term? Clearly, wealth management firms and financial advisors are still navigating lightly-regulated and quickly evolving crypto markets where certain players are overpromising and underdelivering, to put it mildly – Especially since this latest crypto crisis originated with a “lending protocol” where traders deposited their TerraUSD to earn 20% on the stablecoin.

Yes – in theory, a 20% yield on a USD-pegged asset. Sound too good to be true? We’ll certainly explore the compliance pitfalls of crypto in the wake of this latest crash in more detail this week.
In addition, we bring you the latest on M&A, strategic partnerships, advisor recruitment and more in our latest newsmakers roundup and the best way to plan your client’s retirement – use the NFL’s tools!
This Week’s Issue
Here’s what we have for you in this week’s issue:
- In our Newsmakers Roundup section, our latest Transitions, Transactions & Promotions column highlights industry M&A, advisor transitions, promotions and people moves and strategic partnerships, including LPL’s continued reign atop the recruiting ranks, another double-digit billion acquisition by CI Financial, SFA Partners’ new COO and multiple moves in the high net worth space.
- In the Digital Domain section, Sander Ressler, Managing Director of Essential Edge and a regular contributor at WSR, presents expert views on cryptoassets in the aftermath of last week’s carnage.
- Also in the Digital Domain section, Andrew Aziz, Chief Strategy Officer of d1g1t, explains why the traditional approach to retirement planning leaves blindsides that can fail a client years later and how wealthtech can apply similar technology to what the National Football League uses now for game and player statistics to optimally plan for retirement.
Sponsored Content Partner Series Features SFA Partners
In addition, we have very timely sponsored content for you from David Pittman, Executive Vice President of Strategic Blueprint, an SFA Partners company, delving into a topic that occupied top of mind for many attendees this year at the T3 Conference – control over your data.
Pittman describes different choices on the ownership and control of CRM data and the very real consequences of making mistakes.
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Have a great week!
Cheers!
Larry Roth, CEO
Wealth Solutions Report