An already challenging week for cryptos just got much worse, now that China’s central bank has declared “all cryptocurrency-related transactions . . . illegal, reinforcing the country’s tough stance against digital rivals to government issued money.” The news sent the price of bitcoin down 5% immediately, and Ether is diving, too - WSJ and Bloomberg and MarketWatch and TechCrunch
Over in equities, by contrast, Wall Street rebounded again on Thursday, with the S&P 500 and Nasdaq composite gaining back much of the losses they suffered earlier in the week (when news of Evergrande’s possible default shook markets globally) - NYTimes and WSJ and Bloomberg
Not that Evergrande’s out of the woods, by any stretch - WSJ and Bloomberg
And your obligatory audit-fail angle on the crisis - WSJ
NYC is blazing a trail in the regulation of delivery service providers, approving a “package of legislation on Thursday that will set minimum pay and improve working conditions for couriers employed by app-based food deliver services like Grubhub, DoorDash and Uber Eats” - NYTimes and MarketWatch
Even as supply chain issues remain a concern globally, California ports are proving to be a particularly nasty kink in the flow of goods. 61 vessels remain anchored off Cali’s shore as of Thursday—down from a record high of 73 over the weekend, but still very much not good - NYTimes
Major changes coming in the federal approach to flood insurance means that the heavy subsidies that have enabled hundreds of thousands of homeowners to afford waterfront living to recede—in the process “[f]orcing Americans to pay something closer to the real cost of their flood risk, which is rising as the planet warms.” Federal officials are hoping that the change in price, often dramatic, will force people to better “understand the extent of the risk they face, and perhaps move to safer ground, reducing the human and financial toll of disasters” - NYTimes
A bit of getting-to-know-you background for Saule Omarova, the Cornell Law professor President Biden has tapped to serve as new head of the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency—the “regulator overseeing the largest U.S. banks” - NYTimes and Law360
If confirmed, Ms. Omarova’s OCC would include crypto regulation among its earlier priorities. But it’s far from the only agency thinking about digital currencies, and the Treasury Department and other federal regulators are—after years of sitting on the crypto sidelines—rushing to issue rules and guidance, particularly for stablecoins - NYTimes
The “ghost” of “bankrupt Silicon Valley darling Jawbone Inc.” (well, the company’s patents, at least) are “at the center of new lawsuits seeking royalties from Alphabet Inc.’s Google and Apple Inc. over noise canceling technology in their ear buds, smartphones and smart home devices” - Bloomberg
PE firm TPG has promoted company vet Todd Sisitsky to the new role of president in anticipation of its coming IPO - WSJ
New [very] old fossilized footprints in New Mexico mean a recalculation—by some 10,000 years—of humans’ first-known appearance in the Americas - WSJ and NYTimes
Stay safe, get vaxxed, and have a great weekend,
MDR
