Everyone knows the alpaca is the spiritual mascot of bitcoin and I think the title is pretty self explanatory
This is something that's been knocking around in my ideas bank for awhile. Basically the idea is to raise funds to buy an alpaca herd. The obvious candidate for such an investment
being Grasshill Alpacas or alternatively is a local company near me called flowerdale alpacas
http://www.flowerdalealpacas.net/investment.php which offers investment in animals. Not only is this a unique idea there are massive tax benefits with farming especially in Australia and the US. If we raised enough of an investment this could grow into actually purchasing an alpaca farm which would lead to founding a bitcoin tourism industry and hiring workers paid in btc etc
I think such a venture would be both massively popular and a good news human interest story for bitcoin as well.
Ive contacted Grasshill asking about a prospectus for investment but it will be handy to get a better idea of the amount of interest in this as a venture.Update: Some news and further plans.
*The Alpaca company will be Flowerdale Alpacas so that i can keep an eye on things for the fund.
*The IPO would seek to raise $30 000 worth of bitcoin of which 3/4 will purchase animals while the 1/4 will be invested in interest bearing shares on glbse to provide ongoing dividends and to allow future growth/expenditure without needing to issue more shares. Future dividends would be split in the same manner.
*10000 shares at .5 btc each ?
*The fund will be managed by a third party such as CPA or a fund manager chosen by the shareholders.
*This manager will be responsible for accepting receipts for expenses and allow an independent audit of the fund.
*My initial investment will be 50-100btc.
*There will be extra shares issued in a matching amount to my initial investment that should cover my costs. (Does this sound fair ?)
*I will cover the listing fee.
The HerdI have spoken to the farmers and we will be looking at 3 decent females for the kind of money Im raising. The money comes not from fleece sales but from breeding and you hope to get an improvement in the herd.
The ongoing costs are as follows.
*$12 per week per animal - $1800/y for 3 animals.
*Each animal needs 8 injections a year of $5 or so each- $150/y for 3 animals.
*There is a $100 birthing fee per cria and we need to cover vet bills - $unknown.
*Insurance
Pros
*The animals (and the fund) can be insured.
*Tax advantages (I will setup as a sole trader and get the books done by a cpa)
*Decent ROI
Cons
*An animal could die or get a disease.
*Profits not in bitcoin from the herd. (This will be hedged by the extra invested in bitcoin funds.)
InsuranceInsurance to cover death or infertility. This costs 4-5% of the cost of the animal.
Poll (Vote for a preference)
https://bitcointalksearch.org/topic/alpacastocks-poll-90595