Today In Crypto: Bitcoin Soars Past $20 K| CME announces Ether Futures| Ruffer Investment Sell Gold To Buy Bitcoin | FCA Announces Temporary Relief for Crypto Businesses

Today was quite a historic as well as an eventful day in the crypto space with several bullish and positive news emerging across the world. We will look at some of the top stories of the day which made headlines.

• Bitcoin crosses $20,000 for the first time, $21,000 by EOD seems highly possible.
• CME announces Ether Futures launch in February 2021, ETH price surges above $620
• Ruffer Investment Company Limited becomes the latest institution to bet against gold, now holds 2.5% of its portfolio in bitcoin.
• UK Financial watchdog FCA announces temporary relief for crypto businesses.

Bitcoin Soars Past $20,000, Bulls Take The Price To New ATH $20,900

Today was a historical day for Bitcoin as it managed to move past the key resistance of $20,000 to record a new all-time high of $20,900. In fact, bitcoin is recording a new all-time-high every other hour after crossing the $20K mark.

The top cryptocurrency which was consolidating above $19,000 for the past couple of days, finally soared past the $20 k mark for the first time in history. With no resistance in sight, bitcoin bulls are expected to move past $21,000 by end of the day. Today’s Bitcoin price rally made it the most profitable asset as well since now no one who has ever invested in bitcoin is at loss.

Everyone who ever bought #Bitcoin is in profit!

Congratulations to EVERYONE ????

— The Moon ???? (@TheMoonCarl) December 16, 2020

Another factor that makes the ongoing bullish burst poetic is the fact that 3 years ago on the same date the 2017 bull rally began taking BTC to the 2017 high of near $20 k.

On this day three years ago, the price of #Bitcoin peaked just shy of $20,000. The bulls seemed to have sent a message, choosing today.

— Blockfolio (@blockfolio) December 16, 2020

CME To Launch Ether Futures Contract in February 2021

Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME), the first company to launch the Bitcoin Futures contract back in December 2017 announced the launch of the Ether Futures contract in February 2021. The upcoming Ether Futures would be cash-settled as well quite similar to BTC Futures based on the CME CF Ether-Dollar Reference Rate.

Ethererum is not just the second-largest cryptocurrency by market cap, after bitcoin Ethereum is the most sought after digital asset by institutional investors. The announcement about Ether Futures is a key indicator of growing institutional demand for Ethereum in the wake of the ETH 2.0 Beacon chain launch.

Ethereum price soared by over 6% in the wake of the CME announcement and currently trading above $620. The hype around Bitcoin’s price rally has overshadowed the phenomenal performance of Etheruem. If we compare year-to-date returns the second-largest cryptocurrency easily overshadows bitcoin with a 372% return.

BTC year-to-date: 185%
ETH year-to-date: 372%

That's the tweet.

— Ryan Sean Adams – rsa.eth ???? (@RyanSAdams) December 16, 2020

Another Institution Chooses Bitcoin Over Gold

Not so long ago Peter Schiff has come hard on bitcoin proponents for claiming that institutions are selling their gold for bitcoin. However, UK based Ruffer Investment Company Limited today proved Schiff wrong as it became the latest institution to add Bitcoin to its portfolio.

The latest #Bitcoin marketing gimmick is that lots of private and public companies are trading in their #gold and accumulating Bitcoin as their preferred store of value. Those few companies that are buying Bitcoin did not do so by selling their gold. Bitcoin is not the new gold.

— Peter Schiff (@PeterSchiff) December 11, 2020

Ruffer Investment now holds around $770 million worth of Bitcoin at 2.7% of its portfolio. What makes this investment even more crucial is the fact that Ruffer sold a portion of its gold portfolio to buy bitcoin. The growing influence and faith of institutions in Bitcoin has made it the inflation hedge of the modern world.

Ruffer Investment Company sold some of their gold position to buy Bitcoin.

They called it a defensive move.

Bitcoin isn’t risky. Not owning Bitcoin is risky. pic.twitter.com/SglPfutgQ4

— Pomp ???? (@APompliano) December 16, 2020

FCA Announces Temporary Regulation Regime

UK Financial watchdog FCA today announced a temporary relief for crypto businesses operating in the country. The regulatory body notified that any crypto firm operating before 10 January 2020 and who have applied for registration with the FCA  by 16 December 2020 can operate their business until 9 July 2021.

The temporary regulatory solution came because of the complexities faced in processing registration applications by the FCA. Until now the regulatory body has only passed 3 applications for registration while 90 applications are still in the line. At the start of the month, there were 150 applications for approval, which suggest almost 60 applicants got rejected or withdrew their application.

FCA also warned the public to take out their crypto assets invested through crypto firms that have not applied for the license as by 10 January 2021, they would be liable for criminal proceedings if they do not seize their operations.