Bitcoin or Ether? College Teams Compete in $10k Crypto Investment Contest

Students from 13 colleges worldwide are vying for a $10,000 first prize in a cryptocurrency investment contest.

Sponsored by digital currency exchange Kraken and curated by The Economist, the “Kraken Case Study Competition” sees teams aiming to craft what they believe is the most effective strategy for investing $1m in a digital currency portoflio. Participants must choose whether to stock their portfolios with bitcoin, ether (the cryptocurrency of the ethereum platform) or some combination of the two.

From there, they'll need to defend their choice, not just for the short-term but the long term as well – their portfolio, according to the rules, would need to sit for 5 years before any returns can be realized.

In order to win, the teams involved must make their case via video – the entries can already be seen online. Second and third place entries will take $5,000 and $3,000, respectively, with a People’s Choice award (along with a $3,000 cash prize) up for grabs following online voting.

Jesse Powell, CEO of Kraken, said in a statement:

Some of the schools involved in the contest include Rutgers Business School, John Hopkins Carey Business School and Worcester Polytechnic Institute, among others. Entry videos can be found here.

The winners are expected to be announced next month.

Disclosure: CoinDesk is a subsidiary of Digital Currency Group, which has an ownership stake in Kraken. 

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