Podcast: Is Cryptocurrency a Security (like an orange grove)?
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
Editor's Note - The following newsletter provides a roundup summarizing enforcement actions, guidance, rulemakings, and other public statements taken by a federal and/or state financial services regulatory agency,...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
Proof of Stake Alliance Publishes Analysis, Advocates for Industry Standards - This week the Proof of Stake Alliance (POSA), a nonprofit industry alliance focused on proof of stake (PoS) ecosystems, announced their newly...more
Crypto litigation, fueled by a surge of investors and market volatility, has ballooned in recent years. For example, numerous securities class actions and government subpoenas followed the May 2022 collapse of the $60 billion...more
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
Over the last five years, decentralized finance (DeFi), especially cryptocurrencies and other digital assets are a space that continues to grow at an exponential rate, not only for retail investors but also for private...more
Developing a framework for consumer tokens - With the rapid growth in the development of blockchain technology, virtual currencies and token sales (sometimes referred to as initial coin offerings, or ICOs), token...more
A federal appellate court in California issued a decision effectively ratifying the Commodity Futures Trading Commission’s expansive view of its authority to bring enforcement actions addressing a diverse range of purported...more
The US Department of Justice vehemently opposed the request for a new trial by the first person charged, convicted and sentenced under the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act’s prohibition against...more
Last week, the Securities and Exchange Commission obtained a reversal of a November 2018 decision by a federal court in California that denied it a preliminary injunction against an issuer of digital tokens that the SEC...more