GROWING OPTIONS: Chicago exchange CME Group has finally opened its highly-anticipated bitcoin options for trading, offering competition to existing providers like ICE’s Bakkt and options venue Deribit. CME first offered cash-settled bitcoin futures in December 2017. Full story
COINBASE SETTLES: Coinbase settled a class action suit brought by users of the defunct crypto exchange Cryptsy for $962,500. According to court documents, Cryptsy CEO Paul Vernon allegedly used Coinbase to launder millions of dollars in user funds over a multi-year period. Full story
PIRATE STOPPER? Dish Network, a large U.S. television provider, filed for a patent for a new "anti-piracy management system" that will use blockchain to enable content creators to track how their work is being used. Full story
BACKED BY GIANTS: Lightnet, the company behind the Stellar-based Velo Protocol, raised $31.2 million in a Series A round led by a number of Asian business conglomerates. The Bangkok-based company aims to disrupt the Asian remittance market, worth an estimated $150 billion. Full story
LOW LEVERAGE: Japan's top financial regulator plans to reduce risk by mandating a maximum leverage of two times the deposit for crypto margin traders. The Financial Services Agency will impose the rule in a revision to the Financial Instruments and Exchange Act expected in spring, Japan Times sources said. Full story
HEADED TO DAVOS? CoinDesk is sending a team of journalists to scrutinize the goings-on of the global elite as they descend on Switzerland for the annual meeting of the World Economic Forum. It will be Davos, but through a lens of crypto and blockchain. Our daily dispatches will tell you what sessions you should attend, what you missed yesterday (or last night) and prep you for what people are talking about on the Promenade today. The CoinDesk Confidential newsletter will run for five days only, so be sure to sign up now. Subscribe here
LONG-TERM BREAKOUT? Bitcoin's six-month downtrend looks to have ended with last week's double-digit price gain. The breakout opened doors for a rally to October highs above $10,000. A stronger move to levels above the 2019 high of $13,880 cannot be ruled out ahead of May's halving, as historical data shows bitcoin tends to hit cyclical tops before the miner reward reduction. Full story
CYPHERPUNK STORIES: Is bitcoin now like the early days of the internet? CoinDesk's Leigh Cuen sits down with cypherpunk and early bitcoin contributor Zooko Wilcox to break down the analogy between crypto and the advent of the internet on the latest Let's Talk Bitcoin!Listen in
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