2020 YEAR-END REVIEW

12/31 PRICE / 2020 GROWTH
- BTC ($29,001): +302%
- ETH ($738): +463%
- XRP ($0.22): +14%
- UNI ($4.93): +40%
- Crypto Market Cap ($764B): +299% 
- BTC Dominance: 70%

12/31 MARKET CAP / 2020 GROWTH
- Tether ($20.9B): +406%
- USDC ($3.9B): +642%

2021 PRICE CHANGE: WTD/YTD

- BTC ($38,613): +17% / +33%
- ETH ($1,309): +59% / +77%
- XRP ($0.32): +42% / +47%
- UNI ($5.96): +16% / +21%
- Crypto Market Cap ($1.0T): +20% / +38% 
- BTC Dominance: 68%

STABLECOIN MARKET CAP CHANGE: WTD/YTD

- Tether ($24.2B): +13% / +16%
- USDC ($4.7B): +13% / +21%

THIS WEEK IN CRYPTO

- Bitcoin doubled in a little over 3 weeks hitting a price of $40,000. The market cap for the entire crypto industry has also passed $1 trillion for the first time in history. Link. Growing interest from wealthy investors and accredited institutions is said to be driving the price increase. Link. 

- The US Office of the Currency Comptroller is granting banks the ability to transact in stablecoins and use the tech in a similar way they use SWIFT and FedWire system. The announcement also paved the way for banks to use non-stablecoin currencies like bitcoin. Link. Link. The UK government also released a paper signifying the role stablecoins could play in retail and cross-border payments (including settlements). Link. 

- FinCEN, a bureau of the US Treasury Department, proposed new rules that would subject all wallets, including self-hosted or non-custodial wallets, to KYC and reporting requirements for transactions above $3,000. Exchanges would also need to submit records involving transactions worth more than $10,000 in a given reporting period. Coinbase, A16z, and others said they intend to challenge these rules in court if they pass. Link. 

- Network fees on Ethereum have climbed to over $17 per transaction, an all-time high in average network fees. Yield chasing on numerous DeFi platforms also contributed to the fee increases. Link. 

- The SEC is alleging that Ripple sold its cryptocurrency XRP as an unregistered security. More than two dozen exchanges have dropped support for the cryptocurrency since the lawsuit was made public, including Coinbase. Link. Tetragon, the lead investor of Ripple's $200 million Series C round, sued the company and wants to redeem its Series C shares. It also wants to block Ripple from using any cash or other liquid assets until it is repaid. Link. 

- $20 billion worth of cryptocurrencies is now locked up across various DeFi protocols. Maker, the issuer of the DAI stablecoin, locks up the highest amount compared to other projects. Link. 

- Investor Chamath Palihapitiya says that bitcoin is a hedge against global uncertainty, especially because the asset is largely untied to governmental authority or central banking monetary policy. He thinks Bitcoin is likely to reach $200,000 at some point. Link. 

- PayPal and Coinbase invested in crypto tax company, Taxbit. Taxbit already collaborates with exchanges like Gemini who use Taxbit services to offer better tax reporting on their platforms. Link. 

- Crypto exchange ShapeShift is now routing orders through DeFi applications in a bid to get rid of KYC regulations that gutted the trading platform back in 2018. Link. 

- YouTuber Mr Beast now owns a verified Brave publisher account. Viewers will be able to tip his channel with BAT tokens - the native Brave browser cryptocurrency. Link. 

- Bitcoin futures trading volumes reached over $1 trillion in December, increasing 21% from November and hitting an all-time high. Binance had the most futures trading volume for Bitcoin, followed by Huobi and OKEx. Link. 

- Daily trading volumes on decentralized exchange Uniswap hit an all-time high of $780 million trading per day. Link.