State legislators are concerned about the environmental impact of proof-of-work blockchains. New York legislators are digging in for a fight over Bitcoin mining.

Senate Bill S6486B, which restricts the granting of permits to Bitcoin mining operations on environmental grounds, passed the upper house by a 36-27 margin. The bill, sponsored by Democratic Senator Kevin Parker, now heads to the Democrat-controlled Assembly. Source

Coinbase users claim the company wrongfully locked them from their accounts for periods of up to several months.
A group of six cryptocurrency owners filed a class action lawsuit against Coinbase, claiming the company wrongfully locked them out of their accounts for periods of up to several months. The group is seeking damages of more than $5 million for themselves and any other Coinbase user who registered an account in the last four years, and who likewise got barred from accessing their account for a prolonged period of time. Source

The CTFC Commissioner said DeFi doesn’t provide the benefits or protections found in the U.S. financial system. Dan Berkovitz, the commissioner of the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CTFC), has come out against derivatives markets in DeFi.

The term DeFi is shorthand for decentralized finance, a collection of crypto-based services and products that mirror many of those on offer in traditional finance, albeit with far fewer intermediaries. Source

Following news that the Department of Justice had recouped Bitcoin in the Colonial Pipeline ransomware investigation, Bitcoin shed 8%. The price of Bitcoin has fallen 8% in the past 24 hours amid news of U.S. law enforcement recouping a portion of hacked funds in the Colonial Pipeline hack. These funds were denominated in Bitcoin.

Colonial Pipeline is a U.S.-based fuel pipeline system that services the Southeastern United States. On May 7, the company fell victim to a ransomware attack that affected its billing system. Colonial then froze operations to limit further damage, resulting in fuel shortages throughout the region, reported Bloomberg. Source

Victims were often enticed through get-rich-quick investments, catfishing, and celebrity endorsements. Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies were the second most popular payment method for scammers targeting Australians last year.

According to a report released earlier this month by the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC), Australians paid out a total of AU$26.5 million ($20.5 million) in Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies to scammers in 2020. Source

The Chinese crypto industry faces more frustration after local social media platform Weibo has reportedly suspended several popular crypto-related accounts. Weibo, a Twitter-like platform in China, has reportedly denied access to several crypto-related accounts. When trying to access them, a message pops up saying these accounts “violate rules and laws,” Bloomberg reported on Sunday. source

Bitcoin is a “risk-on” asset akin to copper rather than gold, argued Goldman Sachs chief of commodities Jeff Currie. Despite the popularity of Bitcoin’s “digital gold” narrative, cryptocurrencies share more with a much different kind of metal, argued Jeff Currie, the head of commodities at Goldman Sachs.

"Digital currencies [are] not substitutes to gold. If anything, they may be a substitute to copper. And the reason I argue that is they're pro-risk, they're risk-on assets,” Currie said during an interview with CNBC yesterday. Source

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) told banks not to rely on an old circular that restricted them from working with crypto companies. India’s central bank has asked banks not to cite its 2018 circular that barred them from dealing with crypto companies, and reminded banks that the country’s Supreme Court quashed the ban last year.

In the April 2018 circular, the Reserve Bank of India said that banks couldn’t deal with “any individual or business entities dealing with or settling virtual currencies.” Source Link