Key Points:
- The SEC’s Crypto Task Force cited past “hostility” toward digital assets and aims to create a regulatory framework.
- Tokenized securities face complex regulatory challenges, including compliance with the...more
Key Points -
- In 2024, securities litigation remained consistent with historical averages, with a slight increase in core filings and cases related to COVID-19 and artificial intelligence.
- The U.S. Supreme Court had an...more
2/27/2025
/ Acquisitions ,
Automotive Industry ,
Class Action ,
Class Certification ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Digital Assets ,
Filing Requirements ,
Item 303 ,
Macquarie Infrastructure Corp v Moab Partners LP ,
Mergers ,
Popular ,
Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 ,
PSLRA ,
Real Estate Market ,
Rule 10b-5 ,
SEC v Jarkesy ,
Securities Fraud ,
Securities Litigation ,
Securities Regulation ,
Technology Sector
Key Points -
- A Republican president and Congress are expected to be more supportive of digital assets than the current administration.
- There is a reasonable chance that legislation creating a regulatory framework...more
1/15/2025
/ Banking Sector ,
Capital Markets ,
Cryptocurrency ,
Digital Assets ,
Digital Currency ,
Federal Bank Regulatory Agencies ,
Financial Regulatory Reform ,
Financial Services Industry ,
Legislative Agendas ,
Regulatory Agenda ,
Regulatory Reform ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Securities Regulation ,
Technology Sector ,
Trump Administration
Key Points -
- During its 2024 term, the U.S. Supreme Court is poised to provide important guidance on the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act’s (PSLRA’s) particularity requirement in NVIDIA Corp. v. E. Ohman J:or...more
12/6/2024
/ Acquisitions ,
Automotive Industry ,
Class Action ,
Cybersecurity ,
Data Privacy ,
Digital Assets ,
E-Commerce ,
Electric Vehicles ,
Energy Sector ,
Financial Institutions ,
Financial Services Industry ,
Healthcare ,
Investment Adviser ,
Life Sciences ,
Mergers ,
NVIDIA ,
Nvidia Corp v E Ohman J or Fonder AB ,
Pharmaceutical Industry ,
PSLRA ,
SCOTUS ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Securities Litigation ,
Securities Regulation ,
Technology Sector ,
Trading Platforms
Securities Class Actions Show No Signs of Slowing in 2024 -
Key Points -
While the volume of securities class actions filings has remained consistently elevated over the past several years, the composition of the class...more
3/5/2024
/ Class Action ,
Corporate Governance ,
Digital Assets ,
Educational Institutions ,
Energy Sector ,
Entertainment Industry ,
Financial Services Industry ,
Healthcare ,
Life Sciences ,
Macquarie Infrastructure Corp v Moab Partners LP ,
Media ,
Publicly-Traded Companies ,
Retailers ,
SCOTUS ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Securities Exchange Act ,
Securities Litigation ,
Securities Regulation
SEC Wins Summary Judgment on Howey Issue in Terraform Litigation -
On December 28, 2023, Judge Jed Rakoff in the Southern District of New York issued a summary judgment decision in SEC v. Terraform Labs Pte. Ltd., a...more
On January 8, 2024, in a decision that underscores the potential viability of fair-notice defenses to U.S. regulators’ rule interpretations, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit reversed a $6.5 million penalty...more
1/19/2024
/ Appeals ,
Broker-Dealer ,
CFTC ,
Commodity Exchange Act (CEA) ,
Corporate Crimes ,
Corporate Governance ,
Decentralized Finance (DeFi) ,
Digital Assets ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Holding Companies ,
Insider Trading ,
Investment Adviser ,
Regulatory Requirements ,
White Collar Crimes
On September 7, 2023, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) issued three enforcement settlement orders against developers of decentralized finance (DeFi) protocols. The orders charge Opyn, Inc., Deridex, Inc., and...more
Two recent indictments highlight the Department of Justice’s (DOJ’s) continuing use of the traditional wire fraud, money laundering and identity theft statutes to pursue fraud involving digital assets, indicating that law...more
8/1/2023
/ Anti-Money Laundering ,
Criminal Conspiracy ,
Criminal Prosecution ,
Cryptoassets ,
Cryptocurrency ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Digital Assets ,
Financial Crimes ,
Fraud ,
Identity Theft ,
Money Laundering ,
Popular ,
White Collar Crimes ,
Wire Fraud
A bipartisan bill introduced in the U.S. Senate last week seeks “to bring crypto assets within the regulatory perimeter” by granting oversight responsibility to the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) for most forms...more
7/21/2023
/ Bitcoin ,
Blockchain ,
CFTC ,
Crypto Exchanges ,
Cryptoassets ,
Cryptocurrency ,
Digital Assets ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Jurisdiction ,
Regulatory Oversight ,
Regulatory Reform ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Securities Regulation ,
Token Sales
On July 13, 2023, Judge Torres of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York issued a much-awaited summary judgment decision in SEC v. Ripple Labs, Inc., No. 1:20-cv-10832-AT-SN (S.D.N.Y. July 13, 2023),...more
7/18/2023
/ Cryptocurrency ,
Digital Assets ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Ripple ,
Securities Act of 1933 ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Securities Litigation ,
Securities Violations ,
Token Sales ,
Trading Platforms ,
Unregistered Securities
On March 9, 2023, the New York State Attorney General’s Office (NYAG) filed a lawsuit charging crypto trading platform KuCoin for “failing to register as a securities and commodities broker-dealer and falsely representing...more
3/14/2023
/ Blockchain ,
Broker-Dealer ,
Commodities ,
Crypto Exchanges ,
Decentralized Finance (DeFi) ,
Digital Assets ,
Ethereum ,
Investment Adviser ,
New York ,
Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs) ,
Popular ,
Securities ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
State Attorneys General ,
Trading Platforms ,
Unregistered Brokers ,
White Collar Crimes
On February 7, 2023, Ishan Wahi (Ishan), a former Coinbase product manager, pled guilty to wire fraud charges in an indictment in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York (SDNY)....more
Increased regulatory oversight and recent turmoil in the digital asset market have led to a rising number of securities litigations focusing on cryptocurrencies. Sixteen cryptocurrency-related class actions have been filed...more
The pandemic’s impact may be subsiding, but businesses are encountering new challenges across the globe, including the potential for an economic retrenchment, rising interest rates, shifting regulatory and litigation...more
12/14/2022
/ Acquisitions ,
Anti-Corruption ,
Antitrust Division ,
Banking Sector ,
Big Tech ,
Board of Directors ,
Bonds ,
Borrowers ,
Capital Markets ,
Capital Raising ,
China ,
Climate Change ,
Convertible Notes ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Corporate Governance ,
Corporate Restructuring ,
Creditors ,
Cross-Border ,
Cryptocurrency ,
Digital Assets ,
Due Diligence ,
Economic Sanctions ,
Enforcement ,
Environmental Social & Governance (ESG) ,
EU ,
Executive Compensation ,
Financial Services Industry ,
Forum Selection ,
Investigations ,
IRS ,
Lenders ,
Mergers ,
Money Laundering ,
Partnerships ,
Publicly-Traded Companies ,
Recessions ,
Repurchases ,
Russia ,
Securities ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Securities Litigation ,
Shareholders ,
Special Purpose Acquisition Companies (SPACs) ,
Taxation ,
Technology ,
UK ,
Vertical Mergers
On November 7, 2022, Judge Paul Barbadoro of the U.S. District Court for the District of New Hampshire issued an order in SEC v. LBRY, Inc., granting the SEC’s motion for summary judgment against LBRY Inc. (LBRY). The court...more
On September 16, 2022, the U.S. Department of the Treasury and Department of Justice released four much-anticipated reports on different aspects of cryptoasset regulation. They confirm the Biden administration’s broad but...more
9/29/2022
/ Biden Administration ,
Blockchain ,
Criminal Investigations ,
Cryptocurrency ,
Decentralized Finance (DeFi) ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Digital Assets ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Financial Regulatory Agencies ,
Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs) ,
Popular ,
U.S. Treasury
On July 21, 2022, the Department of Justice (DOJ) and the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) each brought insider trading charges against a former Coinbase product manager, his brother and a close friend for using...more
7/27/2022
/ CFTC ,
Coinbase ,
Confidential Information ,
Cryptoassets ,
Cryptocurrency ,
Digital Assets ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Insider Trading ,
Material Nonpublic Information ,
Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs) ,
Popular ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC)
Recent guidance from the New York State Department of Financial Services (DFS) and a proposed bill in the U.S. Senate portend more regulatory and legislative activity to clarify the status of and requirements for stablecoin...more
The recent indictment of an employee of OpenSea, a prominent NFT marketplace, highlights the risk of trading digital assets based on the improper use of confidential information, even where the digital asset is not a...more
In recent years, innovation in the blockchain or “Web3” space has been impacted by uncertainty on the regulatory front. Undoubtedly, the greatest area of uncertainty has involved the Securities Exchange Commission (SEC) and...more
The Web3 community has long expressed frustration at the lack of clarity emanating from the SEC regarding the treatment of cryptocurrencies and other digital assets under current securities laws, with many characterizing the...more
As the digital asset sector has exploded in recent years, there has been growing frustration in the U.S. at the lack of clarity on the application of existing laws to this new ecosystem and a perceived lack of coordination...more