YEAR-END BITCOIN PRICE (YOY CHG) / ANNUAL HIGH

- 2010: $0.30 
- 2011: $5.10 (+1,600%) 
- 2012: $13.34 (+162%) / $15
- 2013: $805 (+5,937) / $1,084
- 2014: $318 (-61%) / $867
- 2015: $433 (+36%) / $461
- 2016: $986 (+128%) / $967 
- 2017: $13,484 (+1,268%) / $19,290 
- 2018: $3,782 (-72%) / $16,651 
- 2019: $7,243 (+92%) / $13,016

PRICE CHANGE: WTD/YTD

- BTC ($7,493): +4% / +4%
- ETH ($139): +6% / +6%
- LTC ($44): +6% / +6%
- XRP ($0.20): +3% / +3%
- Crypto Market Cap ($200B): +4% / +4%
- BTC Dominance: 68%

THIS WEEK IN CRYPTO

- The price of bitcoin jumped 5% after a US drone strike killed a top Iranian military commander, fueling speculation that increased geopolitical turmoil could spur demand for the currency in 2020. The price followed gains gold, which is traditionally seen as a safe-haven asset whose value is expected to hold in times of geopolitical or economic instability. Link. 

- Bitcoin ended 2019 up over 90%, making it the best performing asset class of the year. Gold was up approximately 19% for the year while the S&P 500 stock index was up roughly 29% (its largest annual gain since 1997). Gold and stock prices likely benefitted from the US Federal Reserve monetary easing, which led to three 25-basis point interest rate cuts in the second half and a balance sheet that expanded by more than $300 billion since mid-September. Link.  

- Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro has said the country has signed contracts to sell oil, steel, iron, aluminum, and part of its gold for its national cryptocurrency petro. Petro, a cryptocurrency pegged to the price of oil, was launched in 2018 as a response to international sanctions. According to Maduro the cryptocurrency has already been used by 6 million families in Venezuela to purchase goods and services during the New Year holidays. Link.

- The SEC has said that Telegram has refused to share financial details related to how it has spent money raised from its $1.7 billion token sale in 2017, information it wants as part of its ongoing investigation into the sale. The SEC sued Telegram in October 2018 for allegedly conducting an illegal sale of securities. Telegram raised the funds for creating its blockchain, Telegram Open Network (TON), which was expected to launch on October 31 but has been put on pause due to the SEC lawsuit. Link. 

- Ripple raised a $200 million Series C round led by Tetragon, and valuing the company at $10 billion. The startup focuses on improving cross-border payments and other money-transmitting activities using its cryptocurrency XRP and underlying blockchain tech, the XRP ledger. The capital will be used to expand its reach with financial institutions around the world. Link. 

- Youtube erroneously purged cryptocurrency related videos from its platform this week; it has since restored many of the removed videos though some users are still having issues accessing their videos. The error hit smaller channels and publishers, including many creators with educational crypto content. In September Google decided to ban bitcoin and crypto ads from its platforms. Link.  

- Google has restored MetaMask's Android app after suspending it from the app store last week. MetaMask is a browser extension that allows users to run Ethereum dapps. Google had initially suspended the app due to its policy of banning crypto mining apps; MetaMask was banned even though it doesn't offer mining services. MetaMask has an estimated 264,000 monthly active users. Link. 

- Craig DeWitt, director of product at Ripple, has launched a platform called xSongs that allows artists to sell their music in XRP and keep 100% of revenue. Artists upload their songs to the platform which runs a series of checks, including copyrights, and then fans can directly purchase these tracks using XRP. Ultimately DeWitt believes the platform can be used to sell any digital content, including e-books and art, directly from creators to fans. Link. 

- China's State Intellectual Property Office will subject patent applications for blockchain tech to new regulation that will take into consider not just technical features, but rather full blockchain solutions. China has submitted more than 12,300 blockchain-related patents according to records from global patent database incoPat; Tencent, Alibaba and ReeChain make up the top three applicants. Link. 

- Jens Weidmann, President of Germany's central bank and a policymaker with the ECB, has called on banks and the ECB to come up with a cheaper and faster payment solution to counter Libra. Germany's central bank is already experimenting with a digital currency that can be used for payment transactions between the central bank and commercial banks. China and Sweden are set to launch their national digital currencies soon. Link. 

- Chinese asset management firm Penghua Fund, with over $80 billion in assets under management, has filed to list a blockchain ETF in the country. This would be the first blockchain-themed fund in China.  A few weeks ago the Shenzhen Stock Exchange launched a Blockchain 50 Index, which is comprised of the top 50 blockchain-related stocks by market cap. Link. 

- The Bahamas is launching a digital currency pilot project. Residents of the island will receive mobile wallets to hold "Sand Dollars", a digital version of the Bahamian dollar. It is being called a digital fiat currency, not a stablecoin or cryptocurrency, and will will allow residents to pay retailers through wallet-linked QR codes, with banks moving funds in digital forms in the back-end. The project hopes to connect residents and businesses across a seamless digital payment infrastructure. Link.