| Bitcoin | $35,748 | 7 day: -12.8% | | Ethereum | $1,152 | 7 day: -6.6% | | All crypto | $993B | 7 day: -8.2% | | Bitcoin dominance | 67.9% | 7 day: -2.7% | Prices as of 10:55 a.m. EST
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 Source: Chainalysis U.S. feds are investigating bitcoin donations to right-wing groups shortly before last week's Capitol riots. - Yesterday, we noted Chainalysis' revelation that at least $500,000 worth of bitcoin was donated to alt-right celebrities the week prior to the Capitol riot.
- Chainalysis explained in a Thursday blog post that Nick Fuentes, the far-right celebrity who livestreamed the Capitol takeover, received a $250,000 bitcoin donation on Dec. 8.
- Other recipients included owners of alt-right sites and channels like Luke Smith, Patrick Casey, Unz.com, and Daily Stormer.
- New York Times reporters are investigating.
Chainalysis 
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 Coindesk highlights the features of Bitcoin Core version 0.21.0. We noted the launch on Jan. 7. Below are the major features of the software running the world's largest cryptocurrency. Highlights: - Bitcoin Core 0.21.0 supports Tor V3 addresses.
- Users may set precise fees denominated in satoshis, rather than estimations denominated in bitcoin.
- Consensus rules have changed for Taproot, which allows for smart contracts using Schnorr signatures.
- Taproot is fully live on bitcoin's signet, one of three official developer sandboxes. (Taproot will activate later this year, and most major mining pools have pledged support for Taproot.)
- The software supports a client-side, block-filtering system for "light clients" that do not download bitcoin's full blockchain.
- Bitcoin Core 0.21.0 supports descriptor wallets that use scripts instead of keys to execute functions.
- Bitcoin Core 0.21.0 supports SQLite.
Coindesk
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 A message from CISCO WEBEX Steer clear of video meeting bombs and work more efficiently with the all-new Webex. Remote team collaboration is hard. Luckily, the all-new Webex’s security-first approach is designed to make remote teams more efficient. Think secure video calls free of meeting bombers, the ability to record and transcribe those sessions, and of course, messaging and calling too. Learn more
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 FedDollar is years away. U.S. Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell confirmed the delay, saying it will take "years rather than months" before the Fed releases any CBDC. More: - At an online event hosted by Princeton University, Jerome Powell said, "We don't feel an urge or need to be first."
- In Powell's view, CBDCs could "become systemically important overnight."
- Indeed, by early morning on Sept. 17, 2019, the secured overnight financing rate reached $1.18T, an increase of $20B from the previous day, causing a near-collapse of the overnight repo market that could have bankrupted many of the world's banks within 24 hours.
- That morning at 9:30 a.m., the Fed added $53B in additional reserves using unique tools to the USD to prevent the collapse of the global financial system.
Coindesk
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 Bakkt is going public at a valuation north of $2B. Intercontinental Exchange, NYSE's parent company, owns the digital asset exchange. - Reporters say it is unclear how many users Bakkt has or its revenue. Bakkt projects 9M customers in 2022 with plans to generate $500M in total revenue.
- The exchange claims that would-be users of the exchange will be able to liquidate unused airline miles.
- The valuation "does feel rich," said early Bakkt investor and Galaxy Digital Founder Mike Novogratz.
- Bakkt will go public via SPAC, an incredibly popular way to avoid the traditional IPO process. We dedicated an entire edition to SPACs at the end of 2020 here at Inside.
The Block Crypto
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 BBVA (NYSE:BBVA) is launching a bitcoin custody service for EU-wide use through BBVA Switzerland. - BBVA has been working with Russian Gazprombank's SILO custody platform for the past six months, Coindesk's sources shared.
- BBVA will only support bitcoin initially but "plans to expand its offering" to other digital assets, without advisory services.
- With about $840B in assets, BBVA is Spain's second-largest bank, with branches worldwide.
- BBVA will conduct its bitcoin operations through its wholly-owned subsidiary in Switzerland that specializes in private international banking services.
BBVA
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- Tether's (USDT) bank has not been holding the USD that it originally promised; instead, it has been mostly investing in bitcoin. It also operates in one of the only countries with a 1:1 USD sovereign CBDC.
- Y Combinator's Paul Graham tweeted that people could choose bitcoin to deprive credit card companies of their power to deny payment processing services. Note: U.S. law requires credit card companies to deny payment processing services in some circumstances.
- Stefan Ingves, governor of Sweden's central bank, said that his Riksbank needs "new tools" to achieve its inflation target and to maintain concordance with the world's monetary dynamics. To that end, the bank is launching an e-krona.
- Standard Chartered (STAN.L) is launching a custodial service called Zodia Custody for institutional clients through a partnership with Chicago-based financial services company Northern Trust (NASDAQ:NTRS). After it obtains U.K. Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) approval, Zodia will launch in London.
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 |  | Curated by Associated Press fanboy, eye-strained news terminal watcher, and bitcoin follower since $1, Aaron Wise. Temporarily listening to news squawk boxes 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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