Good morning. Small investors in China are using an underground network of brokers and go-betweens to skirt the country’s strict rules on cryptocurrency trading.

China is officially one of the world’s toughest jurisdictions for cryptocurrencies. Beijing banned crypto trading in 2021, and authorities have since detained, fined and jailed people working in the sector. Big crypto exchanges founded in China, including Binance, moved elsewhere long before the trading ban, which was the culmination of a yearslong crackdown.

• Rampant trading: Crypto trading remains widespread in mainland China, as traders get around the rules using a mix of location-masking technology, lax exchange controls and secretive meetings in cafes and other public places.
   
• Laundromat meetings: Chinese crypto traders also use some old-fashioned methods to flout the rules. These include meetings in public places, where they exchange addresses of crypto wallets. Crypto traders in some cities head to laundromats, cafes, snack kiosks or eateries.
   
• Flouting capital controls: People in China can convert no more than the equivalent of $50,000 a year into foreign currencies. These controls have increased pent-up demand for crypto assets, said one crypto executive.

U.S. sanctions Emirati shipping firm for violating Russian oil-price cap.

The U.S. government took another step in its crackdown on companies violating the price cap on Russian oil, sanctioning a shipping firm based in the United Arab Emirates.

Hennesea Holdings is the ultimate owner of HS Atlantica, a ship that transported Russian oil priced above the $60 limit while using U.S.-provided services, according to a statement from the U.S. Treasury. The ship itself was sanctioned last month. The U.S. has stepped up enforcement of sanctions on Russia in recent months, targeting three oil-trading firms based in the UAE in December.

Robinhood to pay $7.5 million to settle Massachusetts 'gamification' case.

Robinhood has agreed to pay a $7.5 million fine to settle a case brought by Massachusetts over the trading app's use of "gamification strategies," the Secretary of the Commonwealth announced Thursday.

Massachusetts regulators filed a complaint in 2020 alleging Robinhood used strategies to encourage customer engagement on its platform and failed to implement controls to protect inexperienced investors.

• The Federal Reserve’s plan to make big banks hold more capital is facing unusually widespread pushback, which could complicate regulators’ stated goal of boosting the resilience of the system after a spate of midsize bank failures in 2023, say analysts and banking officials.
   
• The European Union’s competition watchdog intends to block Amazon’s $1.7 billion bid to purchase Roomba maker iRobot, people familiar with the matter said.
   
• Apple committed to address antitrust concerns posed by the European Commission surrounding its popular Apple Pay app, including allowing access to third-party mobile wallet and payment services.

'The bank runs are faster now': Regulator calls for stricter rules on flighty deposits.

A top U.S. regulator called for new rules that would require large and midsize lenders to show they can withstand the type of rapid deposit runs that took down three banks in early 2023.

Under the plan, banks would have to demonstrate they could cover “acute, ultra-short-term” deposit outflows. The plan was first reported by The Wall Street Journal and informally proposed Thursday by the head the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency.

“The bank runs are faster now. This is just a fact,” said Michael Hsu, the head of the OCC, in an interview with the Journal. “We have to adapt.”

• Russia has rejected an American proposal to reopen an arms-control dialogue with Washington, saying the U.S. was pursuing a hostile policy toward Moscow, U.S. officials said Thursday.
   
• The U.S. military launched a fifth round of strikes on Houthi weaponry in Yemen on Thursday, targeting antiship missiles aimed at the Red Sea hours after firing an earlier barrage, as rising tensions across the region threaten to pull more parties into a widening war.
   
• For the second time in three years, a conflict in Europe’s unruly neighborhood is threatening to weaken an already struggling economy while a more robust U.S. is watching from a safer distance.
   
• Companies with low credit ratings are rushing to slash their borrowing costs even before the Federal Reserve makes a single interest-rate cut.
   
• Vans and Timberland owner VF said a cyberattack it reported in December compromised the data of about 35.5 million customers.

• Tech CEOs are on the prowl, seeing an opportunity to make deals on increasingly good terms.
   
• Spirit Airlines is exploring options to restructure, following the collapse of the JetBlue deal.
   
• Companies worldwide are retreating from publicizing green goals,  a new report showed.
   
• The venture fundraising market is in the doldrums, except for one aspect of it—fund sizes.

Liu will remain in his current role until a successor is named, at which time he will transition to a role as senior adviser and officially retire in 2025.

Liu joined Target in 2016 from Xerox, where he served as executive vice president, general counsel and secretary. He has also held in-house legal positions at Toll Brothers, IKON Office Solutions and Aetna U.S. Healthcare.

• Some companies are kicking off the new year by trimming staff as a steady labor market shows signs of cooling off.
   
• President Biden is acceding to a tougher immigration policy to deflect criticism and secure Ukraine aid.
   
• Congress cleared legislation extending government funding into March, a step that ensures federal workers will remain on the job but does nothing to alleviate political pressures stemming from high U.S. debt levels, record crossings at the southern border and an enduring war in Ukraine.
   
• Boeing said it had agreed to deliver 150 of its 737 MAX aircraft to India’s Akasa Air, providing a vote of confidence in one of the industry’s fastest-growing markets as the plane maker faces pressure from regulators.
   
• The U.S. ambassador to Russia visited jailed Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich Thursday, amid continued efforts by the Biden administration to win his release.

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