Friday promises to be a tough day for bitcoin and other cryptocurrency investors. The People’s Bank of China (PBOC), the country’s central bank, has declared that all transactions involving cryptocurrencies are illegal. According to The Wall Street Journal, the PBOC also has declared that it is illegal for overseas exchanges to provide crypto services for residents of China over the internet. Bitcoin dropped by 7% after the PBOC’s announcement and was last seen below $42,000.

Among the big losers in Friday’s premarket session were virtually all of the bitcoin-mining firms and exchanges: Riot Blockchain Inc. (NASDAQ: RIOT) and Marathon Digital Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ: MARA) were down nearly 8% and Bit Digital Inc. (NASDAQ: BTBT) was down about 7.5%. None of these generally is considered a meme stock, but they do trade with fairly high volume, and that volume and the chatter associated with it should zoom higher Friday. Coinbase Global Inc. (NASDAQ: COIN) the largest crypto exchange, traded down about 3.8% in Friday’s premarket.

There were some big moves among meme stocks on Thursday with double-digit declines of more than 20% for two stocks and double-digit increases on three.

Aterian Inc. (NASDAQ: ATER) stock dropped more than 28% on Thursday, and the company said it reached an agreement on paying down $66.3 million in secured term debt using its common stock. Another $25 million has been restructured and is now due in April 2023. Dilution of existing shareholders is the likely cause of the share price decline. The stock traded down another 3.3% in Friday’s premarket.

TMC the metals company Inc. (NASDAQ: TMC) plunged by 21% on Thursday and posted a new 52-week low of $5.34 on its way to closing at $5.46. The company had no specific news.

Camber Energy Inc. (NYSEAMERICAN: CEI) added just over 30% to its share price Thursday on volume of nearly four times the daily average of 69.4 million shares. Even though less than 6% of the company’s stock is sold short, this looks like another run at a short squeeze. The shares traded down about 2.6% early Friday, and it was among the most heavily traded stocks in the premarket.

Canoo Inc. (NASDAQ: GOEV) added more than 13% on Thursday and traded up another 2% in Friday’s premarket. The stock generated abundant commentary on the WallStreetBets subreddit Thursday, the vast majority of it positive. Nearly 30% of Canoo’s float is sold short.

BlackBerry Ltd. (NYSE: BB) added nearly 11% on Thursday, following its quarterly earnings report. By one count, BlackBerry was the second-most discussed stock on WallStreetBets Thursday. The stock traded down by less than 1% in Friday’s premarket.

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