China’s multiyear crackdown on the crypto industry may have reached its apex Friday, cementing a shift in the balance of power away from one of the countries that first embraced the digital currency world. The People’s Bank of China vowed to end illegal mining and stop offshore exchanges from conducting business with its citizens -- spurring a wipeout of as much as $159 billion in the market value of digital currencies from Bitcoin and Solana to XRP. “This is the latest and perhaps final stage of the Chinese government’s crackdown on crypto,” said Jehan Chu, founder of investment firm Kenetic Capital in Hong Kong. ... (full story)