Navigating 2025: Federal Legislative and Regulatory Updates on Stablecoins and Decentralized Finance — The Crypto Exchange Podcast
Compliance Tip of the Day: Use of Blockchain in Compliance
Unpacking the Fifth Circuit's Landmark Tornado Cash Decision — The Crypto Exchange Podcast
A Conversation with SEC Commissioner Hester Peirce
Navigating the Dark Side of Crypto: Crime, Compliance, and Consumer Protection – The Crypto Exchange Podcast
Crackdown on DeFi? An Examination of the CFTC's Enforcement Action Against Uniswap — The Crypto Exchange
Hot Topics in International Trade, Wyoming, Blockchain, Crypto, and the Current Landscape of Regulations
Ep. 11 - Crypto & Consumer Protection: Insights from a Former FTC Official
The Current State of Web3 Gaming
From Court to Code: Smart Contracts and Arbitration
Powering Sustainable Crypto: A General Counsel’s View
From Paper to Digital: The California DMV's Leap Into Blockchain Technology — The Crypto Exchange Podcast
El Salvador’s Bitcoin Nation: A Government Insider’s View
Dogecoin’s Day in Court
A Tale of Two Crypto Cases
Unpacking the Lummis-Gillibrand Payment Stablecoin Act: Implications for the Digital Asset Industry — The Crypto Exchange Podcast
Navigating the Regulatory Waters: The SEC's Wells Notice to Uniswap and its Impact on DeFi — The Crypto Exchange Podcast
Will Resiliency Carry the Digital Asset Sector Through 2024: Navigating the 2023 Regulatory Landscape — The Crypto Exchange Podcast
Understanding the CFPB's Proposed Digital Payments Larger Participants Rule and Its Implications for Digital Assets — The Consumer Finance Podcast
Hot Topics in International Trade-The Mod Act
U.S. Fintech Companies Announce Stablecoin Initiatives - Several major U.S. fintech companies recently announced stablecoin initiatives. In one development, Mesh, a Dubai-based digital asset startup, announced that it has...more
This is the final article in our three-part series focused on a key question: as bank-fintech partnerships continue to play a vital role in driving financial services, how does the industry make this system safer and better?...more
Among the biggest news that dropped in the past two weeks was the Trump administration’s announcement of a national Bitcoin reserve plan, a move whose mere discussion marks a significant shift from the federal government’s...more
CryptoLink is a compilation of news stories published by outside organizations. Akin aggregates the stories, but the information contained in them does not necessarily represent the beliefs or opinions of the firm. Akin's...more
The United States is no stranger to stockpiling strategic assets to serve important national interests. The U.S. strategic gold reserve provides financial stability and supports the value of the U.S. dollar...more
With Bitcoin hitting record highs and breaking a barrier long seen as aspirational, and with a new administration making key appointments, the year is ending with much excitement and momentum for the digital assets industry....more
The biggest legal news of the past two weeks was the Coinbase loss on two of three categories of claims at the Judgment on the Pleadings stage of litigation against the SEC. While it is rare to win at such an early stage in...more
CryptoLink is a compilation of news stories published by outside organizations. Akin aggregates these stories, but the information contained in them does not necessarily represent the beliefs or opinions of the firm. Akin's...more
The Blockchain Bi-Weekly presented by the Polsinelli Blockchain+ team is a rundown of some of the key stories in the Web3, blockchain and crypto ecosystems curated by our attorneys navigating the intersections of code, smart...more
On April 21, 2023, the IRS released Chief Counsel Advice Memorandum 202316008 (the “CCA”), which provides that cryptocurrency protocol changes are not treated as realization events and do not give rise to gross income for...more
Since what feels like the beginning of time, cash currency has dominated the business of monetary compensation. Beginning in the 1950’s, cash met one of its toughest competitors: the credit card. Piggybacking off the idea of...more
On January 13, 2023, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) released a Chief Counsel Advice Memorandum (CCA 202302011) concluding that taxpayers cannot claim a deduction for cryptocurrency losses that have, absent a sale or other...more
In order to provide an overview for busy in-house counsel and compliance professionals, we summarize below some of the most important SEC enforcement developments from the past month, with links to primary resources....more
The first Bitcoin ETF began trading today in the United States. Although this ETF is a Bitcoin Futures ETF, the world’s largest digital currency manager announced today that an application to convert its Bitcoin Trust into a...more
President Franklin D. Roosevelt once noted: “The only thing to fear is fear itself ... ” Apparently, some in the federal government no longer share this belief. In a recent Investor Bulletin[2] (“Bulletin”), the Securities...more
Crypto Firms Launch New Services, MIT Seeks to Improve Bitcoin Codebase - A San Francisco-based cryptocurrency custody firm successfully completed an $80 million funding round, following its recent procurement of a federal...more
Bahamas CBDC Integrates with Prepaid Card, Bitcoin Donation Data Published - A major U.S. financial services firm recently announced a collaboration with the Central Bank of The Bahamas to launch a new prepaid card to...more
Fintech Firm Brings $50 Million BTC on to Balance Sheet, Major CBDC Report Published - Late last week, a major U.S. fintech and payments firm published a “Bitcoin Investment Whitepaper” and announced that it purchased $50...more
On March 2, Orrick had the pleasure of hosting SEC Commissioner Hester Peirce for a fireside chat discussion at our San Francisco office on the state of blockchain and cryptocurrency, the emerging regulatory landscape and her...more
The U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) has charged a man from Colorado with fraud and failing to register with it in respect of a scheme that involved Ponzi-type payments....more
On Oct. 9, 2019, the Internal Revenue Service (the “Service”) issued Revenue Ruling 2019-24 concerning the tax consequences of virtual currency hard forks, as well as FAQs on the taxation of virtual currency generally. This...more
Five years or so years ago, the Internal Revenue Service (“IRS”) provided its first, and until this week, only formal advice on the taxation of cryptocurrency transactions in Notice 2014-21. This guidance, while helpful in...more
This is Part 3 of a seven-part series of posts looking at some broad legal issues affecting crypto-currencies. ...more
The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) issued a “call to action” for countries to do more to tackle enablers of tax crimes. The result of this “call to action” was the establishment of an...more