Perhaps the biggest news for the last week of December is that South Korea's central bank announced that it is creating a task force to research central bank digital currencies (CBDCs). The Bank of Korea said on Thursday it will hire experts to study the effects of distributed ledgers, cryptocurrencies, and CBDCs on financial settlements and security: "The bank will enact assessment principles, reflecting domestic conditions, to improve the effectiveness of its oversight of the payment and settlement systems." A previous Korean task force was dissolved in January 2019 after a year of studying virtual currencies and CBDCs without positive findings, as it argued CBDCs could adversely impact the demand for traditional banking services and hurt financial stability. In the past year, the U.S. Federal Reserve and the European Central Bank revealed research projects into digital replacements for cash, and the People's Bank of China prepares for its digital yuan (RMB) pilot next year.
Here is the rest of the week in review:
Hedera Hashgraph, the firm developing the blockchain-based Hedera network, asked investors to wait longer for tokens they already paid for, in order to help stabilize the plunging price. Hedera CEO and cofounder Mance Harman wrote Monday that the company is giving investors an optional offer of more HBAR tokens than originally stipulated in an agreement in exchange for a delayed distribution of the tokens. Harman argued that the offer would incentivize investors to support network usage and growth as well as support the price of HBAR. If they take the offer, investors who originally agreed to obtain HBAR over a 48-month period would now wait an extra 12 months for distribution. Hedera said the timeframe for extra allocations depends on the level of interest in the optional offer. Hedera raised over $124 million in three rounds in 2018, but the price of HBAR has cratered over 90% since its first distribution in September.
Google's (NASDAQ: GOOGL) YouTube erroneously deleted hundreds of cryptocurrency education videos from its video platform this week then but claimed to have reinstated them. Responding to allegations of intentionally purging content from cryptocurrency education channels ChrisDunnTV, Crypto Tips, BTC Sessions, and others, a YouTube spokesperson said the firm made "the wrong call." The spokesperson further asserted YouTube has not changed any policies geared toward cryptocurrency content. Still, some videos are still missing from Dunn's channel and others that CoinDesk asked YouTube about. The platform's conflicting statements are likely to spark more furious speculation over why YouTube deleted the videos. The crypto channels noted they were confused why their content was abruptly removed.
Crypto prices eked up slightly to nearly $198 billion this week. For the majors, Bitcoin SV (BSV), Bitcoin Cash (BCH), and EOS posted outsize gains, while Stellar (XLM) and Tether (USDT) slipped. In the top 100, the biggest losers were Silverway (SLV), down 35%, V Systems (VSYS), down 20%, and EDUCare (EKT), down 15%. The biggest gainers were Decentraland (MANA), up 17%, LUNA (LUNA), up 16%, and Basic Attention Token (BAT), up 13%. Crypto is still struggling to regain the $200 billion level.
The author owns a small amount of BTC.