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Your weekly briefing on market status, tech news and developing trends.

Monday, 27 Sep 2021

Gooood Monday.

Another month, another cryptocurrency ban in China.

Except this time, the People’s Bank of China is vowing to hit the crypto market really hard. Is fighting Bitcoin really a part of China’s green revolution or is there another hidden agenda?

Let’s dive in.

PIC OF THE WEEK

“Virtual currency-related business activities are illegal financial activities.”

-  People’s Bank of China

THE STORY

Last Friday, China’s central bank announced that all cryptocurrency transactions are now illegal in the country. People’s Bank of China warned that crypto “seriously endangers the safety of people’s assets.”

This is yet another step to wipe cryptocurrencies off what’s one of the world’s biggest crypto markets.

WHY IT'S INTERESTING

China going after crypto is hardly a new thing. Trading cryptocurrency has been officially banned in China since 2019, but Blockchain-based transactions are still alive and well in the country due to online foreign exchanges.

For the last couple of months, Chinese state institutions have increased pressure on the industry. They issued ban on mining crypto, ordered banks and online payment platforms to stop supporting digital currency transactions, and officially warned investors and consumers they would not protect them in case of losses.

And these are all not just words. In June, the police in China arrested over 1,100 suspects in a crypto-related money laundering case and in July, China’s central bank ordered to shut down a Bejing-based company that had provided cryptocurrency transactions software.

China’s crackdown on cryptocurrencies is getting harder almost month by month. But why exactly is the country going after crypto?

There are, at least, two answers to that question.

First is the climate. China, which currently is the world’s biggest carbon emitter, has set out to become carbon neutral by 2060. This is partly why it banned highly pollutive crypto mining.

The second is… China’s own digital currency, which has been in development since 2014. The digital yuan is getting closer and it seems only logical for People’s Bank of China to clear the runway.

And while China’s war on cryptocurrencies is heating up like crypto miner’s GPU, investors overseas seem to remain calm. Meltem Demirors, CTO at Coinshares told CNBC: “You can only ban something once. Every ban after is an admission that you actually couldn’t ban it at all.”

Time will tell if he’s right. 

DIG DEEPER

• China Cracks Down Harder on Cryptocurrency With New Ban by Amy Qin and Ephrat Livni, The New York Times
  
• What investors should know about China's cryptocurrency crackdown by Taylor Locke, CNBC Make It
• China’s crypto ban makes perfect sense by Tom Richardson, Financial Review
• China's crypto ban has almost achieved a 'meme-like status,' but here are the lingering impacts by Frances Yue, Market Watch
  

NEWS

China declares all crypto-currency transactions illegal / BBC

In a setback for Apple, the European Union seeks a common charger for all phones / The New York Times

Amazon starts probe over bribe to gov’t officials by its lawyers in India, report says / TechCrunch

Facebook drops after warning Apple ad-tracking will slow growth / Bloomberg

Facebook’s CTO to step down after 13 years at the company / TechCrunch

FINANCIAL MARKETS

FRIDAY CLOSING PRICES, LAST WEEK % CHANGE

TECH INSIGHTS

REPORT

How do you know when a DevOps strategy has succeeded or failed? by Protocol

Every DevOps strategy stands on cultural shift and picking the right tooling. In this article 6 top-level executives from Intel, Github, Puppet, and others share their tips on verifying DevOps strategy's efficiency.

FOOD FOR THOUGHT

READ

5 Cognitive Biases Blocking Your Success by Forbes

Carmine Gallo, a communication specialist, discusses five cognitive biases (errors in thinking) that prevent leaders from recognizing new and powerful trends. One of them is the availability bias - the natural human tendency to be more biased toward information that’s easy to access mentally. Learning what your biases are and removing them from your thinking will allow you to become more innovative and open.

LISTEN

Five Secrets to Keeping Your Best Employees by Masters of Scale

“When you lead with authenticity, you inspire your team to come along." Learn what motivates the best performance, and how to build creative teams in remote, hybrid, and fluid conditions. Leaders from Apple, Canva, Delta, Uber, plus President Barack Obama, share five moves that are essential to building and keeping a team. It's a roadmap for getting the most from your talent and reconnecting them to your mission and vision.

WATCH 

The Best Career Path Isn't Always a Straight Line by TEDxLondonWomen

Career ladders were created as a way to manage and motivate a whole new generation of workers - in the early 1900s. Nowadays they make learning limited by the level we reach in an organization. Losing the ladder starts with redefining our relationship with learning at work. Exploring our career possibilities freely allows us to see how we can use our strengths in new ways and spot the skills that might be useful for our future.

APPS & TOOLS WE LOVED

ORGANIZING

Weje: an online whiteboard to help you organize your life and work - from sticky notes, through mind maps, to Kanban boards.
 
+1,086 upvotes, #5 Product of the Week on Product Hunt

PRODUCTIVITY

Tango: a Chrome extension that allows you to create step-by-step guides with screenshots in seconds.

+2,439 upvotes, #1 Product of the Week on Product Hunt

MARKETING TOOLS

Smart Copy: an AI writing tool that creates, remixes, and expands content. You can personalize it to your brand and target audience.

+393 upvotes on Product Hunt

THREAD OF THE WEEK

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