Virtual Currency, Corporate Counsel

U.S. Sanctions Enforcement: 2023 Trends and Lessons Learned

Morrison & Foerster LLP on 3/5/2024

Today’s alert—the second in our Sanctions 2023 Year in Review Series—provides an overview of U.S. sanctions enforcement in 2023, including the key lessons learned from the public enforcement actions issued by the U.S....more

OFAC Year in Review 2023 – Part 1

Morrison & Foerster LLP on 3/4/2024

2023 was another record year for U.S. sanctions and the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC). Most prominently, OFAC continued to impose significant additional sanctions on Russia in...more

A DAO Is No Defense: CFTC Says Decentralization Does Not Immunize DeFi from Regulation

Jones Day on 10/10/2022

In Short - The Situation: Under the existing legal regimes, decentralized autonomous organizations ("DAO" or "DAOs") have been viewed as a way to hedge against regulatory action by way of a decentralized structure. The...more

CFTC Takes Aim at DAO Members in bZeroX Settlement

Davis Wright Tremaine LLP on 9/29/2022

The CFTC's recent announcement of its settlement with a decentralized crypto protocol operator and its two individual founders, together with its complaint against the successor protocol, reflects a novel approach to...more

The Responsible Financial Innovation Act – A Bullet Point Summary

Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld LLP on 6/13/2022

Key Points - On June 7, 2022, Senators Cynthia Lummis (R-WY) and Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) released long-awaited legislation addressing the regulatory and tax treatment of digital assets. Their Responsible Financial...more

“WRONG”: U.S. Court Affirms Sanctions Risks in Virtual Currency Transactions

Dechert LLP on 6/2/2022

Key Takeaways - A judge has issued an opinion in a first-of-its-kind criminal sanctions case involving the use of virtual currency to evade U.S. economic sanctions. The opinion reinforces the Treasury Department’s position...more

Cryptocurrency Litigation: Traditional Remedies in Modern Circumstances

Bennett Jones LLP on 5/9/2022

Ontario Superior Court Issues an Anton Piller Order in Connection with Alleged Cryptocurrency Theft - Previously under seal and only recently released to the public, the Ontario Superior Court’s decision in Cicada 137 LLC v...more

Analyze This: The NYDFS Sets Clear Crypto Transaction Monitoring Expectations

Morrison & Foerster LLP on 5/5/2022

The past year has seen a flurry of crypto-related activities by the federal financial regulators, including the issuance of reports, guidance, joint statements, and interpretive letters....more

OFAC Year-in-Review 2021 Part II – Lessons Learned from OFAC’s 2021 Enforcement Actions

Morrison & Foerster LLP on 2/9/2022

Back in July, we took a look at the enforcement actions for the first half of 2021 issued by the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC). Today’s post – the second half of our OFAC 2021 Year...more

2021 U.S. Sanctions Year in Review

Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati on 1/14/2022

In January 2021, President Biden was sworn into office and for the first time in a decade, Democrats assumed control of both chambers of Congress. Notwithstanding these changes, the U.S. government has continued to rely on...more

Guidance for the Virtual Currency Industry; 2021 Sanctions Review Shows Increasing Focus on Digital Transactions

Fenwick & West LLP on 10/21/2021

On October 15, 2021, the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) issued tailored sanctions compliance guidance for those operating in the virtual currency industry, including technology...more

OFAC Releases New Detailed Guidance for the Digital Currency Industry

Perkins Coie on 10/20/2021

On October 15, 2021, the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) released guidance on sanctions compliance for the digital currency industry, the agency’s most detailed guidance to date on...more

Treasury Releases Long-Awaited Sanctions Policy Review

WilmerHale on 10/20/2021

The US Treasury Department has released its 2021 Sanctions Review (the “Review”), which describes the US sanctions framework and the agency’s future sanctions priorities. The Review reflects on the evolution over two decades...more

OFAC Helps Those Who Help Themselves: How a Ransomware Response Plan Can Help Avoid Sanctions Enforcement for Ransom Payments

Fenwick & West LLP on 9/24/2021

Many companies have a “no ransomware payment” stance until faced with a ransomware attack, especially an attack that causes significant business disruption. At that point, the company may reconsider its stance (or at least...more

Northern District Of California Holds That Section 230 Applies To App Store

Morrison & Foerster LLP - Social Media on 6/10/2021

While Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act continues to face significant calls for reform or even elimination, the recent Coffee v. Google case illustrates that Section 230 continues to provide broad protection to...more

The SEC Gets its Kiks out of a Successful Application of the Howey Test

Orrick - On the Chain on 10/6/2020

In a closely-watched cryptocurrency case, on September 30, the Southern District of New York ruled in favor of the SEC in SEC v. Kik Interactive, Inc., holding that the Kin tokens Kik had offered and sold through a pre-sale...more

Is A Corporation's Address A Trade Secret?

Allen Matkins on 9/25/2020

"Cryptocurrency" is a hybrid word form from the Greek adjective, κρυπτός, meaning hidden, and the Latin participle, currens, mean running or flowing. The word "currency" is also derived from currens, perhaps based on the...more

Bitcoin Is “Money” For Purposes Of D.C. Money Transmission Law, Says Federal Court

Morrison & Foerster LLP on 8/17/2020

A recent federal district court ruling in a criminal anti-money laundering case suggests that the transmission of virtual currency on behalf of another person requires a state money transmission license—even if the state’s...more

New York Appellate Court Confirms Attorney General’s Broad Investigative Powers into the Cryptocurrency Industry

BakerHostetler on 7/16/2020

On July 9, the Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York, First Department (First Department) issued a significant decision in James v. iFinex that confirmed the broad authority of the New York State Attorney...more

Making Sense of the Telegram Case: Multiple Parties Weigh In as the Courts Consider Whether a Blockchain Token Is a Security

BakerHostetler on 2/28/2020

Overview of the Telegram Case - Telegram, a global messaging platform, was founded by Russian brothers Nikolai and Pavel Durov in 2013....more

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