🗞 Daily Crypto News, May, 21st💰

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Welcome to the Daily Crypto News: A complete News Review, Coin Calendar and Analysis. Enjoy!

🗞 Market Wrap: Bitcoin Leverage Costs Get Cheap, Ether Volatility Jumps

Bitcoin’s 24-hour range: $35,709-$42,441 (CoinDesk 20)

Ether’s 24-hour range: $2,216-$2,992 (CoinDesk 20)

Topsy-Turvy

Bitcoin, the world’s largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization, was up by 2.1% as of press time Thursday. BTC was below the 10-hour moving average and near the 50-day, a bearish signal for market technicians.

“There are definitely still some downside risks left short term, and markets rarely rebound in one single move up,” said Jean-Marc Bonnefous, managing partner of investment firm Tellurian Capital. “Political noise, with news of tax rules tightening, is still weighing on a prompt recovery.”

Volatility pops, especially for ETH

Crypto’s notorious volatility appears to be on the rise. On Wednesday, bitcoin’s 30-day volatility went over 80% for the first time since March. Ether’s gyrations were even higher: It gained 30 percentage points in one day, to 139%.

Cost of BTC leverage dips, futures interest falls

“A lot of leveraged length has been stopped out and the market is much cleaner and should build a base for recovery,” said Tellurian’s Bonnefous.

🗞 SEC Chair Gensler: We 'Should Be Ready' to Enforce Crypto Cases

New Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Chairman Gary Gensler remarked today that the agency "should be ready to bring cases involving issues such as crypto."

Speaking at the 2021 Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) Annual Conference, Gensler told the virtual conference attendees, "As we think about enforcement, to me, the idea is pretty simple: We need rules of the road and a cop on the beat to protect everyday investors and achieve our...mission."

On May 6, he suggested that a regulatory framework for crypto exchanges put in place by the CFTC and/or SEC would be a boon for consumer confidence and protection. "Right now, there's not a market regulator around these crypto exchanges and thus there's really no protection around fraud or manipulation," he noted.

Meanwhile, crypto custodians are facing their own regulatory upheaval. This week, Acting Comptroller of the Currency Michael Hsu triggered a review of the Treasury office's cryptocurrency guidelines, while Senate Banking Committee Chair Sherrod Brown asked Hsu to put conditional banking charters to crypto firms on hold.

🗞 DeFi Exploit Siphons $45 Million from PancakeBunny, Crashes Token Price

DeFi protocol called PancakeBunny was exploited last night.

The attacker made off with $45 million.

One of the things people like about crypto is that it’s mostly transparent. Ledgers keep a record of every transaction on a given blockchain, and so-called “block explorers” like BSCScan and Etherscan let you peruse the archives with a handy search function. Criminals have ways of obfuscating the paper trail—but when a large amount of money suddenly changes hands, people notice.

Like most things in crypto, PancakeBunny also has a governance token, $BUNNY, which was trading at around $145 until the exploit.

Since DeFi protocols like PancakeBunny don’t deal with banks, they incentivize liquidity with dedicated LP tokens. Anyone can pour money into a DeFi service and become a liquidity provider. The more money you put in, the more LP tokens you get. These are valuable in and of themselves, but they can also be used to claim rewards.

Rather than stealing tokens from other DeFi users, the attacker minted new ones. But it’s still a net negative for $BUNNY holders: thanks to the disruption, the price crashed to the $20 range last night.

🗞 Coinbase in Talks to Buy Asset Manager Osprey Funds

Publicly traded cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase is in the process of acquiring asset management firm Osprey Funds, according to two people with knowledge of the deal.

The talks are at a high level and informal at this stage, said one of the sources.

Osprey Funds declined to comment. A Coinbase spokesperson said the company doesn’t comment on “rumors and speculation.”

There’s no doubt that Coinbase has deep pockets following its April public listing and last week’s announcement of a $1.25 billion offering of convertible notes. The exchange has been on a steady acquisition trail in recent years, having purchased such crypto companies as prime broker Tagomi, infrastructure shop Bison Trails and data platform Skew.