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SPEEDY EXIT: Overnight, co-founder Ketuan “Micree” Zhan was stripped of his director role at not only Beijing Bitmain Technology, but the cryptocurrency miner maker's parent entity, BitMain Technologies Holding Company, corporate records show. Wolfie Zhao investigates how it was done. Full story

BITCOIN MOVE: Industry veteran Jonathan Wilkins, a co-founder of bitcoin tech startup Blockstream, is joining up-and-coming bitcoin brokerage River Financial as chief security officer. River is a bitcoin-only financial institution for buying and selling the digital currency (emphatically not an exchange), currently in invite-only mode. Full story

MILITANT MONEY: A Palestinian militant group took millions of dollars-worth of bitcoin donations to finance its operations, according to a new report. Obtained by the Jerusalem Post, the report from the Israeli International Institute for Counter-Terrorism (ICT) found the military wing of the Popular Resistance Committees (PRC) had been sent 3,370 BTC from overseas as a means to fund operations both in and out of the Gaza Strip. Full story

BLOCKCHAIN BILL: The World Economic Forum’s Global Blockchain Council is creating a “Blockchain Bill of Rights,” with a document already co-designed by some of the foremost leaders in the space. The goal is to align private-sector leaders, policymakers and consumers in a fundamental vision of how users can and should be protected as blockchain technology develops. Full story

GOOD START: London Stock Exchange-listed bitcoin mining firm Argo Blockchain says it took 10 times more revenue in 2019 than in the previous year. For its first full year of operations, the company said it generated £8.5 million (just over $11 million) in revenue, compared with £760,000 ($985,720) in 2018. Full audited finances are due in April. Full story

HEADED TO DAVOS? CoinDesk is sending a team of journalists to scrutinize the global elite as it meets for the annual World Economic Forum. It will be Davos, but through a lens of crypto and blockchain. Our daily dispatches will tell you what sessions you should attend, what you missed yesterday (or last night) and prep you for what people are talking about on the Promenade today. The CoinDesk Confidential newsletter will run for five days only, so be sure to sign up now. Catch the first edition here.

CRUCIAL SUPPORT: Bitcoin's rapid fall from Sunday's high of $9,200 looks to have come to a halt near $8,460, a level that’s been defended twice in the last 24 hours. As long as it holds, the bulls will have scope to push prices back to highs above $9,000. Conversely, if breached, the bull exhaustion signaled by Sunday's engulfing candle would gain credence and could attract stronger selling pressure. Full story

3 BILLION FACES: Clearview AI could meaningfully end digital privacy as we know it. The startup has developed a facial recognition app which pulls from a database of more than 3 billion images scraped from Facebook, YouTube, Venmo and other websites, the New York Times reports. What's more, federal and state law enforcement officials in the U.S. have already begun using the app. Read more

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