BREAKDOWN: Why a $631B Asset Manager Just Changed Its Mind on Bitcoin
CoinDesk Podcast Network
CoinDesk
4.8 • 689 Ratings
🗓️ 1 December 2020
⏱️ 26 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
In a research note intended for clients, investing giant AllianceBernstein says it changed its mind on bitcoin’s role in asset allocation.
This episode is sponsored by Crypto.com, Nexo.io and this week's special product launch, Allnodes.
Today on the Brief:
- Libra is now “Diem”
- Christine Lagarde comes down on private stablecoins
- Dow closes its best month in 33 years
Our main discussion: AllianceBernstein changes its mind.
Yesterday, CoinDesk received access to a private client research report from AllianceBernstein, a global investment giant with more than $631 billion in assets.
In this episode of the Breakdown, NLW reads excerpts from the memo and discusses:
- Why, in discussing supply, it conflates bitcoin and other cryptos but still finds limited supply “for all practical purposes”
- Why prevailing macro political conditions – particularly the growth of government’s role in business and individual lives – shifted the investment firm’s calculus
- Why its greatest long-term concern is government banning something that is actively hindering the application of monetary policy
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Welcome back to The Breakdown with me, NLW. |
| 0:09.0 | It's a daily podcast on macro, Bitcoin, and the big picture power shifts remaking our world. |
| 0:14.9 | The breakdown is sponsored by crypto.com, nexo.io, and all nodes. |
| 0:19.2 | And produced and distributed by CoinDesk. |
| 0:22.4 | What's going on, guys? It is Tuesday, December 1st, and today we're discussing why a $631 billion |
| 0:31.1 | asset manager just changed their mind on Bitcoin. First up, however, let's do the brief. |
| 0:39.3 | First on the brief today, |
| 0:47.2 | Libra is now DM. The journey of Libra has been a wild one from grand ambition and great partners. If you'll remember, this was going to change the world, bank the unbanked, create a global |
| 0:53.0 | stable coin backed by a basket of currencies |
| 0:55.5 | that could serve as a new reserve asset. It had people like PayPal and Visa and MasterCard and |
| 1:01.6 | eBay involved. And of course it ran headfirst into regulatory reality. And very soon it had |
| 1:08.1 | slightly smaller ambition and different partners as many of those brand name |
| 1:12.2 | partners dropped out. Now it's gotten even smaller in its ambition and has even changed its name. |
| 1:19.0 | Meet DM. The DM Association has 27 members, largely from the world of crypto and tech, |
| 1:25.6 | and they're looking at a 2021 launch of a single |
| 1:28.8 | dollar-pegged stablecoin. They've also announced a number of new team members. |
| 1:33.6 | The big goal of this name change, it seems, is to distance themselves from Facebook. |
| 1:38.7 | The current CEO of the DM Association, Stuart Levy, argues that regulators are warming up, based in part on moving away from Facebook. |
| 1:47.7 | Quote, I think regulatory stakeholders really are welcoming a more autonomous association. |
| 1:52.8 | They want to see an association strong enough to make its own decisions and have a leadership team that is capable of directing the project. |
| 1:58.8 | It is in part for that reason we decided to change the name, |
| 2:01.7 | to move from Libra to Diem, and that will be effective Tuesday. He reiterated this and reiterated |
... |
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