December 7, 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 Singapore is funding blockchain R&D. Germany's second-largest stock exchange's crypto app saw $1.21 billion in trading volumes this year. Grayscale is seeing a growing number of "Ethereum-first" institutional buyers.
Ethereum investors
Bond concept Blockchain R&D Borse bulls Cross-border CBDC Mining revenue Cardano fork
SPONSORED BY HYPERLEDGER Hyperledger is an open-source project created to advance enterprise blockchain technologies. Register for a panel to celebrate the 5th anniversary this month.
Quick bites
Looking Back, Moving Forward: Crypto’s Most Influential in 2020 Each year since 2014, CoinDesk has identified the crypto community's “most influential” members. The community needed influencers to spread awareness, build confidence and set precedents for the digital currency industry to reach its full potential.
These evangelists broke through all the white noise and ushered in a new wave of enthusiasts into the space. To recognize their contributions, CoinDesk launched its “Most Influential” franchise to highlight individuals who moved the needle.
Over two days, Dec. 7-8, a special CoinDesk Live series looks back to the first list and takes stock of the industry’s progress, and zooms forward to reveal CoinDesks' seventh Most Influential list to recognize the latest pioneers who helped take the industry forward.
Watch CoinDesk Live: Most Influential 2020 on CoinDesk.com, YouTube and Twitter, Dec. 7-8.
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Market intel Shorts on Bitcoin traders on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange are taking on short positions, as the leading cryptocurrency floats around $19,000. Net short open interest for CME leveraged funds, or the total amount of outstanding contracts, hit record highs of $1.3 billion at the end of last month. The market’s total open interest in bearish positions decreased slightly in early November, though is still up from September levels. Short positions are a bet that bitcoin’s price will drop. 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 Push & pull In just under a year in office as Acting Comptroller of the Currency, Brian Brooks has pushed forward several pieces of guidance favorable to the cryptocurrency industry. In letters and statements, Brooks, former counsel for Coinbase, gave permission for nationally chartered banks to custody crypto, hold dollar reserves for stablecoin issuers and generally created a positive sentiment around the industry. But none of this guidance is binding. On Friday, U.S. Representative, and chair of the House Financial Services Committee, Maxine Waters published her own letter, calling for President-elect Joe Biden to undo, or monitor, much of Brook’s work.
“As you begin to carry out the mandate given to you by the American people to restore trust in the federal government, I would like to highlight several areas where you and your team should immediately reverse the actions of your predecessors,” she wrote. This would include rescinding crypto and stablecoin services from the banking mandate.
This push and pull seen in government – between the executive and legislative branches, between Democrats and Republicans, and between public guidance and actual law – brings into relief the need for crypto-first industry standards. Whether favorable or skeptical, if a decision comes on from down high, it will often lead to complications.
There are several self-regulatory focused groups in crypto, like the Gemini-led Virtual Commodities Association (VCA), as well as industry think tanks like Coin Center, that are doing meaningful work. The latest, a project between Bequant and Global Digital Finance, is looking to create “best practices” around decentralized finance (DeFi). The companies announced last month they would form an industry group with law firm Hogan Lovells, aiming to bring industry participants together “with the goal of bringing credibility and integrity to DeFi projects around the globe,” according to a press release. Uniform standards can help the industry grow, without running into burdensome regulations. The need for industry incubated standards is all the more relevant in light of Brooks’ proposals. Recently, the OCC chief proposed that banks be prevented from blacklisting certain politically charged, publicly vilified or legal but “at risk” businesses from banking services.
In a recent CoinDesk op-ed, J.P. Koning came out against the letter, saying that while it’s a noble attempt to stop “politically driven discrimination,” it would likely lead to a loss of diversity in services. “The underlying motivations are good ones,” Koning writes. Though it may not be for the best.
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