Top News from Tuesday to Today

Huobi Annual Financials – Reduction in Headcount by 17%. http://bit.ly/35E8yDh

Planning for 2020? Here are the Top Events in Asia to Put on Your Calendar. http://bit.ly/2PARmsS

Breaking: China’s State TV Again Criticizes Fraudulent ICO Behavior, Cities to Crack Down on Crypto Influencers. http://bit.ly/2EB4ojO

As part of the crackdown efforts, at least six Chinese cryptocurrency exchanges have suspended or chosen to terminate operations in response to Beijing’s rigid stance last month; Shenzhen prosecutes 6 companies for their ICOs: KAN, VSC, HOB, BST, MCC. http://bit.ly/2sLoLba

Cutting Through the FUD Part IV — The Threat of Central Bank Digital Currencies. http://bit.ly/34L0Gyt

Due to the holidays, there will be no newsletter next Tuesday.

Investments

MakerDAO receives $27.5M from Dragonfly and Paradigm to expand into Asia. http://bit.ly/2EACT9W

ZenLedger.io, a cryptocurrency tax analysis and blockchain analytics startup, announced a strategic seed raise of $3.4M. Vestigo Ventures led the round and is joined by Gumi Cryptos, Castle Island Ventures, Unblock Ventures, and Migration Capital. http://bit.ly/2Q6RUFM

Japanese financial services giant SBI Group and German stock exchange operator Boerse Stuttgart Group have joined hands to expand their cryptocurrency-related businesses across Asia and Europe. http://bit.ly/35IszZw

  Exchange News

Binance has made a strategic investment in crypto derivatives exchange FTX. http://bit.ly/2MemnRi

Binance Singapore Blocks Withdrawals to Privacy-Focused Bitcoin Wallet. http://bit.ly/2Z4n19a

Bitfinex removed fees for deposits of less than $1,000 in cryptocurrencies or stablecoins. It’ll still cost 0.1 percent in fees to deposit fiat currencies, and there’s a $60 minimum, too. http://bit.ly/34DZrRQ

Bitmex research on Canaan’s IPO. http://bit.ly/2PZDKqc

Alameda announced that the nuisance suit against Alameda and FTX was voluntarily dismissed with prejudice. http://bit.ly/2M9nWQm

BLADE, a Coinbase-backed crypto derivatives exchange, has axed its trading fees in a bid to wrest some market share from perpetual swap giant BitMEX.

Coins

Fenbushi Capital has entered into staking business. Fenbushi has partnered with staking-as-a-service startup Staked for the initiative. http://bit.ly/35E9Aix

Bitmain has laid off its global sales lead amid a broader reshuffling of its executive sales team and a refocusing on bitcoin miner sales. http://bit.ly/2ZdFJvg

Blockchain payment startup Terra expands to Singapore, hires ex-Uber exec. http://bit.ly/2PJNfuK

CMCC Global, a Hong Kong-based venture capital firm, has hired Zhao Chen from Neo Global Development, one of the largest blockchain companies in China. http://bit.ly/35KBwSg

Chinese project Conflux founder says that mainnet is expected to be online in late March 2020. http://bit.ly/2Z7cZ78

Chinese Bitcoin Miner Maker Ebang was Involved in Criminal Case, which may affect its IPO plans. http://bit.ly/2SfG5Qn

Mining Leader Interview Series – Poolin COO Chris Zhu. http://bit.ly/2Zbaq3S

🧳 Business
 

China fitness scandal Qubu throws light on blockchain scams. https://s.nikkei.com/34EZCwd

UN migration agency, Hong Kong firm launch blockchain tool to prevent exploitation of domestic workers. http://bit.ly/2Q1ct6L

AMF Approves France’s First Initial Coin Offering (French-ICO). http://bit.ly/2sNpcle

Hydropower Stations in China’s Sichuan Were Fined for Feeding Bitcoin Farms in Private. The two power stations have not obtained the “power supply business license“. http://bit.ly/2MbYCcK