Decentral Block Post

Spain’s central bank, the Bank of Spain (BDE) said it intends to launch an experimental program to begin testing wholesale Central Bank Digital Currencies (CDBCs) and is seeking collaboration proposals from local finance and technology institutions.

The bank will focus on three main areas with the program that seeks to simulate the movement of funds, experiment with the liquidation of financial assets, and analyze the benefits and drawbacks of introducing a wholesale CBDC to its current processes and infrastructure according to a translated Dec. 5 statement.

A wholesale CBDC refers to a digital currency typically for use by banks to keep reserves with a central bank, as compared to a retail or general-purpose CBDC that’s open to use by the public.

The program is “exclusive” to the BDE and it stated it was unrelated to work being undertaken in the European Union researching the use of a digital euro.

Interested parties wishing to participate in the program must meet the minimum requirements set by the bank and disclose the “economic means” they’re willing to commit to the project in an application process which closes on Jan. 31, 2023.

A federal judge in California has dismissed a class action lawsuit against reality TV star Kim Kardashian, boxing champ Floyd Mayweather and the founders of EthereumMax, explaining that the submissions failed to meet the “heightened pleading standards” for fraud claims.

The judge has, however, left room for the plaintiffs to refile the proposed class action lawsuit if certain provisions are amended.

In the original Jan. 7 court filing submitted by Scott+Scott Attorneys At Law, the plaintiffs argued that Kardashian, Mayweather, and also former NBA superstar Paul Pierce didn’t disclose they were being paid to promote EthereumMax (EMAX).

The plaintiffs alleged that they promoted it with the objective to “artificially inflate the price of the token” through the use of “false or misleading statements.”

Kim Kardashian promoted EMAX in a Jun. 2021 post on Instagram, while Floyd Mayweather wore the EMAX logo on his boxing trunks in a boxing match against YouTube star Logan Paul in the same month.

Chainlink has a busy start to December when it comes to development launches. The Chainlink (LINK) staking program opened up for early access on Dec. 6 and will expand access on Dec. 8. 

According to Chainlink, staking will further secure the project’s node ecosystem and alerting mechanism:

“Stakers gain access to staking rewards for securing the network through timely and valid alerts, and in the future, for slashing and loss protection.”

Historically, mainnet launches and staking incentives stir up a flurry of blockchain activity and data from on-chain analytics firm Arkham shows a sharp uptick in activity.

While node providers received access on Oct. 3 with uncapped terms, Chainlink’s early access staking capped the total per person staking at 7,000 LINK. Despite this cap, the staking program has garnered traction, far surpassing 11 million staked LINK on Dec. 6.

Chainlink has a busy start to December when it comes to development launches. The Chainlink (LINK) staking program opened up for early access on Dec. 6 and will expand access on Dec. 8. 

According to Chainlink, staking will further secure the project’s node ecosystem and alerting mechanism:

“Stakers gain access to staking rewards for securing the network through timely and valid alerts, and in the future, for slashing and loss protection.”

Historically, mainnet launches and staking incentives stir up a flurry of blockchain activity and data from on-chain analytics firm Arkham shows a sharp uptick in activity.

While node providers received access on Oct. 3 with uncapped terms, Chainlink’s early access staking capped the total per person staking at 7,000 LINK. Despite this cap, the staking program has garnered traction, far surpassing 11 million staked LINK on Dec. 6.

The FTX crisis kept Bitcoin’s (BTC) price under pressure in November, but data from Bitstamp exchange shows institutional investors may have viewed the dip as a buying opportunity. The exchange told Cointelegraph that compared to October, its revenue from institutions increased by 34% in November.

In another positive sign, Goldman Sachs executive Mathew McDermott told Reuters that the bank was doing some due diligence on crypto companies since they were “priced more sensibly” after the FTX crash.

ARK Invest said in the latest edition of its monthly “The Bitcoin Monthly" newsletter, that the FTX implosion “could be the most damaging event in crypto history,” but added that decentralized blockchains were “as strong as ever.”

Could lower levels attract buyers in Bitcoin and altcoins? Let’s study the charts of the top-10 cryptocurrencies to spot the levels where buyers may step in.

BTC/USDT

After trading near the 20-day exponential moving average ($16,966) for the past few days, Bitcoin is threatening to dip below the immediate support at $16,787.

Cardano’s decentralized exchange has announced a new feature to draw in liquidity. 

Called “organic APR,” the feature increases token emissions as more liquidity is put into the pool, according to a Twitter thread from the team. It will be introduced into a single pool on Dec. 8 and may be offered in other pools later. The new feature has elicited praise from some Cardano users, but others have expressed dissatisfaction with it.

The team argued that organic APR is necessary because, without it, users would not be incentivized to proselytize for the exchange. The MuesliSwap team explained:

“Users [of an exchange without organic APR] want to provide liquidity to earn rewards. But more liquidity providers means earning a smaller part of the emission. Consequently, there is no incentive to spread the word and onboard more users. They will only reduce the APR for early adopters.”

Some Cardano users have praised the new feature. For example, one user called it “a cool innovation” and another called it “ingenious.”

Bitcoin (BTC) price crashed to $15,500 on Nov. 21, driving the price to its lowest level in two years. The 2-day-long correction totaled an 8% downtrend and wiped out $230 million worth of leverage long (buy) futures contracts. 

The price move gave the false impression to bears that a sub-$15,500 expiry on the Dec. 9 options expiry was feasible, but those bets are unlikely to pay off as the deadline approaches.

Year-to-date, Bitcoin price is 65% down for 2022, but the leading cryptocurrency remains a top 30 global tradable asset class ahead of tech giants like Meta Platforms (META), Samsung (005930.KS), and Coca-Cola (KO).

Investors' main concern is still the possibility of a recession if the U.S. Federal Reserve raises rates for longer than expected. Proof of this comes from Dec. 2 data which showed that 263,000 jobs were created in November, signaling the Fed’s effort to slow the economy and bring down inflation remains a work in progress.

On Dec. 7, Wells Fargo director Azhar Iqbal wrote in a note to clients that "all told, financial indicators point to a recession on the horizon." Iqbal added, "taken together with the inverted yield curve, markets are clearly braced for a recession in 2023."