Protocol Staking Under the Federal Securities Laws - Historically, the SEC has taken issue with certain staking activities under the federal securities laws. The SEC previously alleged that staking-as-a-service programs...more
Three months into the life of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission’s Crypto Task Force, the SEC staff has begun taking tangible steps to define its evolving approach to the regulation of digital assets. In a series of...more
On April 10, 2025, the SEC’s Division of Corporation Finance (the Division) released a statement providing its views on disclosure requirements for Offerings and Registrations of Securities in the Crypto Asset Markets....more
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
On April 4, the SEC released a Statement on Stablecoins. In the statement, the Division of Corporation Finance provides its view that offers and sales of a certain subset of crypto assets commonly known as “stablecoins”...more
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 Friday, January 17, 2024, President Donald J. Trump announced the launch of the $TRUMP memecoin, which was organized and sold by CIC Digital, an affiliate of the Trump Organization. Within 60 hours, $TRUMP reportedly...more
Civil and criminal litigation heated up this summer in high-profile crypto matters that will affect crypto projects moving forward. For their quarterly crypto lit update, partner David Feder and associates Rebecca...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
In its third action involving NFTs, the SEC targets a restaurant membership token tied to fundraising and promises of potential price appreciation for buyers....more
The beginning of this year brought several legal milestones in the world of crypto litigation and enforcement. In the first live installment of our quarterly update webinar, we discussed how...more
On February 29, the state of Montana, supported by seven other states, filed an amicus brief arguing that the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) lacks authority to regulate crypto assets. The attorneys general (AG)...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
On November 20, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) instituted a civil enforcement action against Kraken, a major U.S. cryptocurrency exchange. The SEC alleged Kraken operated as an unregistered broker, dealer,...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
In April 2023, the SEC re-proposed amendments to Exchange Act Rule 3b-16 to expand the definition of what it means to be an exchange. When the SEC initially proposed these amendments in January 2022, there were zero direct...more
Two SEC commissioners dissented and urged the Commission to provide further guidance on non-fungible tokens ("NFTs")....more
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
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
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
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
Just barely two weeks ago, we wrote about the half-victory for Ripple Labs in its ongoing litigation with the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”), in which Judge Analisa Torres granted partial summary judgment in favor...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 proposed bill sets forth a comprehensive framework for the digital asset ecosystem by bridging regulatory gaps, promoting innovation, and protecting consumers. On June 2, 2023, Patrick McHenry, Chairman of the House...more
In the span of two days, June 5 and June 6, 2023, the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) commenced proceedings against the largest crypto asset exchange in the world, Binance.com; its affiliated US exchange,...more