 December 16, 2020  The top stories in bitcoin, crypto and more – all in one place, delivered daily. By Daniel Kuhn If you were forwarded this newsletter and would like to receive it, sign up here.
Top shelf It’s a good day to be a bitcoiner. The top cryptocurrency by market cap officially crossed the $20,000 level, according to CoinDesk’s Bitcoin Price Index.
Ruffer, a $27 billion London-based asset manager, allocated 2.7% of the firm's assets under management to bitcoin in November, according to a client memo. That’s some $744 million of fresh capital plowed into the top market cap crypto. "We see this as a small but potent insurance policy against the continuing devaluation of the world's major currencies," the firm said. Ruffer is the latest multi-billion fund manager to bet on bitcoin as an inflation-resistant hedge.
Building on ether The Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) announced Wednesday it will launch a futures contract on ether, the world’s second-largest cryptocurrency by market value, in February 2021. CME Group said it was “building on the success of bitcoin futures and options” launched three years ago, which has become synonymous with institutional trading. According to some, there’s a growing class of “ether-first” corporate traders.
Crypto checking New York-based Quontic Bank has become the first FDIC-insured financial institution to launch a bitcoin rewards checking program. Joining a long line of crypto rewards cards, this is the first that will be overseen by the U.S. Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC). Acting Comptroller Brian Brooks has hinted at more “good” actions on crypto by the end of President Trump’s term.
Quick bites
 Most influential Looking to make someone (or just yourself) happy this yuletide holiday? Give the gift of crypto art.
As part of the launch of Most Influential 2020 list, CoinDesk is auctioning off 12 original artworks that accompany this year’s list of honorees.
The NFTs were created by leading digital artists including Alotta Money, XCopy, Osinachi, Matt Kane, Sarah Zucker, Yonat Vaks and Olive Allen. They are available at Nifty Gateway and Super Rare (Matt Kane). The artists will donate 50% of the proceeds to charities of their choice, under an arrangement with cryptocurrency donations company The Giving Block.
Learn more about the Most Influential 2020 NFT art auction, running to Dec. 31.   The list Who moved the needle on crypto this year? What were the projects that mattered? Who shattered the glass ceiling and broke the mold?
From DeFi to bitcoin's late year surge, 2020 was full of big stories, trends and personalities. We've unveiled CoinDesk’s 2020 Most Influential list, a selection of 12 people who helped push the industry forward this year. See who made the list.
Market intel Fresh high  Monthly review The latest CoinDesk Monthly Review compares bitcoin’s November 2020 rally with the asset’s market and network performance three years ago and looks at some metrics on the progress toward the launch of Ethereum 2.0. Download the free CoinDesk Research November 2020 Review.
At stake Free Ross Rumor is President Trump may pardon Ross Ulbricht, the founder and administrator of the Silk Road darknet drug market, who is currently serving two consecutive life sentences plus 40 years without the possibility of parole. In 2015, Ulbricht was sentenced for crimes related to his $183 million darknet operation, including computer fraud, money laundering and drug charges. Silk Road was an open bazaar for merchants and buyers to commerce, with thousands of drug listings at its height for anything from marijuana to heroin.
Despite the obvious criminality of such a website, Ulbricht was a first-time offender accused of non-violent crimes. Many criminal justice activists think Ulbricht’s sentence is excessive while others point to evidence of a mishandling of justice at the procedural level. Over the past five years, a strong movement – spearheaded by Ulbricht’s mom, Lyn – has formed urging clemency for the 36-year-old self-taught coder.
On its face, there is a discrepancy between Ulbricht’s punishment and what might be expected. For instance, other Silk Road admins charged with similar offenses were given sentences varying from 17 months to six and a half years. Carl Ferrer, the chief executive of the sex trafficking site Backpage.com, was sentenced to up to five years in prison for money laundering and prostitution charges.
It’s been said the book was thrown at Ulbricht to discourage future online misbehavior, at a time when peer-to-peer technologies were presenting themselves as potential threats to the status quo.
The Silk Road was a fixture within the popular imagination while still up, becoming the first private-routing Tor site to have name recognition, and the first substantial use case for the internet-native currency bitcoin. Then there was the Dread Pirate Roberts, the site’s mysterious operator – who steered the website with an iron fist, and even allegedly hired out hitmen to neutralize threats to his identity and the Silk Road.
While the government tied Ulbricht to this online DPR moniker and accused him of attempted murder for hire, these charges were not part of his trial. In fact, one of the charges brought by Maryland prosecutors for commission of murder was dismissed with prejudice.
Still, in 2015, when penalties were being laid out, U.S. District Judge Katherine Forrest included these unproven allegations in her decision. (In 2016, an appellate court said these charges – which were not decided on by a jury – “significantly justified the life sentence.”)
Crypto legal mind Jake Chervinsky notes, “The government convicted Ross of certain (nonviolent) crimes, and then had him sentenced for different, unproven (violent) ones.” As it stands, Ulbricht has exhausted his options for legal recourse through the court system. His appeals have been denied, and the U.S. Supreme Court refused to hear his case. In April, Lyn Ulbricht told me the last remaining avenue for leniency would be through a presidential commutation.
Trump "can sign a piece of paper and Ross would walk out the door,” Lyn said in April.
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