#14 - Dow sees best monthly performance since January 1987
Libra is now "Diem", US to decriminalise cannabis, Inflation numbers are up and BlackRock CEO talks bitcoin.
“There are decades where nothing happens; and there are weeks where decades happen”
– Vladimir Ilyich Lenin.
Markets
The blue-chip Dow has risen 11.7% in November 2020, its best monthly performance since January 1987, as promising vaccine developments boosted confidence of a smooth economic reopening. The S&P 500 and the Nasdaq have climbed 10.5% and 11.4%, respectively, in November, both on track to post their biggest monthly advance since April.
AT&T-owned WarnerMedia shook up Hollywood when it announced on Thursday that it will release all of its 2021 Warner Bros. films to its HBO Max streaming platform at the same time as the movies hit theaters.
S&P Dow Jones Indices, a division of financial data provider S&P Global Inc, said on Thursday that it will launch cryptocurrency indices in 2021, making it the latest major finance company to enter the nascent asset class.
As discussed in previous letters, inflation is starting to take off and the nominal 2% government target is nowhere near reality. Below some examples from the US but this is not exclusive to America.
Tech
iPhone zero-click Wi-Fi exploit is one of the most breathtaking hacks ever. A memory corruption bug in the iOS kernel that gave attackers remote access to the entire device over Wi-Fi, with no user interaction required at all. Oh, and exploits were wormable, meaning radio-proximity exploits could spread from one nearby device to another, once again, with no user interaction needed.
“Arguing that you don’t care about privacy because you have nothing to hide is like arguing that you don’t care about free speech because you have nothing to say…
If we don’t have privacy, what we’re losing is the ability to make mistakes, we’re losing the ability to be ourselves. Privacy is the fountainhead of all other rights.”
- Edward Snowden
The Libra Association, a consortium created by Facebook to support its Libra cryptocurrency efforts, announced that it has a new name — the Diem Association — and made some key hires ahead of its launch.
Bitcoin
A Bloomberg article this week titled “Hottest Debate on Wall Street Is Buying Bitcoin Over Gold” concluded that investors are starting to think of crypto in asset allocation and the debate is now heating up on whether the world’s largest digital currency can one day rival bullion as an inflation hedge and portfolio diversifier.
“Gold was really the safe asset of the past world and baby boomer generation,” said Jean-Marc Bonnefous, a former commodities hedge fund manager turned crypto investor. “Now it’s being replaced by automated assets like Bitcoin.”
Raoul Pal reached his conclusion a day before the Bloomberg article.
Is China the elephant in the room when it comes to Bitcoin mining? Is the concentration of hash-power within the borders of China a cause for concern about a nation state attack against the network? This post by Jameson Lopp goes through some numbers and assumptions as well as the potential consequences of a 51% attack.
Early bitcoin investors and founders of crypto-exchange Gemini, Tyler and Cameron Winklevoss, see bitcoin gaining more than 25 times its current value as more investors adopt the cryptocurrency as an inflation hedge.
“I have changed my mind”: A top market strategist and long-time crypto skeptic explains why he now believes bitcoin should be in investor portfolios.
As Bitcoin continues its foray into institutional finance, BlackRock chairman and CEO Larry Fink has become the latest Wall Street representative to provide commentary. You see “these big giant moves every day…it’s a thin market. Can it evolve into a global market? Possibly,” he concluded.
‘Bitcoin has caught the attention and the imagination of many people. Still untested, pretty small market relative to other markets.’
— BlackRock’s Larry Fink
Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin said in a recent speech that the country’s government will soon roll out regulations to protect Bitcoin users, as per a meeting transcript published this week.
Other interesting stories the past week:
$500B Is the "Wrong Market Cap" for Bitcoin: Paul Tudor Jones
Gemini Opportunity Fund launches to support Bitcoin Core developers
Notable tweets the past week:
This newsletter is for informational purposes only. Individuals and entities should not construe any such information as legal, tax, investment, financial, accounting or other advice. Nothing contained in this newsletter constitutes a recommendation or endorsement by the author to buy or sell bitcoin, cryptocurrencies, music rights or other financial instruments. #DYOR
Don’t trust. Verify.
À Bientôt…