| Bitcoin | $18,955 | 7 day: -2.3% | | Ethereum | $580 | 7 day: -5.5% | | All crypto | $558B | 7 day: -2.6% | | Bitcoin dominance | 62.8% | 7 day: +0.4% | Prices as of 10 a.m. EST
| |
OKEx's CEO answered community questions regarding the exchange's withdrawal freeze during an AMA. We covered the exchange's billions of dollars of frozen customer assets here at Inside Cryptocurrency. - After more than a month of frozen withdrawals, ostensibly due to the primary key holder's police detention, OKEx CEO Jay Hao spoke with community members on the messaging app Telegram regarding "precautions" to avoid a similar situation reocurring.
- Hao talked extensively about the platform's risk-management system to safeguard user assets, and what the team has learned from flaws in previous processes.
Denials: - During the AMA, Hao denied accusations of money laundering from Chinese authorities, saying no such practice influenced the withdrawal suspension.
- Hao tried to clear so-called misconceptions regarding OKEx's security features and its wallet management system, such as whether OKEx actually uses multi-signature mechanisms for authorizations of transactions from all of its hot wallets, or whether multiple employees at OKEx have backups of private keys.
- Hao provided few specifics but assured attendees that OKEX's private keys were distributed securely between multiple executives.
- Hao also stated that the withdrawal pause occurred due to an "unrelated" technical problem, not the police detention.
- In the future, Hao assured attendees that OKEx would secure private keys and their generation events, backup those keys, enable master private keys, and add cold (offline) backups.
- New Zealand-based Brave New Coin investigated OKEx at length here.
OKEx 
| |
 Hester Peirce SEC Commissioner Hester Peirce ("Crypto Mom") says the SEC's existing regulatory structure is not well-suited for innovation. "There are some issues that crypto raises that are not neatly solved by our existing securities laws," said Peirce. - During an interview during the Ethereum in the Enterprise - Asia Pacific conference, Peirce said that submitting all digital assets under existing regulations does not help the industry.
- Many crypto companies have wasted substantial time and money applying for SEC no-action letters, but those letters are exceedingly rare.
- Commissioner Peirce, who will serve two terms as SEC commissioner, mentioned Wyoming as an example of a progressive regulator from which other commissioners should learn.
- Wyoming's banking board approved Avanti's banking charter and gave similar approval to Kraken Bank in Sept. 2020.
CoinTelegraph
| |
 A message from HOMETAP How COVID-19 is affecting homeowners—and how a home equity investment can help. If you own a home, you already know how frustrating it can be to feel “house-rich and cash-poor.” Paying off outstanding debt, renovating your home, or accelerating your small business might seem like impossible goals when other life expenses are adding up at a faster rate than your income is increasing. And now, more than ever, the immediate impacts of the COVID-19 crisis—from lost jobs to missed mortgage payments—have made homeownership more stressful. That’s where Hometap comes in. You can access a portion of your home’s equity now, so you can pay for what’s most important to you without having to take out a loan, deal with the hassle of monthly payments or interest, or sell your home. See how other homeowners are overcoming the financial burdens caused by COVID-19, and find out if a Home Equity Investment is a good solution for you. Learn More
| |
 Kiev, Ukraine Ukraine's cryptocurrency bill passes the first chamber of the country's parliament, the Verkhovna Rada. The draft bill received 229 votes in favor and needs to clear two more hearings to become law. - Ukrainian lawmakers in the Rada administered the first hearing on Dec. 2 for the country's first detailed crypto bill.
- The bill is backed by Ukraine's Ministry of the Digital Transformation.
- Ranked by Chainalysis, a blockchain analytics company, Ukraine leads its global crypto adoption index of most active retail users of digital currencies. Ukrainians disproportionately use cryptocurrencies for cross-border payments, as investments, and for savings.
- With the bill's passage, Ukrainian courts would not consider virtual assets to be legal tender, and Ukraine's Ministry of the Digital Transformation would handle regulatory concerns such as service providers' registration for operation, establishing oversight into ownership structures to protect user's data, and enforcing anti-money laundering (AML) practices.
- The ministry reportedly collaborated with the country's crypto community for drafting the bill.
Coindesk
| |
MicroStrategy (NASDAQ:MSTR) plans to raise $400M in a private offering of convertible senior notes. We have covered the media fanfare for this otherwise moribund company using some of its cash to buy bitcoin for months here at Inside Cryptocurrency, noting how its CEO has promoted his stock price from $124 before the purchase of bitcoin, to $135 the day after, and to a staggering $336 today. This raise will likely be oversubscribed. Was it really about bitcoin after all? - On Dec. 7, 2020, MicroStrategy removed any doubt, proposing convertible senior notes due 2025 and worth approximately $400M during a private offering open to institutional buyers. The notes would be unsecured senior obligations of the company and mature in December 2025, according to the proposal.
- That $400M is over one-third the value of the entire company prior to MicroStrategy's initial purchase of bitcoin.
- The Virginia-based company says it will invest the proceeds from the offering in bitcoin (BTC), which it considers a "primary treasury reserve asset" since Sept. 11, 2020.
- Coinbase Prime recently announced facilitating MicroStrategy's $425M worth of bitcoin investment in two consecutive tranches.
- The company holds about 40,824BTCs ($782M at the time of writing) in total after purchasing more bitcoin on Dec. 4, 2020.
Bloomberg
| |
 A message from VETTERY Planning your 2021 recruitment strategy? Work smarter, not harder in 2021. There’s no denying that the current hiring landscape is fragmented, complex, and full of frustrations. As you plan for 2021, it's time to take a moment to reflect on your current strategies and evaluate how you can work smarter, not harder in the new year. Vettery is here to break down the different stages of the recruitment journey and share five potential paths for hiring success in 2021 (includes checklists, analysis of different strategies & more). Download their guide to see what strategy is right for you. Download Now
| |
JD.com (9618.HK) says it will be the first major, online mall to utilize digital yuan. - Terminology: Chinese fiat has three interchangeable names: renminbi (RMB), Chinese yen (CNY), and yuan (¥). The People's Bank of China (PBoC) issues China's central bank digital currency (CBDC) called "digital yuan" or its preferred name, Digital Currency/Electronic Payment (abbreviated DC/EP or DCEP).
- One of the largest Chinese e-commerce companies, JD.com Inc., plans to launch a pilot program via its fintech affiliate JD Digits later this month to utilize digital yuan, according to Bloomberg.
- JD.com is China's second-largest online retailer after Alibaba (9988.HK) and Alibaba's Tmall.
- JD.com made the announcement on its Chinese WeChat account.
More: - Shenzhen has been piloting digital yuan for months. Suzhou city's municipal government is giving away double the amount involved in the Shenzhen trial, worth $3M, in the form of a lottery for its residents on Dec. 11.
- The Postal Savings Bank of China, Bank of Communications, and thousands of shops and retailers, including JD.com, will continue participating during the Suzhou trial.
- According to China's central bank governor Yi Gang, the bank has transacted hundreds of millions of USD-equivalent values of Chinese DCEP.
Bloomberg
| |
House Financial Services Chair recommends President-elect Biden withdraw crypto guidance issued by the OCC. - Rep. Maxine Waters, Chair of the House Financial Services, sent Joe Biden a 45-page list of recommendations to "reverse the predecessor's mistakes," including the cryptocurrency guidance issued by U.S. OCC.
- Rep. Waters is the latest official to criticize the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency's focus on cryptocurrencies after Reps. Rashida Tlaib and Stephen Lynch — in a letter co-signed by Deb Haaland, Ayanna Pressley, Jesús García, and Barbara Lee — scrutinized the "unilateral actions" published last month.
- Among several policy statements and final rules, Rep. Waters said that the proposed rule of "Fair Access to Financial Services" utilizes a highly questionable statutory authority.
- Waters recommended withdrawing the guidance, which allows national banks to hold stablecoin reserves as a service to customers.
- Waters also suggests that the President-elect's team consider nullifying guidance that allows federally chartered banks and thrift shops to provide crypto custodial services.
Coindesk
| |
QUICK HITS: - FastSpring helps software companies increase global sales by 30% or more. Ready to get started? Sign up for your free trial of FastSpring today!*
- Michael Corbat, CEO of Citigroup (NYSE:C), revealed in an interview with Bloomberg that the bank is collaborating with governments to create and issue central bank digital currencies (CBDCs). Corbat, who is leaving his position in February 2021, did not specify which government is collaborating with Citibank, but remains in favor of digital currencies.
- Researchers at Brazilian Mackenzie Presbyterian University published a paper in the light of the Market Efficiency and Behavioral Finance Hypothesis, indicating that bitcoin trading is globally efficient with real-time prices and implied volatility across the globe.
- Crypto asset fund managing company 3iQ received a green signal from the Canadian securities regulatory authorities on Dec. 3, for the issuance of shares up to $100M for its Ethereum Fund under the symbol QETH.U.
- The UN Human Settlements Programme and the UN Office of Information and Communications Technology partnered up with a hybrid blockchain-based platform, LTO Network, to provide an urban land registry solution called goLandRegistry to the government of Afghanistan.
- Brain Brooks, acting U.S. Comptroller of the Currency, reassured that there would be no bans concerning cryptocurrencies at President Trump's end of the term during an interview with CNBC. The OCC also said that the Treasury is trying to balance the innovation brought by bitcoin while preventing money laundering and terrorism financing.
- Planning your 2021 recruiting strategy? Download Vettery's guide to work smarter not harder in the new year (includes checklists, analysis & more!)*
*This is a sponsored post.
| |
 |  | 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. | |
| |
| |
