Podcast: Is Cryptocurrency a Security (like an orange grove)?
The SEC staff has promulgated new views on stablecoins. Specifically, the staff statement addresses stablecoins that are designed to maintain a stable value relative to the United States Dollar, or “USD,” on a one-for-one...more
On February 27, 2025, the Securities and Exchange Commission’s Division of Corporation Finance (“CorpFin”) issued a Staff Statement announcing its view that meme coin transactions do not involve the offer and sale of...more
The Trump Administration and the new Republican-led Congress are expected to create a friendlier governmental approach to crypto assets. Among other things, key nominees to serve as senior administration officials are known...more
In a recent decision in SEC v. Payward, Inc. (d/b/a “Kraken”), Judge Orrick of the Northern District of California denied Kraken's motion to dismiss the SEC's suit against it. In its complaint, the SEC alleges that Kraken...more
Key Points - In a thorough decision, a federal district judge in New York largely denied Coinbase’s motion for judgment on the pleadings in a case brought by the SEC. Applying the plaintiff-friendly standards required at the...more
Last year, the Court in SEC v. Terraform Labs suggested, by denying the defendants’ motion to dismiss, that the sale of a digital asset to the public on a secondary market may constitute a security. Now, the Court has...more
The same day that the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York (SDNY) in SEC v. Ripple Labs, Inc. denied the SEC's request for an interlocutory appeal of the bombshell summary judgment ruling in the case, the...more
A US court recently handed down a landmark ruling addressing the question of whether the crypto token XRP falls under the definition of “security”. The US court ruled that the same crypto token may be classified differently...more
The questions revolving around crypto assets typically begin with examining if a security is involved. The answer to that question is determined by applying the Howey test and frequently concluding that the asset is in fact a...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
Even before the collapse of Sam Bankman-Fried’s FTX empire, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) was paying increasing attention to the market for cryptocurrencies. Back in June, the Chair of the SEC, Gary Gensler,...more
The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC or Commission) has been accused of “regulation by enforcement” when it comes to the standard for determining whether a crypto token is a security. Part of this stems from the fact...more
One of the key complaints about the SEC by crypto enthusiasts is that the line between which crypto coins are securities and which are not is unclear. Many, for example, look at a coin and are puzzled – when is it a...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 July 21, 2022, the SEC charged three individuals with insider trading of digital assets via a scheme to trade ahead of multiple announcements regarding crypto assets being made available on a United States-based digital...more
Recent SEC guidance on digital assets cleared a path for at least certain stable coins or payment tokens to avoid securities regulation. However, Latham & Watkins attorneys say there are still a number of open questions that...more