| Bitcoin | $34,527 | 7 day: +9.7% | | Ethereum | $1,047 | 7 day: +1.6% | | All crypto | $911B | 7 day: +5.9% | | Bitcoin dominance | 69.1% | 7 day: +1.2% | Prices as of 4:30 p.m. EST
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A U.S. federal judge reversed a previous decision to dismiss a class-action lawsuit against Overstock (NASDAQ:OSTK) regarding its digital securities exchange, tZero. - Utah District Court Judge Dale Kimball undid his own decision to dismiss a class-action lawsuit filed by Mangrove Partners Master Fund against e-commerce retailer Overstock .
- Judge Kimball granted investors' Oct. 23 request to file an amended consolidated complaint, which was attached as an exhibit that he overlooked and includes new evidence claiming Overstock and then-CEO Patrick Byrne were aware of major financial problems.
- In March 2020, Overstock shareholder John Murphy filed a lawsuit seeking records under Section 220 of Delaware General Corporation Law, alleging that former CEO and Founder Patrick Byrne's resignation was a scheme to allow him to sell roughly $90M of stock.
- The Mangrove Partners' lawsuit alleges that Overstock was involved in market manipulation by its security token on tZero's airdrop as a "digital dividend" distribution.
- A consolidated suit names Byrne, ex-CFO Gregory Iverson, and president of retail David Nielson for violating securities laws during Byrne's departure.
- Plaintiffs alleged that the OSTKO airdrop was a timed plan to liquidate 20% of Byrne's shares onto an inflated market.
Law360 
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 European customers of eToro complain about the "abrupt closure" of their leveraged crypto positions amid cryptocurrency volatility. - Customers of the cryptocurrency brokerage eToro reportedly received an email on Jan. 8 warning that leveraged crypto positions could be closed without warning.
- eToro clarified that customers would have to immediately add funds to safeguard their positions from forced liquidation.
- Within just four hours, the CFD trading provider liquidated positions below 100% margin on behalf of its customers.
- eToro customers are asking for refunds from the Cyprus-based broker.
- Some negatively affected customers have approached Cyprus Securities and Exchange Commission, requesting to revoke eToro's license.
Coindesk
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Dan Larimer has resigned as CTO of Block.One (EOS). Dan Larimer is the contentious creator of BitShares (BTS), Steemit (STEEM), Aspire (ASP), and various other crypto projects. - We have covered Dan Larimer here, here, here, and here at Inside Cryptocurrency.
- EOS is down 12% today, and Aspire is down 16%, as of the time of publication.
- Dan Larimer announced his resignation in a blog dated Jan. 10, 2021.
- Larimer is a co-defendant in several lawsuits associated with Block.One's EOS ICO, which raised approximately $4B and was charged by the SEC for being an illegal securities offering.
- In his blog post, Larimer did not reveal his plans for future endeavors, yet remained interested in "tools to secure people's freedom."
- A day before announcing his departure, Larimer shared views on his freedom of speech and censorship projects involving social media websites, suggesting that "every individual should be free to post anything they want."
The Block Crypto
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The U.K's finance ministry is opening a consultation window to speak with crypto and stablecoin companies regarding regulation. - The U.K's finance ministry believes that increasing cryptocurrency and stablecoin usage could create consumer risks.
- The ministry invites crypto companies to explain why certain activities should receive separate regulations versus traditional payment companies.
- The U.K. Economic Secretary indicated that regulatory authorities would subject crypto companies to a "same risk, same regulations" approach, saying this approach is a fair regulatory environment within the country.
- U.K based cryptocurrency exchanges with stablecoins will need to register with the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) regarding business activities
- Consultations are open until March 21.
The Block Crypto
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 BitMEX has onboarded most of its customers through a new Know Your Customer (KYC) verification program. - BitMEX claims that it has verified its entire active user base.
- Malcolm Wright, the chief compliance officer of the owner of BitMEX, 100x Group, says its "User Verification Programme" which was introduced in November 2020, asked users to verify their identity in order to trade, deposit, and withdraw funds. BitMEX originally provided a Dec. 4 deadline.
- The U.S. Dept. of Justice and the U.S. CFTC indicted company co-founders Arthur Hayes, Ben Delo, and Samuel Reed, filing charges against the platform and its operators for violating anti-money laundering (AML) regulations.
Coindesk
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QUICK HITS: - This company raised $9.3M to help orgs gift employees with glamping trips, Peloton bikes, and virtual sommelier lessons. Check out Blueboard's Experience menu.*
- Bitcoin crashed more than $10,000 from Sunday to Monday, a 24hr decline of roughly 25%.
- During this weekend's social media deplatformings of President Trump, Vladimir van der Laan, lead bitcoin repository maintainer, tweeted that he also has an account on FOSS-based, independently-hosted, decentralized social network called Mastodon.
- Chinese sports lottery company 500.com (NYSE:WBAI) announced that it would buy approximately $14M worth of bitcoin mining machines.
- Bitwise's assets under management (AUM) surpassed $500M, with $400M held in its well-known Bitwise 10 Crypto Index Fund (BITW). The announcement arrives two months after crossing $100M AUM in Oct. 2020.
- Over 30,000 companies are building their eCommerce apps all without writing a single line of code.*
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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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