The biggest news for blockchain & cryptocurrency in the last week of November is that a U.S. federal judge ruled Telegram founder and chief executive Pavel Durov must testify in the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) v. Telegram case. District Judge P. Kevin Castel also ordered Telegram vice president Ilya Perekopsky, who was responsible for communications with investors during Telegram's $1.7 billion token presale, to provide pretrial testimony. The third person listed to testify is Shyam Parekh, another Telegram employee. The SEC sued Telegram in October, demanding that the messaging app firm's blockchain project TON be halted and the tokens not be distributed to investors. The regulatory agency claimed that Telegram will flood the US market with unregistered securities and make them available to retail investors. Telegram disagreed, arguing that it properly registered the token sale under Regulation D and the token is a currency or commodity. The next court hearings on the case are slated for February 18, 2020 in the Southern District of New York.

Here is the rest of the week in review:

Ghana is considering the launch of a central bank digital currency. Ernest Addison, the governor of the West African nation's central bank, said Tuesday that Ghana could issue a digital version of the national currency, the cedi, in the near future. At Ghana's annual banking conference, Addison added the country is working to develop a pilot project in a "sandbox environment." The Bank of Ghana governor said Ghana is undergoing rapid digitization and has a burgeoning mobile banking sector driven by mobile phones. He said he authorized the central bank to issue mobile money backed one-to-one by cedi and held in electronic wallets. The exact technology behind Addison's proposed electronic cedi is still unclear. In related news, China's central bank said on Monday that its digital yuan will be used in a pilot for retail payments.

Kelly Loeffler, chief executive of crypto futures firm Bakkt, was reportedly selected by Republican Georgia Governor Brian Kemp to replace retiring US Senator Johnny Isakson (R-GA) and serve in the US Senate until the November 2020 special election, according to a new Atlanta Journal Constitution report. Kemp's move runs against President Donald Trump's wishes, as Trump had pushed Kemp to appoint Congressman Doug Collins, a Trump ally. Loeffler is more moderate, and she supported Mitt Romney in 2012. She owns the Atlanta Dream women's basketball team, and she will likely divest her stake while in the Senate. Kemp is expected to name Loeffler next week to replace Isakson when he vacates the seat in December 31. Only one Democratic challenger, Matt Lieberman, has filed to run for the special Senate election.

Crypto prices rose slightly to $199 billion this week, a small respite from the previous tumble. For the majors, Tron (TRX), EOS, and Litecoin (LTC) notched modest gains, while Ripple (XRP), Binance Coin (BNB), and Stellar (XLM) slipped. In the top 100, the biggest losers were Seele (SEELE), down 22%, EDUCare (EKT), down 14%, and Centrality (CENNZ), down 14%. The biggest gainers were Matic Network (MATIC), up 68%, Fetch.ai (FET), up 48%, and Molecular Future (MOF), up 39%. Next week traders will see if crypto can challenge and break the key $200 billion level.

The author owns a small amount of LTC.