US Federal Reserve now owns over 20,000 different financial assets

Amid a year that has been anything but normal, the United States' Federal Reserve, or the Fed, has collected an impressive number of financial assets. 

"The Fed now owns a total of 22,913 different securities according to Bloomberg," said the twitter account for the Zero Hedge financial blog on Aug. 30, adding: "It is the world's biggest investor."

In response to the rise of COVID-19, the U.S. government closed businesses, urging citizens to stay home in an effort to derail the virus' spread. Those actions, however, caused negative economic consequences leading to subsequent corrective attempts by the government, including massive money printing.

The U.S. central bank also began acquiring corporate bonds as another corrective measure. Essentially, the Fed has loaned businesses money in exchange for bonds. In June, the authority revealed its corporate bond-purchasing actions in an effort to help prop up companies, according to a report from Marketplace. 

In light of the government's various actions, a number of authorities in the crypto space have forecast greater upsides for Bitcoin, including Gemini co-founder Tyler Winklevoss, who explained money printing could have a bullish effect on the asset.