| Bitcoin | $19,413 | 7 day: +12.7% | | Ethereum | $612 | 7 day: +18.5% | | All crypto | $577b | 7 day: +13.6% | | Bitcoin dominance | 62.3% | 7 day: -0.3% | Prices as of 10:30 a.m. EST
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 John Ratcliffe Poses with Donald Trump U.S. Director of National Intelligence John Ratcliffe wrote the SEC in November regarding China's dominance of the cryptocurrency industry. - According to reporters at Washington Examiner, a Philip Anschutz-owned publication, Ratcliffe expressed his growing concerns to SEC Chairman Jay Clayton about China's digital currency leadership.
- China, which accounts for over 50% of global mining capacity, is also launching a state-owned digital currency called "DC/EP" and has outlawed all other yuan-backed stablecoins.
- In 2018, Senator Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) sent a similar letter to Clayton, who is stepping down by the end of this year, addressing China's dominance of bitcoin.
- In their letters, both Ratcliffe and Cotton asked for clear policies and formal guidance from the SEC regarding digital currencies to better address U.S. interests in the cryptocurrency industry.
- For more background on Chinese crypto dominance, see this prior edition of Inside Cryptocurrency.
Washington Examiner 
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 Nigerian Securities and Exchange Commission Nigeria's SEC has published a final ruling on cryptocurrency, stating that "the position of the Commission is that virtual crypto assets are securities unless proven otherwise." - Nigeria's Finance Ministry and its SEC have been collaborating on cryptocurrency regulation.
- A local news outlet reported that the agencies intend to regulate blockchain-related projects further.
- The Nigerian SEC rule subjects all cryptocurrencies to securities regulatory jurisdiction per Nigeria's Investment and Securities Act 2007.
- According to the Nigerian SEC's decision, almost all individuals and entities working with cryptocurrencies require registration with the Commission. The registration rule is unambiguous: "Any person, (individual or corporate) whose activities involve any aspect of Blockchain-related and virtual digital asset services, must be registered by the Commission and as such, will be subject to the regulatory guidelines."
- The Commission deferred the decision as to whether a cryptocurrency is considered legal tender, such as a central bank digital currency (CBDC), to the Central Bank of Nigeria.
Statement by Nigeria's Securities and Exchange Commission
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 Chart of Cred's LibraToken A Delaware bankruptcy judge denied an emergency motion by 15 creditors who wanted to freeze Cred Inc.'s (LBA) assets. - The creditors wanted the court to freeze assets related to fraud claims, as well as Cred's assets on 21 cryptocurrency exchanges and 19 crypto wallets.
- Previously, the creditors (former users of the Cred platform) said they could lose funds worth tens of millions of dollars forever if left unfrozen.
- The court denied their request, saying that their motion cannot move forward unless the creditors prove Cred's asset ownership with evidence. This is a perennial issue with cryptocurrencies: how to track asset ownership within opaque, centrally-controlled exchanges.
- The court intends to contemplate these matters further in a hearing slated for Dec. 9, 2020, as well as through a recent motion to convert the case to Chapter 7 liquidation.
- Judge John T. Dorsey noted that the creditors' demand could violate the Bankruptcy Code's automatic stay and debtor control of the case.
We have covered the hundreds of millions of dollars that are winding down in Cred's bankruptcy here and here at Inside Cryptocurrency, including "Madoff levels" of fraud accusations. Law360
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 Vladimir Putin and Mikhail Mishustin Russia's Prime Minister wants to classify digital financial assets as "property." Mikhail Mishustin said on Nov. 26 that the Russian government intends to make several amendments to its Tax Code to channel Russians' interest in cryptocurrency toward the "right direction." - The government recognizing some cryptocurrencies as property would give owners some legal protections against illegal activities.
- According to Artem Tolkachev, CEO of decentralized finance (DeFi) company Tokenomica, Prime Minister Mishustin did not announce anything substantive, but the government already announced Tax Code changes in its new Digital Financial Asset (DFA) classification.
Decrypt
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The tax center of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), which sets standards for 27 countries, will release a common tax reporting standard (CRS) for cryptocurrencies by next year. - According to OECD Director Pascal Saint-Amans, international reporting standards counteract tax evasion and promote robust cryptocurrency regulations among its member nations.
- A few days prior, the European Commission also proposed amendments to taxation laws regarding cryptocurrencies.
- The OECD director believes that the policies will be "complementary" to EU regulation.
Law360
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 Ben Delo BitMEX owner 100x Group has appointed a new CEO. Alexander Höptner will assume responsibilities in January 2021 from Vivien Khoo, interim CEO and former COO at 100x. - 100x Group is the holding group for HDR Global Trading Limited, the owner and operator of troubled crypto exchange BitMEX.
- A former CEO at Börse Stuttgart GmbH and Euwax AG, Höptner will directly report to 100x's Chairman, Dr. David Wong.
- The appointment comes two months after the U.S. Department of Justice, as well as the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission, charged 100x's co-founders Arthur Hayes, Ben Delo, Gregory Dwyer, and Samuel Reed for operating an unregistered derivatives platform and violating CFTC regulations.
- Reed, Hayes, and Delo face numerous lawsuits in federal courts for fraud, money laundering, and racketeering based on several companies that have operated since January 2017. All three are still at large.
BitMEX
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- Analytics company Glassnode indicated that Binance processed $1.17B in bitcoin futures open interest on Nov. 24, 2020. Earlier on the same day, Binance reported that its volume hit an all-time monthly high of $168.5B.
- On Nov. 27, 2020, Chinese President Xi Jinping addressed attendees of the 17th China-ASEAN Expo in Nanning in a speech, emphasizing his "digital silk road."
- China's Yunnan province, the fourth biggest by bitcoin (BTC) hashrate, cut power to local cryptocurrency miners on Nov. 30. Yunnan is the third-largest Chinese mining region after Sichuan and Xinjiang. Provincial authorities previously ordered 64 mining operations to close in June 2020. That ban coincided with a 12.7% drop in bitcoin's hashrate.
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 |  | Written and curated by wide-eyed bitcoin watcher since $1, Aaron Wise. Streaming headline junkie, Associated Press fanboy, eye-strained news terminal watcher, 2017 founder of Cryptocurrency Newsfeed. Temporarily based in Florida while awaiting the construction of cryptopia. |  | | Editor | Alexander Huls is a Toronto-based journalist. He has contributed articles about true crime and pop culture to The New York Times, Men's Health, Popular Mechanics, and other fine publications. Follow him on Twitter @alxhuls. | |
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