Bitcoin News Roundup for Jan. 21, 2021

With bitcoin dropping as traders turn bearish, CoinDesk’s Market’s Daily is back with the latest news roundup.

Listen or watch all the new CoinDesk podcast episodes wherever you want.

ABOUT

With bitcoin dropping as traders turn bearish, CoinDesk’s Market’s Daily is back with the latest news roundup.

Add Markets Daily to your Alexa Flash Briefing here.

This episode is sponsored by Nexo.io.

Today's stories:

First Mover: As Bitcoin Flips Bearish, Neither Biden Nor BlackRock Brightens Mood

There are many long-term bulls in the bitcoin market. But in the short term?

What's hot

Proposed FinCEN crypto wallet rulemaking among those affected by U.S. President Joe Biden’s first-day order to freeze all rulemaking. (CoinDesk)

BlackRock gives two funds go-ahead to invest in bitcoin futures (CoinDesk)

Individuals starting to feel the bitcoin FOMO; “You never know until you play with it and figure it out” (Bloomberg)

Former U.S. Treasury official (and Ripple board member) Michael Barr will reportedly replace Brian Brooks as head of OCC. (CoinDesk)

Bond market signals suggest investors increasingly expect higher inflation with no commensurate response from the Federal Reserve to increase interest rates. (WSJ)

Some McDonald’s restaurant owners attribute recent sales bump to recent distribution of stimulus checks. (WSJ)

China’s three largest telecommunications operators ask New York Stock Exchange to reverse recent decision to delist them. (Nikkei Asia Review)

Alibaba shares rise 10% higher after popular billionaire and CEO Jack Ma resurfaces in video. (Asia Times Financial)

“This bubble will burst in due time, no matter how hard the Fed tries to support it,” asset-allocation guru Jeremy Grantham of GMO writes in web post. (GMO)

“Decades of constant stimulus have left capitalism weaker, less dynamic and less fair, fueling populism,” Morgan Stanley Investment Management Chief Global Strategist Ruchir Sharma writes in op-ed. (FT)

Token watch

Ether (ETH): Price rise to record high could just be first stop on way to $10.5K, Fundstrat analyst predicts. (CoinDesk)

XRP (XRP), Dogecoin (DOGE), Binance coin (BNB), USD coin (USDC): Pornhub, an adult entertainment website, now accepts payments in 16 cryptocurrencies. (CoinDesk)

OKExChain (OKT): Native token for crypto exchange’s trading-focused blockchain hits $64 upon listing, implying $640M market value. (OKEx)

Yearn.finance (YFI): DeFi yield-farming site considers minting $200M of new YFI tokens. (CoinDesk)

Tron (TRX), Tether (USDT): Tether use on Tron passes Ethereum as low fees attract small transactions. (CoinDesk)

HOST

Adam B. Levine

Adam B. Levine joined CoinDesk in 2019 as the editor of its new audio and podcasts division. Previously, Adam founded the long-running Let's Talk Bitcoin! talk show with co-hosts Stephanie Murphy and Andreas M. Antonopoulos.

Finding early success with the show, Adam transformed the podcast's homepage into a full newsdesk and publishing platform, founding the LTB Network in January of 2014 to help broaden the conversation with new and different perspectives. In the Spring of that year, he would go on to launch the first and largest tokenized rewards program for creators and their audience. In what many have called an early influential version of "Steemit"; LTBCOIN, which was awarded to both content creators and members of the audience for participation was distributed until the LTBN was acquired by BTC, Inc. in January of 2017.

With the network launched and growing, in late 2014 Adam turned his attention to the practical challenges of administering the tokenized program and founded Tokenly, Inc. There, he led the development of early tokenized vending machines with Swapbot, tokenized identity solution Tokenpass, e-commerce with TokenMarkets.com and media with Token.fm. Adam owns some BTC, ETH and small positions in a number of other tokens.