Biden’s team expects Janet Yellen to lead the next administration’s economic policy, which will have to navigate the debris left behind by the coronavirus.

As President-elect Joe Biden continues to complete his list of nominees, he elected an Obama era Federal Reserve Chairman to lead his administration’s economic policy.

According to a Wall Street Journal exclusive published November 23, Biden’s team plans to nominate Janet Yellen to serve as Secretary of the Treasury. Obama originally nominated Yellen for the Fed in 2014, where she remained until early 2018.

In a term that aligned with a massive expansion of public awareness of cryptomonics and ended just after The News Spy app dramatic 2017 run-up, Yellen was consistently critical of space, calling Bitcoin „anything but helpful“ in October 2018.

However, times have changed dramatically in just two years. In late 2017, Yellen dismissed the notion that the Fed was looking to issue a digital dollar. Meanwhile, over the course of 2020, the Fed clearly began to take that prospect seriously.

For his part, Yellen seems to have been silent about cryptomonies since he left the Fed and went to work for a panel of experts. Now it remains to be determined what his position is.

If approved by the Senate, Yellen would be the first woman to hold the position of Secretary of the Treasury. She is considered a moderate candidate, although recent public statements suggest that she would be much more willing to expand spending than current Secretary Steven Mnuchin, who recently drew criticism for ending several emergency loan programs.

The Treasury has become increasingly involved with cryptomonies so far this year. Offices within the Treasury including the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network, the IRS and the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, all of which are regularly in the headlines because of the increased attention they are paying to the area.

Grayscale’s bitcoin fund is on track to reach 500,000 BTC by the end of the year.

Week breaks record

Last week Grayscale saw a record inflow of 15,907 bitcoins, approximately USD 215 million. Never before have so many bitcoins been deposited in a week. The company now owns $6.7 billion worth of bitcoins, or 481,711 BTC.

Half a million by the end of 2020

Should the company continue last month’s 32,000 bitcoin growth, Grayscale is on track to maintain 500,000 BTC (2.7% of the circulation offer) within three weeks. By the end of next year, if the tariff is consistent, Grayscale would be able to manage 926,600 BTC, which equals 5% of the total current bitcoin offering.

See the left image in the tweet below for the figures in a graph.

 

Good year for bitcoin and for Grayscale

The fund was set up in September 2013, and is experiencing explosive growth this year. Assets under management grew from $1.9 billion to $4.7 billion in the first nine months of 2020.

Almost 70% of Grayscale’s total weekly inflow has been invested in the Bitcoin Freedom fund over the past three quarters. Weekly inflows grew from a 12-month average of $39.5 million to over $55 million in the third quarter, 84% of which is attributable to institutional investors.

Last week Grayscale published its second Bitcoin Investor Study, in which it found that US investors interested in investing in BTC have grown from 36% in 2019 to 55% in 2020.

More and more companies have bitcoin

Grayscale has more bitcoins than other listed companies (although a fund is not directly comparable to a company that keeps bitcoins in reserve). On 13 October, the remaining 12 companies together held about 150,000 bitcoins. Of these, Microstrategy has 38,250 bitcoins, Galaxy Digital of Mike Novogratz has 16,551 bitcoins and Square of Jack Dorsey manages 4,709 BTC.

The tweet below is from a fortnight ago, but gives a clear picture of the proportions.