New York Attorney General Letitia James has announced the condemnation of Shopin's founder Eran Eyal for orchestrating a fraudulent initial offer of coins (ICO) following his plea of ​​guilt. As previously reported, he executed an initial fraudulent currency offering that grossed more than $42 million.

Netherlands-based Bitcoin and crypto exchange company Bitvavo has announced a new partnership with Yieldt to offer its users access to their managed crypto funds.

1. Binance.US will list Enjin (ENJ) and ICON (ICX). Trading for ENJ/USD and ICX/USD trading pairs will open at 02:00 UTC;
2. For the fourth round of the new format Community Coin Vote, Binance selects COTI and VITE as the two candidates for the vote, which will close at 04:00.
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[Policy]
1. The European Central Bank (ECB) is planning to set a special committee focusing on the research and development of the Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC), according to president Christine Lagarde;
2. The Bank of Canada is currently carrying on research about the value of a central bank digital currency (CBDC).
[Cryptocurrency]
1. Chainlink has launched the popular BTC/USD on-chain price reference contract;
2. The first block trade of Bakkt Bitcoin (USD) Monthly Options (BTM) has been submitted to ICE Futures U.S.;
3. Croatian Post, the biggest provider of postal services in the Republic of Croatia, is now offering a cryptocurrency exchange service at 55 post offices throughout the country, with five cryptocurrencies supported, including BTC, ETH, XLM, XRP, and EOS.
[Exchange & Wallet]
1. Africa's first stablecoin, the Africa Stable-Coin, is backed by Nigeria's national currency, the Naira. Also, the fiat-backed crypto is built on Binance's native blockchain, the Binance Chain;
2. Binance.US will list Enjin (ENJ) and ICON (ICX). Trading for ENJ/USD and ICX/USD trading pairs will open at 02:00 UTC;
3. Binance added 167 fiat payment options through integration with P2P exchange Paxful;
4. BitMEX enabled Bech32 sending support.
[Others]
1. Citing the blockchain security firm SlowMist, part of nodes ran by the famous CDN provider Cloudflare broke down and currently were inaccessible;
2. Travala.com, the world's leading cryptocurrency-friendly hotel booking service, announced that they are now accepting Gemini's Gemini dollar (GUSD) as a form of payment;
3. The official Weibo accounts of TRON founder Justin Sun and Binance co-founder HE Yi were blocked for violating associated laws and regulations of the social platform, but short after this, they opened new accounts on the social platform.

Hybrid intelligence firm Cindicator is launching Cindicator Capital, a crypto hedge fund based on hybrid intelligence and quantitative research. The company said that this new crypto fund provides access to investment strategies based on hybrid intelligence data as well as quantitative research, which includes data from forecasts and decentralized analysts.

Citing Whale Alert, at 22:04:51 UTC on Dec 12, 3,556,850.5 XTZ ($6,114,333) were transferred from unknown starting with tz1Syu3 to another unknown address that starts with tz1V4T.
The transaction hash is opGkCk5Riq69xhyQXwHsKp1WW34hQWvcFkpFuxcs86DeqaxDUxY.

In a recent interview with Block TV, Lou Kerner, co-founder of CryptoOracle, opined on the current debate around MakerDAO's network, stating that Maker's project is still on its way to attaining complete decentralization. The reason identified by Kerner for slow progress on the decentralized front is the removal of shortcomings.
He said, "The reason that they are not fully centralized is that they know that are issues that are gonna come up, that they are gonna need to address, which would be more difficult to address if they are fully decentralized from the beginning, so they create some centralization elements."
Kerner added that it made sense to not be completely decentralized after uncovering the recent vulnerability which can be easily addressed from a centralized position in the system.

CoinNess.com now delivers a special report featuring the closing prices of the U.S. blockchain stocks at the end of the day.
NYSE Bundle:
Eastman Kodak Company (KODK): $3.14, +5.02%;
IBM Common Stock (IBM): $135.32, +1.17%;
Accenture Plc (ACN): $203.92, +0.80%;
Square Inc (SQ): $65.86, +0.27%;
JPMorgan Chase & Co. (JPM): $138.02, +2.85%.
NASDAQ Bundle:
Overstock.com (OSTK): $7.37, +3.22%;
Marathon Patent Group Inc (MARA): $1.04, -5.45%;
RIOT Blockchain Inc (RIOT): $1.32, +0.00%.

Cobalt producer Glencore PLC is joining the Responsible Sourcing Blockchain Network (RSBN).
The publicly traded company, one of the world’s largest cobalt producers, announced it would utilize RSBN’s Hyperledger Fabric platform for its cobalt production and become a full consortium member by February 2020.
In October, the company agreed to "design and deploy blockchain solutions" in conjunction with the World Economic Forum and six other mining stakeholders.

Bitfinex has activated its partnership with Chainalysis, a New York-based provider of compliance software for real-time monitoring of cryptocurrencies transactions.
The announcement comes amid reports linking Bitfinex to drug trafficking and money-laundering schemes operated by the owners of Crypto Capital.

Digital asset custody firm Trustology has cut seven staffers, including three executives, as the big banks and institutional players which were its target market are taking longer than expected to jump into the crypto space.
The firm, which now has a headcount of 11, has changed focus and is now courting crypto hedge funds and exchanges as well as the nascent decentralized finance space.
The move is reportedly another sign of belt-tightening in the blockchain industry following the crash in cryptocurrency prices of early 2018.

Southeast Asian investors may be too bullish on crypto assets for their own financial good, a new study by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) found.
The Japanese government-funded report of Vietnamese, Filipino and Malaysian consumer crypto sentiments found that out of 3,006 respondents, 80 percent were aware of cryptocurrencies while 53 percent reported a desire to hold such assets despite a “strong likelihood” such investment would place them in financial danger.
Many consumers might not be aware of just how risky investing in crypto assets can be, the report said.
Of those currently holding crypto assets, the report said that “almost one in three (28 percent) [said they] had invested more than they could afford to lose.”

Kraken has opened up a position for an operations director to oversee a Wyoming special-purpose depository institution (SPDI). The job includes building out an operations team, developing systems and operational processes to be an SPDI and integrating that entity into the exchange’s platforms.
The director would also ensure the functionality of the different capabilities that come with being an SPDI bank.
It’s unclear whether Kraken has applied yet for an SPDI from Wyoming.

Arcane Crypto’s research division, Arcane Research, recently published the 50th issue of its weekly update report this year.
The report showed that Bitfinex, following its announcement last week regarding support for Lightning Network deposits and withdrawals, saw its Lightning node grow faster than any other node. It was also reported to be at the top of the list, both in terms of node capacity, which grew to around 16 BTC (2% of the network’s total capacity) and channel count, which grew to 160 active addresses last week, a near 100% growth since the week before.

As of 18:00 (UTC) on Dec 12, the global price index of Bitcoin (BTC) is fluctuating near the $7,200 level. At present, the coin marks $7,213.06 with a decrease of 0.44% in the past 24 hours.
The CoinNess.com Bullish vs. Bearish Indicator shows our four-hour technical bias on BTC is "Sell" with 10 indicators sending out selling signals, five showing neutral signals, and three indicating buying signals.
The broad market remains bearish, with only 35 out of Top 100 cryptos by market cap rising.
The global market cap reads $195.68 billion, and the 24-hour trading volume is $59.93 billion.
Major Coins
1. BTC quotes show 7,203.61 USDT on Binance, $7,217.60 on Bitfinex, and $7,196.04 on Coinbase Pro;
2. CoinNess.com Market Index presents quotes for major cryptocurrencies besides BTC as following: ETH marks $144.08 (-0.22%); XRP marks $0.2200 (-1.44%); BCH marks $206.91 (-0.38%); LTC marks $43.67 (-0.96%); EOS marks $2.56 (-1.02%); ETC marks $3.80 (+0.00%).
Top 3 Gainers and Losers in Cryptocurrencies
1. Top 3 gainers among Top 100 cryptocurrencies by market cap: XTX (+14.96%), THETA (+13.09%), and ATOM (+10.39%);
2. Top 3 losers among Top 100 cryptocurrencies by market cap: MANA (-6.73%), RVN (-6.51%), and ZIL (-5.01%).
Top 3 Gainers and Losers in Categories
1. Top 3 gainers among 24 categories: Cross-Chain Technology (+11.20%), Social Communication (+3.00%); and Block Service (+2.78%);
2. Top 3 losers among 24 categories: Smart Economy (-9.60%), Artificial Intelligence (-6.07%), and Side-Chain Concept (-4.41%).
Cap Flows of Coins/Exchanges
1. Top 3 capital inflows within the last 24 hours: BTC (+$133.44 mln), ZB (+$53.69 mln), and TRX (+$28.19 mln);
2. Top 3 capital outflows within the last 24 hours: WET (-$144.39 mln), ETH (-$49.54 mln), and XRP (-$43.71 mln);
3. Net inflows/outflows of exchanges: Binance (-$17.06 mln), Bitfinex (+$7.60 mln), and Coinbase Pro (+$6.86 mln).

The International Blockchain Monetary Reserve (IBMR) and blockchain firm Algorand are jointly launching a microfinance platform and a dedicated token to promote financial inclusion in Southeast Asia.
The partnership between the two entities aims to develop and launch a microfinance ecosystem based on Algorand’s blockchain technology in a bid to boost the financial inclusion of the urban working poor in the region. Within the initiative, the parties will also introduce a dedicated token dubbed the Asia Reserve Currency Coin (ARCC).

The Bank of Canada is currently carrying on research about the value of a central bank digital currency (CBDC), according to jin10.

Intercontinental Exchange, Inc. (NYSE:ICE), a leading operator of global exchanges and clearing houses and provider of data and listings services, today (Dec 12) announced the first block trade of BakktTM Bitcoin (USD) Monthly Options (BTM) submitted to ICE Futures U.S.
“Based on our benchmark physically delivered Bitcoin futures, these options contracts offer our customers a capital-efficient new tool for trading and for managing volatility, price risk and income generation,” said Trabue Bland, President of ICE Futures U.S.
Bakkt Bitcoin Options settle into the underlying Bakkt Bitcoin (USD) Monthly Futures contract two days prior to expiry. Price discovery for the contract occurs completely within a federally regulated market and has no exposure to unregulated Bitcoin spot markets. The first trade was executed between Galaxy Digital Trading and XBTO.

Croatian Post, the biggest provider of postal services in the Republic of Croatia, is now offering a cryptocurrency exchange service at 55 post offices throughout the country. Currently, five cryptocurrencies are supported, namely, BTC, ETH, XLM, XRP, and EOS.

Justin Sun, the founder and CEO of TRON, has opened a new account on Weibo after his previous one was blocked.
The new account, dubbed “Teacher SUN,” has had 3,705 followers by the time of writing.
“BTC, TRX, and BTT will have a bright future. TRON has become one of the mainstream public blockchains in the world. December will witness a series of big news related to TRON,” his said via his latest Weibo handle.

A new TokenSoft subsidiary, DTAC LLC, has been registered as a transfer agent with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to build an ‘automated investment bank,’ public filings show. The SEC accepted the filing on Wednesday (Dec 11).
Transfer agents act as intermediaries for parties in stock transactions. They can engage in activities like providing stock transfer services, book entries, order reviews, proxy voting, dividend disbursement and providing reports to fulfill regulatory and tax obligations.

BitMEX CEO Arthur Hayes says Bitcoin may trade in a wide range next year.
The cryptocurrency exchange’s co-founder tells Cointelegraph Japan he thinks Bitcoin may sink as low as $3,000 and rise as high as $20,000 in 2020 – depending on BTC miners and the performance of fiat.
According to Hayes, BTC could return to its all-time high if inflation rates rise and Bitcoin’s status as a store of value is maintained.

Franklin Templeton, a global asset management firm with over $700 billion in client assets, has led an undisclosed funding round for blockchain startup Proof of Impact.
Amsterdam-based Proof of Impact announced the news Wednesday (Dec 11), saying that its first institutional investment round also saw participation from Ausum Ventures, Crypto Valley Venture Capital and Pangea Blockchain Fund.

There have been a few changes to the Libra Whitepaper recently.
“The key change, of course, is that interest earned from reserve assets will not be used to pay dividends to investors. This is a considerable departure from the plans first spelled out in June. Indeed, on the Libra website I don’t see any obvious mention of dividends at all, or for that matter, any mention of Libra Investment tokens to be offered to early investors.” Georgetown University law professor Chris Brummer noted.

Shortly after Weibo blocked HE Yi’s account, the Binance co-founder opened a new account named “Aunt HE Yi.”
“A couple Chinese crypto influencers’ accounts were also blocked. Social media accounts can be easily blocked in China. It is quite usual. Since 2017, China has never changed its stance on crypto. The government never supports any crypto exchange and related promotion,” she wrote via her Twitter handle.
By press time, followers of “Aunt HE Yi” have reached 1，699.

Monitored by Whale Alert, 1,000 BTC (7,257,613 USD) were transferred from an unknown wallet to OKEx at 16:36:30 UTC on Dec 12.
The hashrate is bea5a90bbb9845984f47b7a60e66a58b94320e8941dc4ac77e3a2c820bcc27a8.

Abkhazia, an autonomous region in northwest Georgia, is planning to intensify the works on the identification of cryptocurrency mining farms in the region.
According to a news release published on the Cabinet of Ministers’ website on Dec. 12, Prime Minister of Abkhazia Valeri Bganba held a meeting dedicated to the current state of the region’s electricity grids.
During the meeting, some of the participants brought to notice that the significantly increased loads on electric networks are aggravated by the emergence of ever-greater number of illegal cryptocurrency mining farms connected to Chernomorenergo. In recent days, indicators have ostensibly exceeded the 40 Mwatt mark.

The official Weibo account of TRON claimed that the team is currently contacting Weibo’s review team in an effort to unblock Justin Sun’s account. Meanwhile, everything goes well, the team said.

Monitored by Whale Alert, 800 BTC (5,702,076 USD) were transferred from Huobi to an unknown wallet at 15:39:18 UTC on Dec 12. The hashrate is a7b70669cef72d02f73aa220b48d4fb4f10b3276493736c37f253f9b4be9b886.