I asked an expert from a leading financial services company what he thought of Bitcoin trading and here was his reply: "Since a lot of Bitcoin is used for illicit activity, I don't trust it."
While I can't verify the "illicit" part of that statement, I'm on the skeptical side of cryptocurrency trading and speculation. We're still in the Wild West phase.
There's little question that we need to know more about cryptocurrencies. While I'm optimistic that the blockchain technology will disrupt financial services in a good way, a little regulation would help.
The Russian Finance Ministry, for example, said it would regulate cryptocurrencies by the end of the year. The country, which doesn't exactly wear a cybersecurity halo, said there was "no point in prohibiting" cryptocurrency trading.
China, on the other hand, recently shut down Initial Coin Offering operations.