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Digital Assets Cryptocurrency Securities Exchange Act

Fenwick & West LLP

SEC Staff Says Certain Protocol Staking Activities Don't Constitute the Sale of Securities

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The SEC’s Division of Corporation Finance recently issued a statement on Certain Protocol Staking Activities, essentially articulating the Division’s view that “Protocol Staking Activities,” do not involve the offer and sale...more

K&L Gates LLP

United States: SEC’s Division of Corporation Finance Clarifies That Participation in Certain Proof-Of-Stake Activities Does Not...

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On 29 May 2025, the SEC’s Division of Corporation Finance (the Division) issued a guidance statement (Statement) related to certain protocol staking activities. The Statement addresses the impact of federal securities laws on...more

Jones Day

Crypto Staking: SEC Staff Clarifies Non-Security Status for Certain Protocol Activities

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A May 29, 2025, U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission ("SEC") Division of Corporation Finance statement explains that "Covered Crypto Assets"—crypto tokens without any inherent rights to passive income, business enterprise...more

Mayer Brown Free Writings + Perspectives

The SEC’s Staff of the Division of Corporation Finance Clarifies Its Views on Crypto Mining

On March 20, 2025, the SEC’s Staff of the Division of Corporation Finance (the “Division”) issued a statement providing its views that crypto mining activities (as defined in its statement) do not involve the offer and sale...more

A&O Shearman

Southern District Of New York Denies Digital Asset Trading Company’s Motion For Judgment On The Pleadings

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On February 7, 2025, Judge Paul A. Engelmayer of the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York denied a motion for judgment on the pleadings in a putative class action against a cryptocurrency...more

A&O Shearman

Second Circuit Upholds Dismissal Of Federal Securities Law Claims Against Cryptocurrency Trading Platform Operator

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On February 26, 2025, the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit affirmed the dismissal of federal securities claims against the developers of a decentralized cryptocurrency exchange and the exchange’s venture...more

Fenwick & West LLP

Entertainment or Investment? The SEC’s Stance on Meme Coins as Securities

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On February 27, 2025, the Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC) Division of Corporation Finance (Corp Fin) published a new staff statement intended to clarify the application of federal securities laws to meme coins....more

Seward & Kissel LLP

Finally, clarity (or perhaps, “clarity-ish”)

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After years of refusing to give clear answers on the issue of which tokens are securities, the SEC has finally provided some clarity, at least with respect to meme coins: they are not securities. Well, actually, not quite;...more

Latham & Watkins LLP

SEC Withdraws Appeal of Court Decision to Vacate Its Dealer Rules

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The SEC’s move is part of a recent shift toward a less enforcement-centric approach that is set to reshape the regulatory framework for digital assets in the US....more

Cornerstone Research

SEC Enforcement of Cryptocurrency Dropped 30% in the Last Year of the Gensler Administration

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Enforcement during Gensler administration was considerably higher than during the previous administration. The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) brought 33 cryptocurrency-related enforcement actions in 2024, the...more

Katten Muchin Rosenman LLP

Bitnomial Exchange Sues SEC, Challenging Agency's Authority Over XRP Futures

Bitnomial Exchange, LLC (Bitnomial), a designated contract market (DCM) registered with the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), has launched a legal offensive against the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC),...more

A&O Shearman

SEC Achieves Jury Verdict In Cryptocurrency Fraud Case

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On April 5, 2024, a jury in the Southern District of New York found cryptocurrency startup Terraform Labs PTE Ltd. (the “Company”) and its co-founder, Do Kwon, liable for securities fraud. The jury sided with the SEC in...more

Cornerstone Research

SEC Cryptocurrency Enforcement Report Summary

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Cryptocurrency enforcement continues to be a high priority for the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). In 2023, the SEC administration under Chair Gary Gensler brought a total of 46 cryptocurrency-related...more

Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe LLP

SEC charges crypto company with fraud and anti-registration violations

On November 1, the SEC charged a crypto company and its executive team with fraud through the unregistered sale of crypto asset securities. According to the complaint, the defendants represented in marketing materials,...more

Jones Day

SEC Rebuked for Failing to Explain Why It Declined to Regulate a Financial Product

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The SEC's loss highlights a bigger problem with legislation that calls for sharing jurisdiction with the CFTC over financial products....more

Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe LLP

SEC orders crypto ATM operator to pay $3.9 million for selling unregistered tokens

On April 28, the SEC settled with a cryptocurrency ATM operator for allegedly selling unregistered tokens in order to raise money to expand its bitcoin ATM network. Described as a “token sale,” the SEC claimed the respondents...more

Carlton Fields

Digital Assets: An Expanding Arena for Insider Trading and Market Manipulation

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Both the SEC and DOJ are creatively and aggressively attacking the use of digital assets as a medium for insider trading or market manipulation. While the jurisdictional battle over digital assets still rages between the SEC...more

Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe LLP

SEC charges companies for offering and selling unregistered crypto asset securities

On January 12, the SEC filed a complaint in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York against two companies (collectively, defendants), alleging that they were involved in the unregistered offer and sale...more

Dorsey & Whitney LLP

FTX - Billions of Dollars to a Firm with No Controls

Dorsey & Whitney LLP on

Things change, at least sometimes. Take Crypto assets. They began as a way to “get off the grid.” Over time some came on to the grid as their popularity increased. Others stayed off....more

ArentFox Schiff

First-of-a-Kind Crypto Insider Trading Prosecution: SEC-v-Wahi et al Action May Have Broad Implications Across the Digital Asset...

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As use of cryptocurrency investment has increased throughout the world, regulators have faced a bevy of novel questions, especially related to applying different strains of law to regulate novel digital assets. To date,...more

Kelley Drye & Warren LLP

With Regulation in Flux, the SEC Disapproves Proposed Grayscale Investments’ Spot Bitcoin ETF

On June 29, 2022, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) rejected Grayscale Investments’ proposal to convert Grayscale® Bitcoin Trust (OTCQX: GBTC) to a spot Bitcoin ETF. See SEC Order Disapproving a Proposed Rule...more

Goodwin

Is the SEC’s Expansion of the “Exchange” and “Dealer” Definitions Part of the Agency’s Crypto and DeFi Strategy?

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In March 2022, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission proposed rules that would greatly expand the Exchange Act definition of “dealer” and essentially kill the distinction between dealers and traders long-recognized by...more

Lowenstein Sandler LLP

Material Investment Management Developments and Template Annual Compliance Checklists for Registered Investment Advisers, Exempt...

Summaries of recent legislative and regulatory developments with respect to: •SEC’s 2022 Examination Priorities • Proposed Amendments to Form PF Requirements- •Proposed New Rules Applicable to Private Fund Advisers and...more

Perkins Coie

Blockchain Week in Review - July 2021

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European Central Bank announces the investigation phase of a digital Euro project. SEC charges Coinschedule.com with unlawfully touting digital asset securities. Federal court order permanently bans PaxForex and imposes a...more

Latham & Watkins LLP

The Return of the Token Safe Harbor

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SEC Commissioner Peirce has revived and refreshed her proposed three-year safe harbor for qualifying token projects, but some unresolved ambiguities remain. US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Commissioner Hester...more

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