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US President-elect Joe Biden is to make tackling the coronavirus pandemic his top priority following his win over Donald Trump, his team says. On Monday, Mr Biden is expected to name a 12-member coronavirus task force. Mr Trump has yet to concede and Mr Biden's win remains a projection as key states are still counting votes. So far, market reaction has been very positive but should there be an indication that Trump will “take things to the wire” and use various loopholes to take it to the House, there is a risk of a sharp spike in volatility yet again. Back to crypto markets and Bitcoin, alongside the rest of the market traded a touch softer over the weekend, although in early European trade Bitcoin recovered well into the mid-$15,000 level. Clearly then, the momentum is very much supportive and barring unexpected developments, the trend is expected to remain in-tact. Interestingly, after many sessions of Bitcoin outperforming the rest of the market, Ethereum staged a dramatic run in the wake of the positive news related to the eventual transition to the Proof of Stake (PoS). At the time of writing, Ethereum was trading up 17% vs Bitcoin up 13%. In addition to the aforementioned strong showing by Ethereum, MVIS small-caps index was trading up 9.5%, almost in lockstep with the large-cap counterpart which was up 10.1%. This is in contract to the performance in previous weeks, where capital inflow largely centered around large cap assets. Also of note, trading on Uniswap topped $400mln for the first time since early October, while the total amount locked as per DeFi Pulse, advanced back to the record highs. The magnitude of the recent selling pressure on some DeFi and DEX related assets has been such that it has since enticed plenty of bargain hunting related flow.To wit, SushiSwap price/sales ratio (market cap/revenue) is at 2.2x, Uniswap at 8.5x and Compound at 18x, while Curve is trading at almost 70x. In terms of macro and political developments, it is worth noting that Federal law requires states to deliver certified electoral college results to the vice president, serving as president of the Senate, and other parties by the fourth Wednesday in December; in the year 2020 that date falls on December 23. Also under federal law, a joint session of Congress is required by the 12th Amendment to count the electoral votes and declare the winners of the presidential election. That joint session of Congress is held on January 6, 2021 at 1 p.m. When the results from each state are announced, a member of the House and Senate can jointly object, in writing, to the election results from that state.
Mutual fund legend Bill Miller told CNBC Friday that the risks of bitcoin going to zero are “lower than they’ve ever been before” and predicted more institutional investment in the cryptocurrency. When he was managing the Legg Mason Capital Management Value Trust Fund, Miller beat the S&P 500 for 15 years. He’s now the chief investment officer of Miller Value Partners. In December 2017, Miller revealed that his MVP1 hedge fund had half of its investments in bitcoin.
On a more sombre note, CoinDesk reported that Crypto lender Cred Inc. has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in Delaware on Saturday. In its filing, Cred listed estimated assets of between $50 million and $100 million and liabilities between $100 million and $500 million. In October, the lender published a cryptic letter saying that it has experienced “irregularities” in the handling of “specific” corporate funds by a “perpetrator of fraudulent activity.” In response, Cred said it had been advised by legal counsel to temporarily suspend inflows and outflows of funds relating to its CredEarn program.
