This week we discuss:

Trezor + Ledger hacks - wallet.fail - https://www.theblockcrypto.com/tiny/researchers-demo-crypto-hardware-wallet-vulnerabilities-at-tech-conference/

Electrum hack - https://www.theblockcrypto.com/tiny/hackers-used-a-clever-tactic-to-steal-over-700k-from-users-of-a-popular-bitcoin-wallet/

New Joule version out - Pierre Rochard's node launcher

Indian gov possibly loosening regs - https://www.theblockcrypto.com/tiny/indian-government-panel-suggests-possible-rule-change-around-legal-status-of-cryptocurrencies/

Bitcoin Private- https://coinmetrics.io/bitcoin-private/

Facebook + crypto - https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-12-21/facebook-is-said-to-develop-stablecoin-for-whatsapp-transfers

US Government Shutdown

Civil token relaunch

Tuur Demeester's thread on ETH: https://twitter.com/TuurDemeester/status/1078682801954799617

Bitmain layoffs - https://www.theblockcrypto.com/tiny/bitmain-layoffs-underway-may-impact-up-to-50-of-staff/

Consensys layoffs - https://www.theverge.com/2018/12/20/18150036/consensys-layoffs-employees-pending-startup-ethereum

GMO exiting mining biz - https://ir.gmo.jp/en/pdf/irlibrary/gmo_disclose_info20181225_e.pdf

Difficulty leveling off - https://www.theblockcrypto.com/tiny/bitcoins-mining-difficulty-drops-another-9-but-hash-rate-picks-up/

7-month trading volume highs - https://www.theblockcrypto.com/tiny/bitcoin-and-ethereum-weekly-trading-volume-reached-7-month-highs/

Highest single day trade vol for tether - https://www.theblockcrypto.com/tiny/exchange-volume-for-tether-sees-all-time-high/

Civic takedown - https://www.theblockcrypto.com/2018/12/21/civics-token-illustrates-why-companies-masquerading-tokens-will-fail/

Iterative Capital NYC Event - https://www.eventbrite.com/e/bitcoin-10-year-anniversary-live-w-marty-bent-aaron-lammer-jay-kang-tickets-51666739609

Shoutout to this week's sponsor, BlockFi. Head over to www.blockfi.com/talesfromthecrypt to see how you can avoid selling BTC or help start that side project you always wanted by leveraging your BTC holdings!