China makes waves: Evergrande crisis and crypto ban loom

Global equity markets were shaken on Monday after it came to light that mammoth Chinese property developer, Evergrande, who is carrying debt worth £222 bn, may have to default on a £62 m interest payment on bonds it has issued. The payment was confirmed to have been missed on Thursday, leading to a 30 day grace period where the payment must be settled before a default is declared. A default on that scale has implications for the stability of China's markets and economy and risks contagion to the wider financial world. Today, China has also announced a blanket ban on all Cryptocurrency transactions, creating further waves that has put renewed pressure on the price of cryptocurrencies. Global equity markets fell around 1.5% to 3% on Monday, but have since clawed back much of the losses. Bitcoin fell around 6% on the news of a ban in China and remains highly volatile as is usually the case with such highly speculative assets.