BitDigest - Monday January 4, 2021
Bitcoin and ether break $34,500 and $1,100 respectively before sliding in early morning trading
FinCEN plans to require all citizens to declare foreign crypto accounts
Congressional leaders request delay to Treasury’s KYC requirements on self-custody wallets
(Belated) Happy Birthday Bitcoin
Yesterday, January 3rd, was the twelfth anniversary of the bitcoin Genesis Block. Thanks you Satoshi.
Market Responds to XRP Charges (continued)
Additional exchanges have decided to halt trading of XRP due to the recent SEC law suit:
Digital currency lender and trading operation Genesis informed clients that all XRP spot purchases were halted on December 29th with existing clients having until January 15th to sell any XRP holdings. New XRP loans will no longer be originated and all open loans will be called. The XRP derivatives business will continue and Genesis plans to stop accepting new XRP deposits in its custody business.
Social trading platform eToro announced US customer XRP trading will be suspended starting January 3rd with customers having until January 24th to close all open positions.
Binance’s US operation announced plans to suspend XRP trading and deposits on January 13th.
🅱️ There has been no word from Gemini or Grayscale, however given Genesis’ announcement (above), it is likely we will hear a decision on Grayscale plans to manage the assets in the XRP Trust (last valued at $8.4 million) shortly.
A class action lawsuit has been filed in San Francisco federal court alleging that Coinbase knew XRP was a security and illegally sold the tokens misleading investors and garnering a commission for the digital currency exchange.
The Headlines
Overseas Crypto Holdings Held by US Citizens Will Need to Be Reported
The Department of Treasury’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) issued announced its intention to add a new requirement to the Bank Secrecy Act requiring any account holding over $10,000 in digital currencies in a foreign jurisdiction to be reported.
Congressional Leaders Ask Treasury for Delay Regarding Self-Hosted Wallet Legislation
Members of Congress have written to US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin asking him to extend the public comment period for the proposed rules on KYC for self-hosted wallets from 15 days (this week) to 60 days (late February) and subsequently consider an extension of implementation for the legislation by potentially six months to allow stakeholders to properly implement any requirements.
Shenzhen Plans New DCEP Give-away
The Southeastern Chinese city of Shenzhen announced plans to give away 20 million digital yuan ($3 million) via a lottery allowing local residents to spend the DCEP at shops, restaurants and supermarkets.
Proposal to Establish Blockchain Coordination Office within Department of Commerce
Representative Darren Soto (D-FL) filed new legislation looking to establish an office within the Department of Commerce to coordinate all non-defense related deployment and activities related to blockchain technology within the Federal Government.
BitGo Settles with Treasury after Breaking US Sanctions
Bitgo announced it has settled charges with the US Department of Treasury that the institutional crypto custodian violated US sanction programs by providing custody to clients in the Ukraine, Cuba, Iran and Syria.
Ebang to Launch Crypto Exchange in Q1
📈 Ebang International (NASDAQ: EBON) has completed testing of its digital currency exchange and expects to launch the new platform during the first quarter of 2021 in an efforts to expand its operations away from crypto mining.
VanEck Refiles Bitcoin ETF Paperwork
ETF and mutual fund manager VanEck has re-filed its application for a bitcoin ETF with the Securities and Exchange Commission in the hopes of being the first ETF offered product.
Market Data
78% of the Circulating Bitcoin Supply Is Illiquid
Glassnode’s analytics suggests that less than 23% of bitcoin’s circulating supply is liquid with only 4.2 million bitcoin ($125 billion) in constant circulation.
Grayscale AUM Breaks $20 Billion
🐦 📈The year-end rise in digital currencies has brough total assets under management for leading digital currency asset manager Grayscale to over $20 billion.
Exchange, Custody and Product News
US based digital currency exchange Bittrex plans to halt trading of privacy coins Monero (XMR), Zcash (ZEC) and DASH on January 15th and will provide users up to 30 days to withdraw any of the delisted coins from its platform.
Thoughts on the Ecosystem
Former Merrill Lynch chief economist and noted market bear David Rosenberg believes bitcoin’s trading activity is ‘highly abnormal’ and suggests the digital currency is the largest market bubble looking to burst today.
In order to unsubscribe, click here.
If you were forwarded this newsletter and you like it, you can subscribe here.
Created with Revue by Twitter.
BitDigest is a weekday news update on digital currencies and blockchain technology for friends and partners of Parsons & Whittemore, a single family office based in Rye Brook, New York. Receipt of BitDigest is by approval of the Author. The commentary, analysis, opinions and recommendations in this newsletter represent the personal and subjective views of the Author, and are subject to change at any time without notice. The information provided in this newsletter is obtained from sources which the Author believes to be reliable. However, the Author has not independently verified or otherwise investigated all such information. Neither the Author nor any of the Author's affiliates make any guarantee or other promise as to any results that may be obtained from reading this newsletter. While past performance may be analyzed in this newsletter, past performance should not be considered indicative of future performance. No reader should make any investment decision without first consulting his or her own financial advisor and conducting his or her own research and due diligence. The Author is not making a solicitation or offer to buy or sell any securities of any kind.