Aurelia Butler

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. banks must seek and obtain written permission from their bank supervisors before engaging in certain activities involving cryptocurrency, a major regulator said on Tuesday.The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency said banks must be able to demonstrate they have appropriate risk management tools before taking on activities like providing custody services for customers’ crypto holdings.“Because many of these technologies and products present novel risks, banks must be able to demonstrate that they have appropriate risk management systems and controls in place to conduct them safely,” said acting Comptroller Michael Hsu in a statement.The new stance from the regulator places a higher bar on banks considering some crypto activities, after the agency under former President Donald Trump cleared the way for banks to engage in some crypto work.Under the new interpretive letter, banks are not allowed to engage in several crypto-related activities, such as providing custody for crypto assets and using dollar deposits and reserves to back “stablecoins,” without first notifying their bank supervisors of their intention to engage in that activity.Supervisors will then review the bank’s risk management tools and systems, and allow the activity only if banks demonstrate they can do so in a safe and sound manner.A separate joint statement from the Federal Reserve, Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation and the OCC issued on Tuesday said banking regulators intend to clarify in 2022 what role traditional banks can legally play in the cryptocurrency market. More

Click here to listen to the latest news in less than three minutes. Top Stories Today is an audio news digest that gets you up to speed on the day’s top headlines.President Joe Biden has announced the release of oil from the US’s strategic stockpile in an attempt to drive down petrol prices and snuff out a crude market rally that the White House has said poses a threat to the global economic recovery. The White House yesterday said that the president was authorising the release of 50m barrels of oil — about 2.5 days worth of US oil consumption — “over the coming months”, in a move co-ordinated with China, India, Japan, South Korea and the UK. But an effort to drive down oil prices that have doubled in the past year appeared to backfire, as international crude benchmark Brent rose more than 2 per cent on the news, to trade at about $81.40 a barrel on Tuesday morning in London. Biden linked the release to efforts to beat back sharply rising inflation, saying Americans were “feeling the impact of elevated gas prices at the pump and in their home heating bills, and American businesses are, too, because oil supply has not kept up with demand as the global economy emerges from the pandemic”.Do you agree with Biden’s decision? Tell me what you think at [email protected]. Thanks for reading FirstFT Asia. — EmilyFive more stories in the news1. Turkish lira falls as Erdogan vows victory in ‘economic war’ The Turkish lira plunged as much as 15 per cent after President Recep Tayyip Erdogan praised a recent interest rate cut and declared that his country was fighting an “economic war of independence”. The currency is down more than 40 per cent against the dollar this year.2. Apple files suit against Israeli spyware group NSO Apple is suing NSO Group, the Israeli military-grade spyware manufacturer that created surveillance software used to target the phones of journalists, political dissidents and human rights activists, to block it from using its products.3. China blocks access to shipping location data China has blocked public access to shipping location data, citing national security concerns, in another sign of its determination to control sources of sensitive information. See the difference for yourself here.

© China shipping location data

4. Hong Kong sentences third person convicted under security law Student activist Tony Chung, 20, was handed a sentence of 3 years and 7 months in jail yesterday after prosecutors accused him of pushing for the city’s independence on social media and by organising street booths, with some events dating back to 2016 before the security law came into effect.5. China intensifies crackdown on celebrity culture and fans The Cyberspace Administration of China released a new set of rules to regulate celebrities, their advertising and fan groups, as part of President Xi Jinping’s drive to reform social values in the country.Coronavirus digestInflation in Singapore rose to the highest level in nearly three years in October, driven by rising services and food prices.In a rare instance of public opposition, three top Chinese health scholars have challenged state monitoring of phone location data to identify close contacts.Thousands in England have scheduled Covid-19 booster shots in a “bookings boom” as those aged 40 to 49-years-old became eligible to receive a third jab.Millions of employees are wielding newfound leverage in the post-pandemic labour market to gain better pay and benefits. This is the second part of an FT series analysing how Covid-19 changed the way millions think about work.The day aheadNew Zealand rate decision The Reserve Bank of New Zealand is expected to raise interest rates today to cool a hot economy and runaway housing market, in a decision that will be closely watched by central banks around the world.US economic data Federal Open Market Committee meeting minutes will be published along with the Fed’s preferred measure of inflation — the personal consumption expenditures price index — for October.What else we’re readingChinese parents find new ways to give their children an edge Beijing’s crackdown on tutoring has not stopped families wanting the best for their kids. “The market will find a way around restrictions when there is strong demand and willing supply for a certain product or service,” said one foreign investor. Do you agree support Beijing’s crackdown on tutoring? Tell us what you think in our latest poll.

© Beijing’s crackdown on tutoring poll

Dancing on the edge of climate disaster How are we to assess the outcome of COP26 in Glasgow? It would be reasonable to conclude that it was both triumph and disaster — triumph, in that some notable steps forward have been taken, and disaster, in that they fall far short of what is needed, writes Martin Wolf. How Tesla gained influence over the markets The carmaker’s role in the ebb and flow of the stock market, otherwise called the “Tesla-financial complex”, is greater than its $1.1tn valuation implies. Robin Wigglesworth looks at the web of dependent investment vehicles, corporate emulators and an enormous associated derivatives market behind its influence.

© Chart showing Tesla’s influence

Brexit is a slow bleed for the City of London Since Brexit got done, Covid-19 has put off the industry’s adjustment to what might prove a more lasting equilibrium. But that is now changing, writes Helen Thomas as the drip, drip, drip continues. Making social media less ‘viral’ We are constantly contending with online rumours that spread like the plague, writes Madhumita Murgia. Can we interrupt these waves of hyper-transmission, just as we do the spread of viruses?Food & drinkA growing number of restaurants around the world are putting live performance at the heart of their offering. People are desperate to go out and have fun. But the trend goes back further than a post-pandemic appetite for a party. Here are some locations to check out. More

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. President Joe Biden on Tuesday touted his administration’s international and domestic efforts to tackle inflation and high gasoline prices, promising Americans a drop in prices at the pump ‘before long.”The Democratic president announced what he called the largest-ever release from the U.S. Strategic Petroleum Reserve to boost domestic supplies, in coordination with other countries. The White House is also probing possible illegal conduct by oil and gasoline companies that it says are keeping gas prices artificially high.”I told you before that we’re going to take action on these problems. That’s exactly what we’re doing,” Biden said in remarks broadcast from the White House.”It will take time, but before long you should see the price of gas drop where you fill up your tank, and in the longer-term we will reduce our reliance on oil as we shift to clean energy.”Biden’s administration along with the Federal Reserve had described sharp spikes in inflation earlier this year as transitory, but pressure for action has grown as the price surges have continued into the fall. The Labor Department’s Bureau of Labor Statistics reported earlier this month that U.S. consumer prices in October posted their biggest annual gain in 31 years, driven by large jumps in the cost of gasoline and other goods.Biden acknowledged the pain Americans were feeling, but said his administration was working to clear logjams in supply chains, speed up work at U.S. ports and work with retailers to ensure that store shelves were stocked with “everything from bicycles to ice skates” in time for the winter holidays.The White House on Tuesday announced plans to release millions of barrels of oil from strategic reserves in coordination with China, India, South Korea, Japan and Britain to cool prices after producers in the OPEC+ group repeatedly ignored calls for more crude.Biden also took aim at companies that he said were making record profits while failing to pass savings along to consumers. “If the gap between wholesale and retail gas prices was in line with past averages, Americans would be paying at least 25 cents less per gallon right now,” he said. “Instead, companies are pocketing the difference as profit, and that’s unacceptable.”Biden last week said there was mounting evidence of anti-consumer behavior by oil and gas companies that is keeping fuel prices elevated, asking the Federal Trade Commission to dig deeper into possible “illegal conduct” in the market. White House press secretary Jen Psaki on Monday also highlighted the administration’s call for the Federal Maritime Commission to ensure free and fair competition and prevent “outsized profits” for ocean carriers, saying new data showed companies in that sector made nine times more in profits in the third quarter compared to last year. More