XRP Army Fils A Petition, Digital Yuan Giweaway + More News

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Legal news

• XRP investors have filed a petition against the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on December 29, claiming “irreparable harm and damages” that declaring XRP a security causes them. The petitioners argued that the SEC is not protecting the investors it’s tasked with protecting, and that the SEC complaint against Ripple is damaging to the holders of XRP. At the time of writing, 26,719 people had signed the petition, while 100,000 signatories are needed to move forward.

CBDCs news

• Citizens in Shenzhen, China, will receive another combined USD 3m in handouts as the central People’s Bank of China (PBoC) prepares to conduct another test for its forthcoming digital yuan token. Per an official announcement from the government of Shenzhen, 100,000 digital red envelopes will be distributed to residents as part of a lucky draw even that will see “winners” credited with around USD 30 worth of the new central bank digital currency. The winners will have until January 17 to spend their tokens at 10,000 retailers in Shenzhen. The event follows on from a similar giveaway that conducted in the city in October 2020.

Regulation news

• The US Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) announced its intention to amend the Bank Secrecy Act’s Foreign Bank and Financial Accounts (FBAR) regulations, which may see Americans having to report owning more than USD 10,000 in cryptoassets with foreign financial or virtual asset service providers. Currently, FBARs must be filed by individuals who have over USD 10,000 in foreign financial accounts. According to a brief rulemaking notice, “FinCEN intends to propose to amend the regulations implementing the Bank Secrecy Act (BSA) regarding reports of foreign financial accounts (FBAR) to include virtual currency as a type of reportable account.”
• The central bank of Kyrgyzstan, the National Bank of the Kyrgyz Republic, has unveiled plans to introduce two pieces of draft crypto-related legislation, and has indicated that it wants to police the nation’s exchanges. If enshrined into law, the bills would introduce a number of Anti-money Laundering and Combating the Financing of Terrorism (AML/CFT)-related regulations, per Sputnik Kyrgyzstan. They would also force exchanges to operate within a legal framework in a bid to fight crypto-related fraud, debut a crypto tax system, force exchanges to apply to the National Bank for operating permits and provide a legal definition for terms such as “cryptoasset.”

Investing news

• Bitwise Asset Management, a US-based provider of crypto index funds, said that it recently surpassed USD 500m in assets under management (AUM), after reporting USD 100m in AUM on October 28, 2020. The increased demand came primarily from Bitwise’s core audience, investment professionals, including financial advisors, hedge funds, corporate balance sheets, and other institutional investors, they said.
• Financial advisory and fintech organization deVere Group‘s CEO, Nigel Green, sold half of his bitcoin (BTC) holdings as it was rallying in December, he revealed in an announcement, his reason being that “it should now be treated as any other investment – that’s to say, where possible, it’s better to sell high and re-buy in the dips.” He added that, while the longer-term price trajectory for BTC is upwards, many traders will see record high prices as an opportunity to sell, “so we can expect some pullback on prices in the near-term.”

Adoption news

• The Ministry of Digital Transformation of Ukraine and the Stellar Development Foundation signed a Memorandum of Understanding and Cooperation, in order to develop a virtual asset market infrastructure and enhance Ukraine’s status as an innovative digital country in the financial market in Eastern Europe.

Blockchain news

• Hyundai’s Hyundai Mobis, the parts and service arm of the carmaker and conglomerate, has announced that it will launch a blockchain-powered service platform for Hyundai and Kia car parts. Per the DongA Ilbo, the platform, named Maps, will be made available to “65 million Hyundai and Kia vehicle” drivers “around the world.” The platform will be used to “manage the supply of 3 million parts” to be used in “more than 300 Hyundai and Kia models “in real-time.” Hyundai’s de facto blockchain arm, Hyundai BS&C, has also changed its name to HN as it repositions itself as an Industry 4.0-focused firm, reported IT Biz.

Exchanges news

• Blockchain technology company Ebang International Holdings Inc. has announced that it expects to commence public testing of its own cryptocurrency exchange and officially launch the exchange in the first quarter of 2021. The company will explore other business opportunities in the blockchain and cryptocurrency industry as well, such as establishing mining farms and cryptocurrency mining, said Chairman and CEO Dong Hu.
• Bittrex has announced that on Friday, January 15, it will be removing the following markets that include privacy coins: BTC-XMR, ETH-XMR, USDT-XMR; BTC-ZEC, ETH-ZEC, USDT-ZEC, USD-ZEC; and BTC-DASH, ETH-DASH, USDT-DASH, USD-DASH.

Mining news

• Marathon Patent Group, a major enterprise Bitcoin self-mining company in North America, said it has completed its previously announced USD 200m shelf offering by utilizing its at-the-market facility. As a result, the company ended the 2020 fiscal year with USD 217.6m in cash. Marathon intends to utilize the funds from this recent capital raise to pay for the miners it has purchased from Bitmain and to further grow the business.