Episode 3 - The Freeman Law Project - Cryptocurrency Regulation and Taxation: A Brief Primer
On February 27, 2025, the Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC) Division of Corporation Finance (Corp Fin) published a new staff statement intended to clarify the application of federal securities laws to meme coins....more
In an opinion post for a16z crypto, Latham lawyer Jenny Cieplak calls for a new regulatory approach for tokenized securities. A significant number of projects over the past several years have “tokenized” so-called real...more
On Feb. 4, 2025, SEC Commissioner Hester Peirce, in her role as head of the Commission's newly minted Crypto Task Force, provided additional detail regarding the task force's objectives. She began by managing expectations,...more
On February 4, 2025, Commissioner Hester Peirce offered a first glimpse at the Securities and Exchange Commission’s (“SEC”) roadmap for establishing a regulatory framework for crypto. Tasked with leading the SEC’s...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
A recent order handed down by U.S. District Judge Vince Chhabria of the Northern District of California could be a new source of concern for digital asset entrepreneurs and the venture capital firms that invest in and support...more
Crypto Firms Announce New Products in Payments, Investments, Custody - A major U.S. digital asset management company recently announced the creation and public launch of its MakerDAO Trust, which “offers investors the...more
On August 7, 2024, nearly four years after the SEC filed its complaint alleging Ripple sold XRP in unregistered securities transactions in violation of Section 5 of the Securities Act, the district court issued its final...more
As the Web3 and digital assets ecosystem continues to grow, hacks, scams and other threats remain a major cause for concern and a potential impediment to broader adoption. Data from various sources indicates that after a year...more
The March decision in Williams v. Binance from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit marks the latest chapter in the judiciary's struggle to apply the U.S. Supreme Court's 2010 decision in Morrison v. National...more
The decision, which addresses a broad range of market activity by Coinbase relating to 13 third-party tokens, could have significant implications for market participants. On March 27, 2024, Judge Katherine Failla of the US...more
According to mythology, the titan Prometheus gave humans the gift of fire. As punishment, Zeus had Prometheus chained to a rock and an eagle would swoop down to eat his liver, which would then regrow overnight, for the cycle...more
In addition to tokens and crypto issuers, the SEC enforcement continued its focus on crypto lending and trading platforms. In January 2023, the SEC brought two enforcement actions against three firms for unregistered offer...more
On July 13, 2023, the Court ruled in partial favor of Ripple Labs Inc.’s argument that many of its XRP sales did not violate investor-protection laws. The ruling has sent the crypto world ablaze with speculation on the future...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
A California federal court recently held that all governance token holders were responsible for any losses suffered in a security incident. Specifically, the court, in denying a motion to dismiss, ruled in part in favor of a...more
DeFi, Stablecoin Products Launch; Bitcoin Network Spikes Due to NFTs - According to reports, a new decentralized finance (DeFi) protocol recently launched that allows users to deposit the stablecoins USDC or DAI in a...more
The Israel Securities Authority is proposing to apply the same laws to digital assets as apply to financial assets, which are under the ISA’s supervision. The legislative amendments include revisions to definitions of the...more
In granting the SEC’s motion for summary judgment, a federal court ruled that sales of LBC tokens were securities transactions. On November 7, 2022, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) prevailed in a motion for...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
The latest statements from the government and regulators indicate that Hong Kong is moving forward with enhancing its virtual asset regulatory and legal regime. The Hong Kong government and the Securities and Futures...more
The Financial Stability Oversight Council released its Report on Digital Assets Financial Stability Risks and Regulation on October 3, 2022. The Report was prepared in accord with Section 6 of President Biden’s...more
By now, nearly everyone knows that cryptocurrency is digital money and cryptocurrency transactions are recorded in secure digital ledgers known as blockchains. But that doesn't even scratch the surface of this robust...more