Podcast: Is Cryptocurrency a Security (like an orange grove)?
On March 21, 2025, the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) held the inaugural roundtable of its Crypto Task Force to explore the legal issues involved in classifying crypto assets under the federal securities laws. ...more
The Trump Administration has espoused—both on the campaign trail and in recent administrative actions—a strong interest in deregulating cryptocurrency laws and advancing the United States itself as a player in the...more
The Division’s statement specifically addresses the mining of crypto assets that are intrinsically linked to the programmatic functioning of a public, permissionless network. These assets, referred to by the Division as...more
The SEC looked favorably on designated crypto mining activities by stating that such activities are not securities. Specifically, the SEC addressed “proof-of-work” activities. According to the SEC, Proof-of-work (“PoW”) is a...more
In welcome news, the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Division of Corporation Finance (Division) recently announced “[a]s part of an effort to provide greater clarity” that meme coins do not involve the offer and...more
When meme coins—crypto tokens that usually do not purport to have any utility but are often just a single digital image of a dog, frog, or celebrity—began to be popularized, many skeptics thought that they were a joke,...more
A class action lawsuit brought against online gaming company DraftKings Inc. relating to the company’s short-lived marketplace for non-fungible tokens, or NFTs, is likely to settle. Because the case will not proceed to a...more
On November 20, 2023, the SEC filed a complaint in the United States District Court for the Northern District of California against Payward, Inc. and Payward Ventures, Inc. which, together, do business as Kraken. The...more
This past August, the US Securities and Exchange Commission took enforcement action against Impact Theory, a US media company that sold NFTs called “KeyNFTs.” It filed a second enforcement action shortly thereafter, against...more
Government scrutiny of the crypto market has been sharply increasing in recent months on the criminal and civil enforcement fronts. In parallel proceedings that will be seen in other digital asset contexts — as in the...more
Dapper Labs was founded in 2018 shortly after the debut of its first NFT collection, “CryptoKitties,” which was so successful it created a bottleneck of transactions on the decentralized Ethereum Network. Seeking faster...more
On November 7, 2022, Judge Paul J. Barbadoro in the United States District Court for the District of New Hampshire granted summary judgment in favor of the Securities and Exchange Commission against the content sharing...more
In a significant victory for the SEC, US District Court Judge Paul J. Barbadoro granted summary judgment to the SEC in what is the first enforcement action targeting a cryptocurrency not issued via an initial coin officer...more
It's no secret that cryptocurrency markets and the larger digital assets economy have been roiled by recent instability, resulting in discussions about how regulatory initiatives, rising inflationary pressure, and public...more
“Decentralization” refers to the movement of supervision and decision-making away from a single central actor, and toward a dispersed network of actors. Such networks are facilitated by the use of blockchain technology and...more
On May 3, 2022, the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) announced the expansion of its newly styled Crypto Assets and Cyber Unit (Unit) (formerly known as the Cyber Unit), housed within its Division of...more
(You Say Security, I Say Utility; Midtrial Acquittal) - The Securities and Exchange Commission’s FinHub group issued guidance last week, providing a checklist of characteristics to help determine whether a cryptoasset may...more