Bitcoin Recovers Losses After Evergrande & China FUD Send Markets Spiralling

Cryptocurrency markets faltered early last week as Evergrande debt worries spilled over to the global economy. After regaining some ground, a further crackdown on crypto transactions in China added downward pressure. However, markets recovered quickly showing increased bullish momentum. Meanwhile, the social media giant, Twitter, added bitcoin functionality to the platform, and Ripple Labs continued to score points against the SEC.

• Evergrande debt worries spill over to crypto 
• China makes all cryptocurrency-related transactions illegal
• Twitter launches bitcoin tipping
• Ripple Labs scores potential win against SEC
• Coinbase signs deal with ICE

Evergrande debt worries spill over to crypto

Global markets were sent reeling at the start of last week as news broke that Evergrande, one of China’s largest property developers, was struggling with outstanding debts.

The company, which has been struggling with debt since 2020, stayed afloat thanks to selling shares in subsidiary companies and asking its own employees for capital. However, last week Evergrande admitted that it was unable to make upcoming interest payments on domestic and international bonds. While the $36 million domestic bond was negotiated on Wednesday, the $83.5 million international bond was left unanswered.

Likened to a Lehman Brothers moment, the collapse of Evergrande is concerning due to the potential ripple effects it may leave in its wake. The company accounts for 2% of China’s GDP and owes $305 billion in outstanding debts. Many analysts fear that dominos will fall throughout global markets if the Chinese government does not intervene. 

Cryptocurrency markets were not sheltered from worst-case scenario fears on Monday. The total market cap recoiled 11% in 24 hours, with Bitcoin and Ethereum both falling over 9% as news broke. However, cryptocurrencies quickly steadied and continued to recover throughout the week, shaking off bearish sentiment. 

China yet again cracks down on crypto transactions

After facing tough pressures from the Evergrande crisis earlier in the week, cryptocurrency markets were hit again on Friday by news that the People’s Bank of China (PBoC) had officially classified all digital currency exchanges as ‘illegal financial activity’ – effectively banning the use of cryptocurrencies for all residents.

Although detrimental to short-term cryptocurrency prices, the move was not a surprise to many within the economic community. China has been restricting cryptocurrency activity for many years. Crypto mining was banned in April and all financial institution interactions were stopped in May. As the new restrictions came as little surprise, the impact of the news was temporary. The cryptocurrency markets soon climbed higher after briefly retreating, with investors taking another opportunity to buy the dip.

Speaking to Bitcoin.com on Friday, ARK36’s executive director, Ulrik Lykke gave his views on the news. “While each time this happens, the markets react with a price drop, each time the effect is smaller and more short-lived. The ‘China bans Bitcoin’ story has gained almost a meme-like status in the Bitcoin community because of this. Investors should be careful not to make emotional decisions based on this trending news story as on-chain fundamentals still indicate that bull market continuation in Q4 is likely.”  

Although banning cryptocurrency transactions, China continues to work towards its own digital currency – the digital yuan. The ban is viewed by most as a way to drive Chinese citizens away from decentralized systems and towards the adoption of a trackable and controllable government-backed digital currency. 

Twitter adds bitcoin tipping feature

The social media network, Twitter, launched bitcoin as an additional payment option in its tipping jar feature last Thursday. The addition will allow users to ask for any tips to be paid in bitcoin and should help encourage wider cryptocurrency adoption.

The tipping jar feature was launched in May 2021 to beta users of the network. Initially, payment providers such as PayPal, Venmo, Cash App, and Patreon were offered to users. Now bitcoin is also part of the lineup. 

All bitcoin tips will be facilitated by Strike, a payment company that implements and processes transactions via the Bitcoin Lightning Network. The Lightning Network allows bitcoin transactions to be processed at a fraction of the cost. Bitcoin functionality will first be available for iOS users and then subsequently for Android. 

Last week Twitter also outlined plans to explore NFT authentication and discover ways that the platform could better serve the NFT creator community. One vision is that NFT creators may be able to connect cryptocurrency wallets to Twitter so that their NFTs can be tracked and showcased. 

Ripple scores possible win in the legal case against SEC

Ripple Labs, developers of XRP, who currently find themselves in a legal battle with the Securities and Exchange Commission, was denied a request last week to access SEC employee trading records of XRP, BTC, and ETH.

Ripple wished to detail the SEC’s own internal policies for holding digital assets, which could then potentially support Ripple’s fair notice defense. Although not the outcome they were hoping for, the move to deny the request has raised many questions as to why the SEC would not allow this. 

During the week, reporters observing the court case outlined that the SEC was changing strategy from the original case logic that the XRP Ledger (blockchain) was centralized. The new logic states that Ripple’s infrastructure was not finished but XRP assets were used to finance development regardless. However, this is a prevalent tactic used by many blockchain projects, including Ethereum, which is being used as a key comparison in the case. 

As a result, the change in stance from the SEC has been speculated as a weak one and one that is a major admission of defeat for the agency. 

Coinbase signs $1.36 million deal with ICE

Coinbase, one of the world’s largest cryptocurrency platforms, last week signed a contract with the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) department, which is a part of Homeland Security. 

Coinbase, which is based and regulated within the US, has signed several government contracts in the past including with Homeland Security and the Internal Revenue Service (IRS). However, this latest deal with ICE is by far the largest. 

Interestingly, unlike other deals, there was no blog post, tweet, or public announcement of the contract from Coinbase. Although the exact data transferred to ICE is yet unknown, the move goes against the principles of many privacy advocates in the cryptocurrency community.

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