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Enforcement Actions Digital Assets Investment Contract

Morrison & Foerster LLP

U.S. SEC Issues Statement on Stablecoins

On April 4, 2025, the staff of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC or “Commission”) Division of Corporation Finance (“Staff”) issued a statement on stablecoins (the “Stablecoin Statement”), outlining the Staff’s...more

Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati

Corporation Finance Issues Two Unusual Statements Regarding Regulation of Digital Assets

The Division of Corporation Finance (Division) of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) recently issued two statements regarding whether certain tokens, or arrangements involving tokens, constitute “investment...more

Latham & Watkins LLP

Ruling for SEC Clears Path for Continued Litigation in SEC v. Coinbase

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The decision, which addresses a broad range of market activity by Coinbase relating to 13 third-party tokens, could have significant implications for market participants. On March 27, 2024, Judge Katherine Failla of the US...more

Farrell Fritz, P.C.

SEC’s First Two NFT Enforcement Actions Cast Shadow of Ambiguity

Farrell Fritz, P.C. on

The Securities and Exchange Commission recently brought its first two enforcement actions against issuers of non-fungible tokens (NFTs), resulting in cease-and-desist orders, penalties and other remedies, finding that the...more

A&O Shearman

SEC charges Impact Theory for unregistered offering of NFTs

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On August 28, 2023, the Securities and Exchange Commission (the “SEC”) charged Impact Theory, LLC (“Impact Theory”), a media and entertainment company headquartered in Los Angeles, with conducting an unregistered securities...more

Jones Day

SEC Brings Its First Enforcement Action Against Non-Fungible Token Sellers

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Two SEC commissioners dissented and urged the Commission to provide further guidance on non-fungible tokens ("NFTs")....more

Mayer Brown Free Writings + Perspectives

For the First Time, the US SEC Sanctions an NFT Issuer for Selling Unregistered Securities in SEC v. Impact Theory

In a published settlement of the charges on August 28, 2023, the US Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) stated that non-fungible tokens (“NFTs”) issued by Impact Theory, LLC (“Impact”) were “securities” under US...more

Ballard Spahr LLP

SEC Finds NFT to Be a Security in Landmark Action

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Summary - The SEC’s focus on the crypto industry expanded this week to include non-fungible tokens (NFTs). In its first NFT-enforcement action, the SEC settled with Impact Theory, a media and entertainment company, over...more

Jones Day

Ripple and Terraform Labs: Two New York District Courts Address the Status of Certain Crypto Assets as Securities

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In Short - The Situation: Recently, two judges in Southern District of New York were required to apply the Howey test in separate cases to decide whether sales of certain crypto assets were investment contracts, and thus...more

Jenner & Block

Client Alert: Ripple, and Terra, and Coinbase, Oh My!

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Three federal judges in the Southern District of New York sit at the center of the long-running battle between the SEC and the crypto industry, overseeing cases that may eventually bring clarity to the industry. After two...more

Holland & Knight LLP

A Ripple of Doubt

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Specifically, the SEC wants a change to persuade the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit – now, not later – of its view that Torres got it wrong when she determined that the company's offer and sale of its XRP token...more

Willcox & Savage

Crypto and the SEC v. Ripple Labs, Inc. Decision: What Did the Court Actually Say?

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Earlier this month, a federal trial court judge issued an opinion ruling on whether sales of a digital token, XRP, constituted a “security” for purposes of federal securities laws. Some headlines reporting the ruling have...more

Fenwick & West LLP

SEC v. Ripple Labs: Securities Law Analysis Under Howey Applied On A Transaction-By-Transaction Basis

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It’s the Transaction, Not the Token. Issuers cannot offer or sell securities without registering them with the SEC under Section 5 of the Securities Act of 1933 or finding a valid exemption from registration. XRP is the...more

Polsinelli

“Now Yous Can’t Leave”: SEC Finds Itself in Formidable Fight Over Attempt to Assert Regulatory Domain over Secondary Sales of...

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In July of 2022, the United States Department of Justice (“DOJ”) and the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) each alleged insider trading violations against a former Coinbase employee Ishan Wahi (“Ishan”), his brother...more

Nelson Mullins Riley & Scarborough LLP

Clash of the Titans: SEC Sues Genesis and Gemini for Digital Asset Offerings

Like Zeus unleashing the Kraken in Clash of the Titans, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has unleashed the Kraken (not the digital asset company) to unleash havoc on Genesis Global Capital LLC (Genesis) and...more

Sheppard Mullin Richter & Hampton LLP

SEC Showcases Lesser-Known Legal Theory in Crypto Lending Suit

The Securities Exchange Commission (“SEC” or “Commission”) has taken action against Genesis Global Capital, LLC (“Genesis”) and Gemini Trust Company, LLC (“Gemini”) (collectively, “Defendants”) in a recently-filed complaint...more

Latham & Watkins LLP

SEC v. Ripple: Approaching Judgment Day

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While a conclusion to the much-hyped case may be approaching, market participants should be wary of doomsday prognostications. As a new year begins, the digital assets industry is still enduring a deep and widespread crypto...more

Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP

Court Rules in Favor of SEC in LBRY Enforcement Action

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

Polsinelli

Shhhh! – SEC Wins Summary Judgment Over Library

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While the blockchain crypto community is processing the latest round of “crypto contagion,” potentially lost in the busy news week was a significant legal development regarding what digital assets qualify as securities under...more

Foley Hoag LLP

SEC and DOJ Bring First-Ever Crypto Insider Trading Actions

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This year had already seen an uptick in federal enforcement activity focused on digital assets with the expansion of the SEC’s Crypto Assets and Cyber Unit (see our prior client alert on that expansion and its impact here)...more

Snell & Wilmer

Enforcement Action by the SEC Heightens Regulatory Uncertainty Surrounding Crypto Assets

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A recent action brought by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) against a former Coinbase employee for insider trading in crypto tokens (the “Wahi Action”) highlights the lack of certainty surrounding the...more

Kohrman Jackson & Krantz LLP

The Sec Had No Love For Blockfi This Valentine’s Day

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has not hesitated to conclude that crypto assets are securities subject to the Securities Act of 1933, but with BlockFi, the SEC went a step further and, for the first time with...more

Patterson Belknap Webb & Tyler LLP

A Brief Overview of the SEC’s Guidance on Cryptocurrencies in the Context of the Commission’s Enforcement Action Against Ripple...

A key question for any company considering the issuance of cryptocurrency is whether that digital asset will be treated by regulators as a security, like BP stock, or a commodity, like Bitcoin.  In 2019, the Securities and...more

Proskauer - Blockchain and the Law

When is a Token More Than a Token? SEC Settlement over Anti-Touting Provision Raises Familiar Questions

On July 14, 2021, the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) settled an action against the operator of a platform that promoted current and upcoming digital token offerings for violations of the anti-touting provision of...more

Amundsen Davis LLC

Ripple Effect: SEC Lawsuit against Cryptocurrency Company May Provide Guidance For Crypto Industry

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On December 21, 2020, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) filed a high-profile enforcement action against a major cryptocurrency company. The SEC complaint alleges violations of federal securities laws by defendant...more

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