| Bitcoin | $19,225 | 7 day: +0.6% | | Ethereum | $586 | 7 day: -0.3% | | All crypto | $560B | 7 day: -1% | | Bitcoin dominance | 63.4% | 7 day: +0.8% | Prices as of 5 p.m. EST
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China has given away $3M worth of its digital yuan in Suzhou city as part of a previously announced awareness campaign. China's central bank digital currency (CBDC) is called "DCEP." - Approximately 10,000 Suzhou residents received Chinese digital currency known worth about $30 per person, based on a lottery drawing from Dec. 11, 2020.
- In contrast to the brick-and-mortar DCEP giveaway held in Shenzhen city in Oct. 2020, Suzhou's winners are allowed to spend their 20M digital yuan online and offline.
- Three Chinese internet retailers participated: DiDi, China's Uber-like ride-hailing app; Bilibili (NASDAQ:BILI), a video-streaming platform, and Tencent's (0700.HK) Meituan (3690.HK) food delivery app.
- Local news reports that Suzhou residents can activate their DCEP wallets with the Bank of China (3988.HK) and then proceed to spend their digital yuan balance at either of the three above-mentioned online platforms, or various brick-and-mortar retailers.
- The Suzhou test coincided with the Chinese annual shopping festival called Double 12 .
- Bloomberg also reported on other collaborations between Didi, Meituan, and Bilibili with the People's Bank of China.
Decrypt 
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A botnet is infecting vulnerable PostgreSQL databases running on Linux servers with cryptomining malware, warned researchers from Palo Alto Networks' Unit 42. The PGMiner botnet bombards internet-linked databases with brute-force attacks and deploys malware that mines for Monero cryptocurrency. More from Unit 42: - PostgreSQL is among the most used open-source relational database management systems for production environments.
- The PGMiner attackers exploit a disputed remote code execution vulnerability in PostgreSQL databases.
- PGMiner constantly reproduces itself by recursively downloading certain modules.
- None of the vendors on VirusTotal are able to detect PGMiner.
This story first appeared in Inside Security. You can read the full issue here. ZDNET
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Sweden plans a two-year digital krona review before any public launch. - Sweden's financial markets minister Per Bolund suggested the review could conclude by November 2022 under the leadership of Anna Kinberg, former chairwoman of the Riksbank finance committee.
- A digital currency pilot project in collaboration between the Central Bank of Sweden and consulting giant Accenture Plc. (NYSE:ACN) is already underway.
- Riksbank indicated that Swedes continue to reduce their cash usage, setting record lows this year as the pandemic encouraged the use of cards or Swish (a mobile payment system) instead of cash.
- Riksbank will continue looking into an e-krona to solve economic problems caused by the decline in cash.
Bloomberg
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MicroStrategy (NASDAQ:MSTR) raised $650M through a convertible senior note offering to fund bitcoin purchases. - MicroStrategy's (NASDAQ:MSTR) proposed convertible senior notes offering worth $400M was oversubscribed, so it upsized the raise to $650M.
- The amount included an additional $100M granted to the initial purchaser of the senior convertible notes.
- According to a MicroStrategy press release, the total proceeds after taking away the initial purchaser's discount amounted to $634.9M.
- Even now, the participants in the MicroStrategy notes offering remain undisclosed.
- The company referred to purchasers as qualified institutional buyers in their press release.
The Block Crypto
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Vladimir Putin signs a decree to implement digital assets provisions requiring public officials to disclose cryptocurrency holdings. - On Dec. 10, 2020, President Vladimir Putin signed an order that would make any public worker working under the government fully disclose their cryptocurrencies, including digital assets held by spouses and children.
- The last date to declare information regarding digital assets held is June 30, 2021.
- Last month, a Russian news outlet announced a series of amendments proposed by the country's finance ministry, indicating that undeclared crypto assets could result in fines exceeding 600,000 roubles ($8,200).
The Block Crypto
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The European Central Bank's Governing Council continues looking at the market implications of a potential digital euro. - The European Central Bank (ECB) published another statement on Dec. 11, 2020, announcing decisions regarding the ECB's monetary policies on a possible digital euro, which would "complement but not replace" cash.
- The governing council approved some developments related to Eurosystem's retail payments strategy.
- The announcement suggested that the Eurosystem is doubling down on its digital euro initiative, while also paying attention to the importance of the private sector's role in payment services.
- Last month, President of the ECB Christine Lagarde said that ECB was not racing to be the first to issue a CBDC and indicated that consultations would complete by January 2021.
European Central Bank
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- The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) moves its question as to whether a taxpayer traded cryptocurrencies to the top of its latest draft of the 1040 form, suggesting that the IRS is paying closer attention to cryptocurrency tax compliance.
- TheStreet founder and CNBC's "Mad Money" host Jim Cramer justified his bitcoin investment of undisclosed size by saying he wanted to diversify into all sorts of asset classes.
- A digital artist called Beeple sold three open edition Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs) for about $582,000 within minutes during an auction on Nifty Gateway, an NFT marketplace acquired by the Winklevoss twins.
- On Dec. 11, Michael Saylor, CEO of MicroStrategy (NASDAQ:MSTR), clarified that his company's recent bitcoin purchases and holdings of bitcoin do not make MicroStrategy a bitcoin exchange-traded fund (ETF) nor an investment company.
- The CEO of Fidelity Investments, Abby Johnson, spoke in favor of bitcoin and indicated that Fidelity Digital Asset's cryptocurrency custodial business is enjoying success during her interview with Barron's.
- Antoni Trenchev, co-founder of Nexo, a financial institution for digital assets, promoted bitcoin during an interview with Bloomberg.
- The Bitwise 10 Crypto Index Fund (BITW), which recently opened to U.S.-based investors on the OTCQX tier, surged about 23% on Dec. 11, 2020, Bloomberg reported. It closed another 20% higher today.
- Investment banking and financial services holding company JPMorgan Chase & Co. (NYSE:JPM) indicated that MassMutual's $100M worth bitcoin purchase opened doors to more institutional demands and family offices investments in the coming years.
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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 | Charlotte Hayes-Clemens is an editor and writer based in Vancouver. She has dabbled in both the fiction and non-fiction world, having worked at HarperCollins Publishers and more recently as a writing coach for new and self-published authors. Proper semi-colon usage is her hill to die on. | |
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