🗞 Daily Crypto News & Video, January, 1st💰

Welcome to the Daily Crypto News: A complete News Review, Coin Calendar and Analysis. Enjoy!

🗞 Market Wrap: Bitcoin Closes 2020 Near Record Highs

Bitcoin (BTC) trading around $28,963 as of 21:00 UTC (4 p.m. ET), gaining 1.5% over the previous 24 hours. Bitcoin’s 24-hour range: $27,916.63 - $29,280.05 (CoinDesk 20)

https://static.coindesk.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/Screen-Shot-2020-12-31-at-3.57.24-PM-775x417.png?format=webp

The price rally puts bitcoin far ahead of traditional assets such as gold and stocks. The yellow metal has gained 25% this year, and the S&P 500, Wall Street’s benchmark index, has added 15%.

The year 2020 will go down in history as the period of bitcoin maturing as a macro asset, with prominent publicly-listed companies such as MicroStrategy diversifying their cash reserves into the cryptocurrency.

Ether outperforms bitcoin

Ether, the second-largest cryptocurrency by market value, has gained over 450% this year versus bitcoin’s 300% rally. The cryptocurrency rose to a 31-month high of $757 on Wednesday and was last seen trading at $730.

Ether received a boost from the decentralized finance’s explosive growth in 2020, and stronger gains could be in the offing next year.

🗞 Relax, Tether won’t be targeted by SEC, says Bitfinex CTO

Paolo Ardoino, the outspoken chief technology officer of Bitfinex, took to Twitter this week to dispel concerns that Tether could be the next target of the United States Securities and Exchange Commission.

In response to a tweet from CryptoQuant CEO Ki Young Ju, Ardoino said Tether adheres to strict Know Yor Customer/Anti-Money Laundering regulations set forth by the Treasury Department’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network, or FinCEN. In other words, people who say Tether is less regulated are just spreading “FUD”— or fear, uncertainty and doubt.

Ki Young’s original tweet said: “If SEC's next target is Tether, it's going to be very, very bad for this bull run as this market heavily relying on $USDT.”

While Ardoino isn’t wrong to point out Tether’s KYC/AML adherence, he doesn’t really address Ki Young’s central concern that the stablecoin may have skirted securities laws, especially if its dollar reserves are compromised.

🗞 FinCEN Wants US Citizens to Disclose Offshore Crypto Holdings of $10K+

The Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN), the U.S. Treasury Department wing tasked with monitoring potential legal violations of domestic financial laws, wants Americans to report if they have more than $10,000 in cryptocurrencies with foreign financial or virtual asset service providers.

FinCEN announced its intention to amend the Bank Secrecy Act’s Foreign Bank and Financial Accounts (FBAR) regulations in a rulemaking notice published on New Year’s Eve, just three weeks before the Treasury Department’s leadership is expected to change.

According to a brief notice published Thursday, “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 rule change would appear to bring FBAR rules around crypto holdings in line with cash held outside the U.S. by citizens or other U.S. persons. It could have the most visible impact on users of crypto exchanges like Bitstamp and Bitfinex.

At present, FBARs must be filed by individuals who have an aggregate of over $10,000 in foreign financial accounts, including currencies. Current regulations do not designate virtual currencies as an FBAR-reportable account, however. This amendment would end that exemption.

🗞 VanEck Has Refiled its Application For a Bitcoin ETF. Here’s Why

VanEck has refiled its application for a Bitcoin ETF. Its filing comes just a few days after the SEC chair left.

Is the SEC likely to approve its application?

Once more into the breach, dear friends! Investment firm VanEck has refiled its submission for a Bitcoin Exchange Traded Fund with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, one year after it withdrew its previous application.

VanEck withdrew its last attempt at an ETF on September 17, 2019, after several attempts were blocked by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The SEC has repeatedly blocked Bitcoin ETFs submissions because it believes the Bitcoin market is prone to manipulation, so no ETFs for anyone.

The VanEck Bitcoin ETF refiling comes at a time of transition at the SEC, with former chairman Jay Clayton having resigned on December 23, 2020; it could be that VanEck sees a chance with a new administration. Decrypt has reached out to VanEck and will update this article with any responses.

Decrypt asked Mati Greenspan, founder of Quantum Economics, about VanEck's chances of getting their Bitcoin ETF through. Greenspan said, "VanEck has by far been the most persistent about getting an ETF through the SEC but Clayton kept blocking it. It only makes sense for them to try again now that he's gone."

🗞 Daily Crypto Calendar, Janary, 1st💰

Atlant (ATL)

"On January 1, 2021, new tokens will appear on our account - UVAS and KARTA."

NavCoin (NAV)

NavCoin Core 6.0 release featuring its new private token, xNAV.

XIO (XIO)

"$Flash tokens + flashstaking DAPP released for mainnet"

Bitpanda Ecosystem Token (BEST)

Monthly BEST Reward.

Kambria (KAT)

No additional information.

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