Podcast: Is Cryptocurrency a Security (like an orange grove)?
On April 10, 2025, the SEC’s newly formed Crypto Task Force held the second of its promised series of roundtables in the SEC’s “Spring Sprint Toward Crypto Clarity” initiative. Titled “Between a Block and a Hard Place:...more
The Staff Statement provides clarity that Proof-of-Work crypto mining does not involve securities, reducing regulatory uncertainty and enforcement risks for miners....more
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
On March 20, the SEC released a Statement on Certain Proof-of-Work Mining Activities. In the statement, the Division of Corporation Finance (Corp Fin) provides its view that many proof-of-work mining activities are not...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
Although the U.S. Government under President Trump has flipped the script on its approach to cryptocurrency in just a matter of weeks, one big question that is still out there is will the courts chill the recent enthusiasm of...more
The see-saw court battle over whether Coinbase is an unregistered securities exchange/broker-dealer/clearing agency has flipped, this time with the SEC dropping low. On January 7, 2025, the U.S. District Court for the...more
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
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
For the past several years, many have viewed “SEC v. Ripple” as one of the defining conflicts in the US crypto regulatory landscape. At the heart of this dispute is the question of whether digital tokens are “securities” for...more
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
In a speech before the Aspen Security Forum on August 3, 2021, SEC Chair Gary Gensler followed the lead of his predecessor and repeated the SEC’s view that current securities regulations are clear and almost all tokens are...more
In a closely-watched cryptocurrency case, on September 30, the Southern District of New York ruled in favor of the SEC in SEC v. Kik Interactive, Inc., holding that the Kin tokens Kik had offered and sold through a pre-sale...more
On September 30, 2020, SDNY Judge Alvin Hellerstein issued a decision of major significance for the digital token industry in Securities and Exchange Commission v. Kik Interactive, Inc. This is only the second federal court...more