PRICE CHANGE: WTD/YTD

- BTC ($36,009): -7% / +24%
- ETH ($1,226): -6% / +66%
- XRP ($0.28): -13% / +28%
- UNI ($9.16): +54% / +86%
- Crypto Market Cap ($1.0T): -4% / +33% 
- BTC Dominance: 66%

STABLECOIN MARKET CAP CHANGE: WTD/YTD

- Tether ($24.4B): +1% / +16%
- USDC ($5.1B): +8% / +31%

THIS WEEK IN CRYPTO

- Grayscale Investments, a leading crypto asset management firm, raised over $700 million on Jan 15 from institutional investors, its largest single asset raise day ever. In Q4 2020 the company brought in $3.3 billion across a range of products. Link. 

- A bipartisan group of House legislators reintroduced the Financial Tech Protection Act, which seeks to establish a task force to fight crypto-financed criminal activity. The bill has passed the House twice, but failed to pass the Senate both times. Link. Though illicit transactions make up only 1% of all crypto activity, crypto-financed crimes remain an issue. The most recent example came during the January 6 riot at the Capitol. According to Chainalysis an anonymous French donor sent over $500,000 in BTC to 22 far-right activists and internet personalities who were present at the Capitol. Link. 

- Creditors of bankrupt crypto exchange Mt. Gox will have the option to claim up to 90% of the exchange's remaining bitcoin. It is not clear how many bitcoins are left for creditors to claim. Mt. Gox was a major early bitcoin exchange that filed for bankruptcy in 2014 after admitting it had lost 850,000 in bitcoins, 750,000 of which belonged to its customers. Link. 

- Polkadot's DOT token became the fourth-largest coin in terms of market cap at $13.5 billion, surpassing XRP at about $13.3 billion. Link. 

- Coinbase customers can now user CoinTracker to report crypto transactions and sales. It can be used by individuals and accountants or as part of a tax filing software program like TurboTax. In November, the IRS said it would take a stronger position against Coinbase users who fail tax reporting requirements for crypto. Link. 

- Turkey becomes the latest country to plan to pilot a central bank digital currency in the second half of 2021. Although 80% of central banks are considering CBDC, only a handful like Sweden, China, and the Bahamas have progressed to pilot phase/soft launch. Link. 

- Gemini Exchange is launching a credit card with 3% cashback rewards paid in bitcoin. Gemini's card will operate as an ordinary credit card and will be available to US residents in every state. Link. 

- Coinbase unveils Asset Hub, a streamlined way for issuers to list their assets on Coinbase. The launch comes nearly a month after Coinbase submitted a confidential S-1 filing with the SEC. Link. 

- Miami Mayor Francis Suarez sat down with Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss to discuss bitcoin and bringing crypto innovation to Miami. Suarez has been increasing efforts to bring tech innovations from the Bay Area to Miami. Link. 

- Ribbit Capital leads a $15 million Series A for Indian crypto exchange CoinSwitch Kuber. CoinSwitch Kuber says it had over one million users within 7 months of its launch, and expects to have 10 millions users in the first year. Link. 

- A new video raises questions about whether the dollar-pegged USDT stablecoin from Tether is partially backed by bitcoin. Tether has previously faced scandal when Bitfinex, Tether's sister company through shared ownership and execs, had lost close to $1 billion after it had borrowed from Tether's reserves when its accounts were frozen and funds seized. Link. 

- Crypto exchange Coinbase has invested in the seed round of mining software and services company Titan. The mining pool is beta testing through the end of February. Link. 

- Joker's Stash, one of the longest-running market places for stolen credit cards is shutting down next month after making over $1 billion in bitcoin over the years. Link. 

- Bahrain-based crypto exchange Rain Financial has raised $6 million in Series A funding from Coinbase and others. The exchange received its license in 2019 after a 2 year regulatory hurdle. Link. 

- Coinbase's former Chief Compliance Officer, Jeff Horowitz, is joining BitGo as its new CTO. His hiring comes shortly after BitGo settled with the US Treasury over charges that the firm facilitated users in sanctioned areas to transact using its crypto wallet services between 2015 and 2019. Link.