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

Cryptocurrency exchange BitMEX has renewed a grant for developer Calvin Kim worth $100,000. The Human Rights Foundation whacked in another $50,000. Crypto exchange BitMEX has renewed a $100,000 grant for Bitcoin researcher Calvin Kim for another year. Kim also received additional funding worth $50,000 from the Human Rights Foundation.

Kim is working on MIT’s Utreexo Project, which aims to help Bitcoin scale for years to come. Source Link

A major upgrade to the Cardano blockchain started to be rolled out on Friday. While the rest of the market stays still, Cardano (ADA), the fourth-largest cryptocurrency by market cap, increased by 11% in price on Sunday morning to $1.64, according to data from metrics site Nomics. At its current price, Cardano is reemerging to prices observed on Wednesday, when ADA reached as high as $1.77. ADA is still far off its all-time high of $2.46, which the project achieved two weeks ago on May 16. Source