Cryptocurrency Monthly News: December 2019

UPBIT

HACK

— UPBIT was hacked and millions of dollars of ETH were moved to unknown wallets

India's

Taxes

— India’s tax department is secretly training its officials to investigate cryptocurrencies

Milestones & Events

1 December Dec.

Two Texas representatives proposed a piece of legislation that would classify stablecoins (including Facebook’s Libra) as securities

2 December Dec.

A data scientist in India showed it was possible for AI to make real-time crypto market predictions using deep learning methodology

3 December Dec.

Crypto exchange Upbit was hacked, millions of dollars of ETH were moved to unknown wallets

7 December Dec.

Ukraine passes robust crypto legislation inspired by FATF

9 December Dec.

Huobi’s US-based crypto trading platform HBUS ceases operation

12 December Dec.

Binance launched a fiat gateway for Latin America

17 December Dec.

Two Russians charged with mining crypto on state hardware

19 December Dec.

Binance makes strategic investment in crypto derivatives exchange FTX

23 December Dec.

Chinese authorities confiscate nearly 7,000 crypto mining machines

24 December Dec.

Binance DEX adds the BNB/ETH trading pair

25 December Dec.

Crypto YouTubers speak out as YouTube deletes their content

27 December Dec.

Everyone thought Vitalik was selling a bunch of ETH, but it wasn’t him

December market stats From Coin360

Numbers of the month

1 billion

the number of XRP tokens Ripple moved from its escrow wallet — to move them back seven min later

$8.9 billion

the new record for the amount of money moved on the Bitcoin blockchain within a single hour

$2.8 billion

the total value of financial bonds that the Chinese government moved with blockchain technology

66%

the amount of total hashpower Chinese miners have on the BTC network

Quotes

Turkey is a vibrant country that has illustrated one of the strongest demands and fast-growing interest in crypto

Changpeng “CZ” Zhao

Binance CEO

I feel sorry for them. I have a son that’s 27. I hope they can turn their smarts into something more beneficial

Victim of crypto fraud

speaks about the hackers

For the United Nations to deliver better on our mandate in the digital age, we need to embrace technologies like blockchain that can help accelerate the achievement of Sustainable Development Goals

António Guterres

UN Secretary General

Merry Christmas to you also @YouTube. Apparently a video I posted two years ago on researching crypto is now illegal...Rules are changing

Node Investor

Buzz of the month

Upbit was hacked, millions of ETH moved.

Wherever there’s money, they’re bad guys chasing it.

Bakkt CEO Kelly Loeffler appointed to the US Senate

Steven Mnuchin doesn’t expect the US to issue a digital dollar within the next five years

Ex-Bitmain chip designer reportedly arrested for embezzlement

Fidelity launches a digital asset service

Adoption & Tech

Central Bank of China says digital yuan will be different from Bitcoin.

The country is the latest to emerge as a fan of blockchain technology.

Country-level

Lithuania, Switzerland, Venezuela, and more

British Virgin Islands announce US dollar-backed digital currency

Lithuanian Central Bank announces Blockchain Collector Coin

Regulated Swiss crypto bank Seba expands services to nine new countries

Venezuela and Argentina set new weekly P2P Bitcoin volume records

Russia’s Central Bank is testing asset-pegged stablecoins

Sweden’s central bank to partner with Accenture and launch e-Krona

Enterprise-level

Microsoft, TicTok, Gaming and more

The secret to driving crypto adoption is… gaming?

Major Asian shipping terminal joins IBM’s and Maersk’s blockchain platform

Diamond mining company Alrosa is putting diamonds on the blockchain with help from China’s Tencent

Microsoft revives non-fungible tokens and sparks the industry’s imagination

TikTok owner reportedly working with Chinese state media on blockchain

Ripple-based remittance firm SendFriend claims to save up to 80% in fees

Major regulation updates

Updates:

Restrictive

Permissive

Drafts:

Restrictive

Permissive

Drafts or updates or both:

BOTH Restrictive and
Permissive

Official Updates:
Restrictive and Permissive

France

France’s financial regulator grants the country’s first approval for an ICO

South Korea

South Korea seeks to tax crypto transactions as capital gains

Sweden

Swedish financial regulators have given crypto firm Amun approval to offer its exchange-traded products to investors in Sweden and the EU

Denmark

Danish court upholds the Nordea Bank’s ban on employees owning Bitcoin or other cryptos

USA

US SEC imposes $250,000 penalty for running an unregistered ICO

Uzbekistan

Uzbekistan bans people from buying cryptocurrency

Abkhazia

Government of Abkhazia to intensify its identification of crypto farms

Restrictive

Denmark

Danish court upholds the Nordea Bank’s ban on employees owning Bitcoin or other cryptos

USA

US SEC imposes $250,000 penalty for running an unregistered ICO

Uzbekistan

Uzbekistan bans people from buying cryptocurrency

Abkhazia

Government of Abkhazia to intensify its identification of crypto farms

Permissive

France

France’s financial regulator grants the country’s first approval for an ICO

South Korea

South Korea seeks to tax crypto transactions as capital gains

Sweden

Swedish financial regulators have given crypto firm Amun approval to offer its exchange-traded products to investors in Sweden and the EU

Drafts and Ideas:
Restrictive and Permissive

USA

Majority Leader of California State Assembly pushes for legal clarity around blockchain technologies

China

Former China Central Bank exec to reportedly head new tech regulation division

USA

Securities regulator says crypto investments are a major investor threat

Restrictive

USA

Securities regulator says crypto investments are a major investor threat

Permissive

USA

Majority Leader of California State Assembly pushes for legal clarity around blockchain technologies

China

Former China Central Bank exec to reportedly head new tech regulation division

Educate your friends!

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