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
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
With so much focus on the regulatory treatment (and mistreatment) of blockchain related businesses, the benefits of commercial legal certainty for choosing a country or territory as a home of choice for these businesses is...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
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
On July 13, 2023, the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York issued an important decision on a closely watched securities case surrounding crypto token classification. The primary question for the Court in...more
On July 13, 2023, the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York issued its highly anticipated summary judgment decision in the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC) action against Ripple Labs, Inc....more
Ripple Labs (“Ripple”) was one of the first companies to emerge in the crypto space and is now among the first to secure a win against the SEC. In 2020—nearly a decade after Ripple created its digital token, XRP—the SEC sued...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 SEC has rung the bell again on a celebrity touting a crypto token offering without adequate disclosure of a paid role. On October 3, 2022, the Securities and Exchange Commission released its order instituting cease and...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
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
Regulators once again offered piecemeal guidance, while focusing on risks and enforcement. Meanwhile, innovation and institutional adoption took off. Last year, Latham & Watkins sounded a hopeful note that 2020 would provide...more
The first cryptocurrency, Bitcoin, is still the most well-known application of blockchain. However, this technology has since rapidly evolved and expanded in many other areas. The initial hope with Bitcoin was to make both...more
It was a year filled with tantalizing tidbits and many loose ends. 2019 marked the 10th year since blockchain technology was released into the wild by its still unknown inventor, Satoshi Nakamoto, who mined the first bitcoin...more
The SEC Division of Corporate Finance recently issued a no-action letter to Pocketful of Quarters, confirming that the Division will not recommend any enforcement action if the company sells its blockchain-based tokens...more
While the crypto market is still in its early stages, the number of asset managers offering funds investing in cryptocurrencies and companies using blockchain or distributed ledger technology ("DLT") is constantly growing....more
Earlier this month, the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) provided additional guidance on digital assets, which include “tokens” and “coins.” The SEC’s Strategic Hub for Innovation and Financial Technology (“FinHub”)...more
According to this announcement, Blockstack expects to be the first SEC Regulation A+ qualified token offering. I’m not touting or endorsing the potential Blockstack offering. But viewing from the outside in, there’s a good...more
The UK FCA launched on 23 January 2019 its highly anticipated consultation1 (CP19/3) on Guidance for market participants as to where certain cryptoassets sit in relation to the regulatory perimeter - and whether relevant...more