It was a turbulent week, courtesy of blustering headwinds emanating from China.

On Monday, deeply indebted Chinese property developer Evergrande roiled markets globally – even sparking a debate about whether or not it could be China's 'Lehman moment'. With Bitcoin’s correlation to the S&P 500 so high, the crypto markets felt the pressure. Bitcoin dropped all the way down to $40k while some altcoins posted larger double-digit price drops.

On Wednesday, Evergrande said it negotiated a deal with bondholders to settle interest payments on a domestic bond, which helped calm fears of an imminent default. But just as the crypto market made a swift comeback from the turbulence, China’s central bank released a statement on Friday announcing a ban on all digital asset-related transactions – even those made via crypto exchanges based outside of China.

While this latest crackdown is by far the most harsh and comprehensive, the People’s Bank of China (PBOC) attacks on crypto are nothing new. PBOC have made no secret of their ambitious goals for the digital renminbi, and this latest move is simply a continuation of a trend to exert total control over the nation's money supply.

In our view, the sector has recovered from China-driven pullbacks over a dozen times and not a whole lot will change from this elevated crackdown. Digital asset adoption continues to expand without China, as evidenced most recently by the rollout of Twitter’s new crypto tipping feature.

With over 350 million monthly active users, Twitter going all in on crypto is a huge milestone for the industry that could fuel digital asset adoption and possibly have a domino effect on other social media companies following suit.

Top stories of the week

China expands crackdown by declaring all crypto activities ‘illegal’

China expanded its crackdown on cryptocurrencies by declaring on Friday that all activities related to digital assets are “illegal”. The People’s Bank of China and other government agencies targeted overseas cryptocurrency exchanges specifically, declaring that it was illegal for them to provide online services to residents in China. The move was an apparent bid to close a loophole that remained after the PBoC, China’s central bank, in May banned domestic financial institutions from providing cryptocurrency transaction services. Immediately after the announcement, the price of bitcoin dropped over 8% to just over $41,000, but has since recovered to about $44k on Monday morning. Read More

Robinhood to begin testing crypto wallets, with broader launch in early 2022

Robinhood said on Wednesday it plans to begin testing cryptocurrency wallets next month, with a broader rollout in early 2022. Select Robinhood customers will begin testing the features and more customers will be able to join at a later date through a waitlist. The company commented that crypto aligns "perfectly" with its mission to democratise finance for all because crypto was born out of a mission to return power to the people. Read More

Twitter enables tipping with Bitcoin, plans to let users authenticate NFTs

Twitter has turned on the ability to ask for tips in Bitcoin through its app, making it the first major social network to encourage use of the cryptocurrency as a method of payment. The company also plans to let users connect their crypto wallets and authenticate the ownership of NFTs they tweet with a special badge. Twitter has been testing tipping for a few months now, but the company didn't make tips widely available until Thursday, when the feature rolled out globally on iOS with Android to follow.

Twitter staff product manager Esther Crawford commented. “We want everyone on Twitter to have access to pathways to get paid,” said Crawford. “Digital currencies that encourage more people to participate in the economy and help people send each other money across borders and with as little friction as possible — help us get there.” Read more

In case you missed it

⚡️‘We are at war’ with crypto, says Turkish President Erdoğan.

⚡️Biden’s pick for OCC head Saule Omarova is critic of big banks and crypto.

⚡️El Salvador buys 150 more bitcoins, worth $6.8m.

⚡️Ripple to pilot Bhutan’s CBDC using private ledger.

⚡️Deutsche Boerse launches Solana and Polkadot ETNs by VanEck.

⚡️Invesco and Galaxy Digital team up to develop crypto ETF suite.

⚡️Hacker steals $12m in wrapped bitcoin from DeFi platform pNetwork.

⚡️Crypto fund manager One River Digital raises $41m from Goldman, Coinbase.

⚡️DeFi platform Vee Finance exploited for $35m on Avalanche blockchain.

⚡️Fantasy soccer NFT platform Sorare scores $680m raise led by SoftBank.

⚡️Binance stops futures and options trading in Australia amid regulatory concerns.

⚡️Fewer South Korean crypto exchanges remain in business under new industry regulations.

⚡️Major Brazilian bank BTG Pactual to offer investment options in bitcoin and ether.

⚡️FTX signs sponsorship deal with F1 team Mercedes-AMG Petronas.

⚡️UAE regulators approve crypto trading in Dubai free zone.

⚡️Ukraine joins the comity of crypto-friendly nations with new regulation.

⚡️Bitcoin.org goes offline after suffering scam attack.

⚡️Dfinity to launch bitcoin smart contracts on the Internet Computer.

⚡️Kentucky regulator orders Celsius to stop offering crypto accounts.

⚡️Egor Petukhovsky, CEO of US-sanctioned Suex, says he will go to court.

⚡️FTX moves headquarters from Hong Kong to Bahamas.

⚡️Andre Cronje launches rival to NFT marketplace OpenSea.

⚡️BitClout creator launches ‘decentralised social' blockchain with $200m in funding.

From Copper

Copper nominated for 'Best digital asset custodian' at Crypto AM 2021 awards

We're delighted to be nominated for the 'Best digital asset custodian' award at the 2021 Crypto AM awards. The inaugural Crypto AM awards celebrate innovation and excellence within AI, blockchain and digital assets, and we are grateful to have been recognised for our commitment to providing the most robust custody services. View the full list of finalists here.