PRICE CHANGE WTD/YTD

- BTC ($4,101): +3% / -69%
- ETH ($115): 0%/ -84%
- LTC ($34): +10% / -85%
- XRP ($0.37): -5% / -81%
- Crypto Market Cap ($135B): +4% / -78%
- BTC dominance: 54%

THIS WEEK IN CRYPTO

- November was the worst-performing month in seven years for Bitcoin in terms of month-over-month price declines. The cryptocurrency saw a price decline of almost $2,400 during the month, a decrease of over 37 percent. As a result, the broader market suffered substantial losses in November, with just one of the world's largest 25 cryptocurrencies posting a monthly gain. Bitcoin SV, a fork from bitcoin cash, saw a 7.2 percent price increase during the month. Link. 

- Amazon announced the launch of two new blockchain services: Amazon Managed Service and Amazon's Quantum Ledger Database (QLDB). AMS is a fully managed service that allows users to create and manage blockchain networks using popular open source frameworks on the Hyperledger Fabric and Ethereum. QLDB is a fully managed ledger database that verifies transactions controlled by a central trusted authority. Link. 

- Harbor, the crypto and compliance platform helping companies tokenize private securities, launched its first offering -  a tokenized REIT representing a stake in a $20 million dorm project. Harbor has raised $38 million to bring tokenization to a wide spectrum of assets spanning from real estate to private equity to art. By tokenizing these illiquid assets, Harbor believes it can increase liquidity and improve compliance and transparency. Investors include Andreessen Horowitz, Pantera Capital, Craft Ventures, and Valor Equity. Link. 

- Coinbase announced that its Coinbase Pro platform would begin accepting deposits from both transparent and shielded Zcash addresses. Zcash is a privacy-focused cryptocurrency that allows users to control who sees the details of their transactions while still being recorded and verifiable on a public blockchain. Zcash (ZEC) ended the day up close to 12 percent. Link. 

- Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro announced its nation would create its own "petrocurrency," backed by reserves in oil, gas, gold and diamonds. The announcement came as Venezuela's currency continued its free fall - the currency has seen inflation of over 2,300 percent in 2018. Link. 

- Securitize, a platform for issuing asset-backed security tokens on the blockchain, raised $12.75 million in Series A funding. Blockchain Capital led the round and was joined by investors like Global Brain, Ripple's Xpring fund, and Coinbase Ventures. Securitize will help companies launch security tokens through a process that it calls a "Digital Security Offering," or DSO, and will help companies develop tokens and smart contracts and provide regulatory and investor services. Link. 

- A recent report indicates that Telegram, the messaging-app operator which raised $1.7 billion in its ICO, has developed roughly 70 percent of TON (Telegram Open Network). When it launches, TON will host other crypto applications on its network similar to Ethereum . The report does not indicate when the platform will go live. Investors in Telegram's token sale were slated to get their tokens (called Grams) as early as December, but the company doesn't expect to be listed on a major exchange until 2019. Link. 

- Fidelity Investments announced it was expanding its institutional crypto asset platform, Fidelity Digital Services, to include trading services for the top five to seven cryptocurrencies by market capitalization. When the platform was announced last month Fidelity was only offering custody and trading services for bitcoin and ethereum. The offering is expected to launch next year and will be available to Fidelity's 13,000-plus institutional clients. Link. 

- Fidelity's crypto venture fund has reportedly found a new managing partner and is back in action. Fidelity had announced the exploratory fund in 2017 to invest in crypto-related assets and companies but the fund became inactive earlier this year when its two partners left to start their own crypto VC fund. The revival of the crypto fund comes soon after Fidelity announced the launch of Fidelity Digital Assets, a custody and services business for digital assets. Link. 

- One of the world's largest crypto exchanges, Hong Kong-based OKEx, changed the terms on $135 million of derivative contracts without consent from traders, underscoring the risks of using unregulated digital exchanges. OKEx forced the early settlement of its Bitcoin Cash contracts without warning on November 14th, just as prices were tumbling. The exchange said it acted without notifying clients to reduce the risk of market manipulation, and made the decision to protect customers from the volatility associated with the Bitcoin Cash hard fork. Some institutional investors and traders lost hundreds of thousands due to the forced settlements. Link. 

- With crypto prices down significantly since the beginning of the year, there are growing concerns that crypto hedge funds will begin shutting down due to high water mark issues and high redemptions. The high water mark means that fund managers will not be able to receive their performance fee until they can recoup losses. Given the dramatic decline in crypto prices, it's expected that many fund managers won't receive performance fees until they are able to 2-4x increase the net asset value of the fund from current levels. Link. 

- Nasdaq - the world's second-largest stock exchange- announced plans to roll out bitcoin futures in the first quarter of 2019 through a partnership with investment management firm VanEck. Nasdaq has been working with the CFTC to make sure it meets regulatory requirements. Link. 

- Civil, a crypto marketplace for journalism, has reportedly failed to pay some of its journalists. According to current and former employees of newsrooms sponsored by Civil, the startup told writers that they would be issues Civil's native token, CVL, as part of their pay for publishing their work on the platform. Some employees reportedly had a majority of their compensation tied to the tokens. Civil recently canceled its ICO due to low demand, and has made no indications of how it will pay journalists who were supposed to receive CVL tokens as part of their compensation. Link. 

- Steemit, the company behind the blogging website that uses the Steem blockchain and cryptocurrency to rewards publishers and curators, announced it was undergoing a reorg and would layoff close to 70 percent of its team. The move has come as a result of broader weakness in the cryptocurrency market and a 96 percent decline in the price of Steem's cryptocurrency from its all-time highs. Link. 

- The SEC announced it had settled charges against boxer Floyd Mayweather Jr. and music producer DJ Khaled for failing to disclose payments received for promoting investment in ICOs. Mayweather failed to disclose $250,000 of promotional payments from three ICOs and will pay over $600,000 in fines and penalties. Khaled failed to disclose a $50,000 payment from Centra Tech and agreed to pay $152,725 in fines. Link. 

- An account once associated with Bitcoin creator Satoshi Nakamoto posted a cryptic message on P2P Foundation, a platform dedicated to advocacy and research of peer-to-peer solutions. The account is tied to the same email address attached to the Bitcoin whitepaper. The address was compromised in 2014, so it is doubtful the person(s) behind the new post is the real Satoshi Nakamoto. Link. 

- Tencent Security Lab warned the NEO community about a bug which allows hackers to steal token from user wallets remotely. The firm warned node maintainers and ant coin (GAS) holders to pay attention to wallet security and update their client versions. Link.