| Bitcoin | $19,060 | 7 day: unch | | Ethereum | $596 | 7 day: +0.9% | | All crypto | $566b | 7 day: -1.5% | | Bitcoin dominance | 62.3% | 7 day: +0.8% | Prices as of 2 p.m. EST
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 Visa (NYSE:V) announced its global network of 60M merchants can connect to U.S. Dollar Coin (USDC), a Circle- and Coinbase-backed stablecoin. - The market capitalization of USDC is $3B.
- USDC is ostensibly backed by USD reserves on a 1:1 basis.
- Visa will help "select Visa credit card issuers" to integrate USDC software into their platforms in order to send and receive USDC-linked payments.
Forbes 
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 Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg Facebook's Libra Association rebrands as Diem Association, announces new hires, and plans for a soft launch during 2021. - The Facebook (NASDAQ:FB)-led organization that handled Libra stablecoin efforts has rebranded to Diem and made substantial changes to its leadership team, according to a Dec. 1 blog post.
- Less than two years old, Libra initially attempted to launch one global stablecoin, but encountered significant resistance and sparked a U.S. Senate inquiry.
- Libra then pivoted into a strategy of multiple stablecoins, each tied to different fiat currencies.
- The announcement indicates the project's "maturity and independence," according to Facebook, which aims to separate the project from previous controversies.
- In the blog post, CEO Stuart Levey welcomed incoming executives Dahlia Malkhi as CTO, Steve Bunnel as Chief Legal Officer, Christy Clark as Chief of Staff, and Kiran Raj as Deputy General Counsel.
- With no news regarding Diem's exact rollout schedule, Diem assured readers that its stablecoins will launch only after securing regulatory approvals and licenses.
Diem Association
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 ECB President Christine Lagarde ECB's Lagarde said in an interview that stablecoins "threaten financial security" at broad levels of adoption. - In a recent article published by French magazine L'ENA hors les murs, acting president of the European Central Bank, Christine Lagarde, talked about the risks posed by cryptocurrencies.
- Lagarde suggested that cryptocurrencies fall short of "money" due to their highly volatile, illiquid, and speculative nature.
- President Lagarde also criticized private stablecoins and other rival assets to ECB's proposed digital euro, saying that they pose severe risks to financial stability and monetary sovereignty, if widely adopted.
- Stablecoin projects of global technology companies and their dominance could compromise data privacy, consumer choice, and Europe's competitive technological autonomy, according to the ECB President.
Coindesk
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 AllianceBernstein headquarters AllianceBernstein (NYSE:AB) changed its viewpoint regarding bitcoin (BTC) as an investable asset as it hit $20,000. - AllianceBernstein is a New York-based investment management and research company with $631B in AUM as of Oct. 31, 2020.
- Co-Head of Portfolio Strategy, Inigo Fraser Jenkins, suggested that bitcoin plays a role in asset allocation for the long-term.
- In a 2018 blog post, the company criticized cryptocurrencies by saying their "value proposition seems more elusive."
- Jenkins indicated post-pandemic changes to policies, debt levels, and diversification are among the reasons why bitcoin could become a worthwhile investment.
- With reduced volatility, bitcoin could become a store of value and a medium of exchange in the future, wrote Jenkins.
- Jenkins recommended that bitcoin account for 1.5% to 10% of some portfolios.
- His paper also mentions problems with bitcoin, such as criminal use, regulatory uncertainties, and substantial energy consumption due to mining.
Coindesk
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Bitcoin miner Canaan Creative (NASDAQ:CAN) lost $12.7M net during Q3 2020, quadruple its loss during Q2. - Hangzhou, China-based mining hardware manufacturer Canaan published an unaudited financial report indicating that it lost $0.54 per share during Q3, with net revenue falling about 5% since Q2.
- CFO Quanfu Hong suggested that mining hardware demand rose throughout Q3.
- Hong also indicated that Canaan would be delivering significant pre-sale orders for its best-selling miner during the next few quarters.
- Hong also believes that bitcoin's higher prices will translate into more buyers interested in buying Canaan's machines.
Coindesk
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- Barry Silbert's Grayscale indicated that on Nov. 30, 2020, its net Assets Under Management (AUM) for its bitcoin trust (OTCQX:GBTC) reached $10.2B, possessing approximately 3% of all circulating bitcoin.
- With Ethereum 2.0 "phase zero" complete and Beacon Chain live, the number of active Ethereum nodes now exceeds 11,396. (For context, there are approximately 10,960 nodes of bitcoin.)
- The governing body of USDC Coin (USDC), Centre Consortium, which was co-founded by Coinbase and Circle, appointed David Puth as its new CEO on Dec. 1, 2020. Puth worked for 19 years at JPMorgan Chase (NYSE:JPM).
- During a South Korean National Assembly meeting on Nov. 30, 2020, the legislative body decided to impose a 20% tax on cryptocurrency gains of more than $2,000 beginning no later than January 2022.
- Ian Rogers, former Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) Music senior director, has transitioned from his position of Chief "Digital" Officer at luxury brand LVMH (MC.PA). Rogers has accepted a position as Chief "Experience" Officer at Ledger, a manufacturer of cryptocurrency wallets.
- Gemini co-founders Tyler and Cameron Winklevoss called bitcoin the "best-performing asset of the decade" and forecasted further "25X gains," during a CNBC interview dated Nov. 30, 2020. That would value bitcoin the same as all mined gold in the world.
- Ebang International Holdings (NASDAQ:EBON) has closed its $21M follow-on offering.
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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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