Bitcoin and peers have climbed off lows after a week of prolonged selling which concluded the worst month on record for the leading crytpoasset.

Bitcoin (BITCOMP), the largest cryptoasset by market cap, dropped by 38% in May, having been trading above $58,000 at the start of last month.

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According to reports, this means May was its worst calendar month on record, eclipsing the 35% drop seen in December 2013.

However, both bitcoin and ethereum have rallied in the last 24 hours, with bitcoin now at $36,705 – having been under $35,000 at one point during the weekend – and ethereum up around 15% in the last 24 hours to trade at $2,623 currently.

While short-term moves have seen volatility spike, the sell-off has also created many opportunities for new investors to get involved in the asset class for the long-term, with many buyers waiting on the sidelines and now deploying capital.

China turns to energy data in latest cryptoasset crackdown

Energy regulators in China's Sichuan province are expected to meet with local power companies in the coming weeks to gather information on cryptocurrency mining, putting more downward pressure on bitcoin in particular.

According to reports, the meetings are taking place as part of a wider crackdown on mining operations which has already rattled through the cryptoasset market. Cryptomining is a big business in China, accounting for over half of global cryptocurrency supply.

However, it is also using increasing amounts of energy, with the annual energy consumption of China's bitcoin industry expected to peak in 2024 at about 297 terawatt-hours, exceeding the total power consumption level of Italy and Saudi Arabia in 2016, according to a study recently published in scientific journal Nature Communications.

It comes after China's central government vowed last week to crack down on bitcoin mining and trading, while this week Inner Mongolia, also a major mining centre, proposed measures to root out the business.

Gamestop launches NFT platform

Video game retailer GameStop has launched a website to build an Ethereum-based non-fungible token platform (GME, ETH-X).

The company, made famous after an army of retail investors backed its shares to counter hedge funds which were shorting the business, has taken up several projects and changed its strategy in the market to revitalise its business.

Last week, GameStop rolled out a new website with the domain name nft.GameStop, indicating the company’s intent to dabble in NFTs.

The website featured an animation with the inscription, “Power to the players. Power to the creators. Power to the collectors.”

GameStop said it is also employing a team of community leaders, marketers, gamers, and engineers, amid a surge in popularity within the NFT market over the past year.

Paypal lets users withdraw bitcoin

Paypal (PYPL), the global listed payments giant, has said it will soon allow its users to transfer cryptoassets away from its platform to third-party wallets.

Jose Fernandez da Ponte, Paypal’s head of cryptocurrency, said during the Consensus 2021 conference on Wednesday that his company will soon start allowing cryptocurrency withdrawals to third-party wallets.

He reportedly said: “We want to make it as open as possible and we want to give choice to our consumers … They want to bring their crypto to us so they can use it in commerce, and we want them to be able to take the crypto they have bought with us and take it to the destination of their choice.”

Paypal, a $304bn company, has been increasingly involved in the cryptoasset market, including announcing it intends to let customers opt to pay for purchases using cryptoassets.

Cuban backs Polygon

Billionaire investor Mark Cuban has invested in Indian crypto startup Polygon in his latest foray into the cryptoasset space.

According to reports, Cuban plans to integrate Polygon into Lazy.com, a portfolio company that allows people to easily display non-fungible tokens (NFTs).

Previously called Matic Network, Polygon was founded in 2017 by Jaynti Kanani, Sandeep Nailwal and Anurag Arjun.

Polygon asks as a second layer payments system on the ethereum network, making transactions on Ethereum platforms easy and quick.

Polygon has its own native crypto token, Matic, which has hit a valuation of $14 billion and is among the world’s top-20 cryptocurrency coins.