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
Digital Asset Companies Achieve Licenses, Launch Stablecoin Products - According to a recent press release, Anchorage Digital, a digital asset platform and infrastructure provider, announced that the New York State...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
Crypto Exchanges and Stablecoin Issuers Announce Multiple New Products - Multiple crypto sector companies have recently announced new products. In a press release, LayerZero, “an omnichain interoperability protocol that...more
U.S. Fintech and Crypto Companies Continue Crypto Product Launches - According to recent reports, a major U.S. fintech and payments company has launched support for USDC payments, enabling U.S. businesses to accept USDC on...more
It is challenging for law enforcement to track down and trace illicit activities conducted through digital currencies. The process can be very time- and resource-intensive. Further, securing charges and arrests, and...more
Financial Firms Complete Blockchain Pilot, UK Approves Crypto ETNs - A recent press release announced completion of the Canton Network pilot, “a first-of-its-kind program demonstrating the interoperability of twenty-two...more
District Court Upholds Tornado Cash Sanctions, DOJ Charges Founders - On August 17, a Texas federal court found that Tornado Cash, a crypto mixer (which obscures the source of crypto transactions) is an entity that can be...more
In February 2022, we blogged on the seizure of a record $3.6 billion in stolen Bitcoin (“BTC”) and an accompanying criminal complaint, charging husband and wife Ilya “Dutch” Lichtenstein and Heather “Razzlekhan” Morgan with...more
DeFi, Stablecoin Products Launch; Bitcoin Network Spikes Due to NFTs - According to reports, a new decentralized finance (DeFi) protocol recently launched that allows users to deposit the stablecoins USDC or DAI in a...more
State-chartered crypto banking entities and other crypto financial institutions will now be subject to a "transparent and equitable framework" when applying for direct access to the Federal Reserve's payment systems...more
Two recent federal enforcement actions—announced the same day—have underlined the need for crypto companies to carefully consider their anti-money laundering (AML) obligations or else risk significant penalties....more
U.S. Bank Seeks to Launch Stablecoin; New Crypto Payments Data Released - A well-known digital payments consortium sold its technology platform this week to a U.S.-based bank known for its cryptocurrency-related offerings....more
According to one blockchain and cryptocurrency security firm, this year is on pace to be the second highest in cryptocurrency theft, hacking and fraud, with January through May 2020 already seeing $1.36 billion stolen in...more
Earlier this month, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed the money laundering convictions of Thomas Costanzo, a bitcoin broker. According to Costanzo, the bitcoin transfers at issue, which originated from and were...more
Exchanges Expand in US and Gibraltar; India Supreme Court Ruling Favors Industry - Late last week, a major global messenger app based in Japan announced that it has launched BitFront, a new global cryptocurrency exchange...more
A Ukrainian man living in the U.S. is facing up to 20 years in prison after being convicted of 18 federal felonies to defraud his former employer Microsoft out of more than $10 million in digital value. ...more
The U.S. Department of Justice (DoJ) has indicted a man from Ohio for running Helix, a darknet-based cryptocurrency laundering service that is alleged to have laundered bitcoins worth $300 million....more
U.S. Developments - Regulatory Developments - SEC Issues Second No Action Letter for Blockchain-Based Project - On July 25, 2019, the staff of U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) issued its second ever...more
Twenty venture capitalists gathered in Silicon Valley last week to discuss the impact of blockchain technology, including digital currency, on financial services and venture capital. The 20 VCs represent an equal number of...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
Permissionless blockchains, like the one underlying the bitcoin payment network, were created to provide the public with transparency over transaction information and records....more
Below is a summary of some of the significant legal and regulatory actions that occurred over the past week. This alert is not intended to be a comprehensive list of all such developments, but rather a selection of...more
I recently read an article in the MIT Sloan Management Review, entitled “How Blockchain Will Change Organizations”, where authors Don Tapscott and Alex Tapscott speculate that the transformations which blockchain may...more
Despite the staggering $8 billion figure estimated to be spent on global compliance in 2017, U.S.-based rules regarding Anti-Money Laundering (“AML”) and Combating the Financing of Terrorism (“CFT”) remain anchored in their...more
A new report published by the European Parliament’s Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs calls for the establishment of a task force, with its own budget and dedicated staff, that would study digital currencies and...more