10 For 10: Top Compliance Stories For the Week Ending March 15, 2025
Ep. 3 - The Art of Parallel Investigations (Part 2)
Episode 286 -- Matt Stankiewicz on the Ripple Decision and Celsius CEO Indictment
Blue Sky Laws: Defending State-Level Securities Violations
The Justice Insiders: The Administrative State is Not Your Friend - A Conversation with Professor Richard Epstein
Four Decision Points in SEC Securities Investigations
Crypto Enforcement Is Here, and Always Has Been
Cryptocurrency: The Regulator’s Perspective
Investment Management Roundtable Discussion – Regulatory and Enforcement Update
The last two weeks have seen federal agencies continue refining their approach to the digital asset industry, while state regulators are beginning to play a more prominent role—even as the overall pace of development appears...more
A new DOJ policy directs prosecutors to focus on crypto fraud and use of digital assets to facilitate other crimes. On April 7, 2025, Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche issued a Memorandum titled, “Ending Regulation by...more
On February 7, 2025, Judge Paul A. Engelmayer of the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York denied a motion for judgment on the pleadings in a putative class action against a cryptocurrency...more
On February 21, 2025, Commissioner Hester Peirce released a statement inviting input from interested parties on the regulation of crypto assets. Commissioner Peirce stated that greater crypto clarity requires the public’s...more
Enforcement during Gensler administration was considerably higher than during the previous administration. The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) brought 33 cryptocurrency-related enforcement actions in 2024, the...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
Until fall 2023, there were few SEC enforcements or litigations involving securities issues with non-fungible tokens (“NFTs”). This has changed dramatically. In rapid succession last fall, the SEC undertook two enforcements...more
This year, the SEC has ramped up its enforcement efforts against digital asset marketplaces for selling non-fungible tokens (“NFTs”) (and other digital assets) the agency alleges are securities. In response, some potential...more
Although the excitement for non-fungible tokens (NFTs) may have faded since its peak in 2022, the world’s largest NFT marketplace, OpenSea, has new and unwanted attention from the SEC. In addition to a potential enforcement...more
The last two weeks have seen a flurry of Congressional hearings addressing key digital asset issues, alongside several noteworthy consent judgments against industry participants from the SEC. These fast-paced developments are...more
This monthly bulletin is designed to help companies identify important legal developments governing the use and acceptance of blockchain technology, smart contracts, and digital assets....more
Leading U.S. Crypto Companies Announce Multiple New Products, Integrations - A major U.S. cryptocurrency exchange recently announced the launch of cbBTC – an ERC20 token backed 1:1 by bitcoin held by the exchange. The new...more
Earlier this month, the Southern District of New York issued its final ruling and remedies order in Securities and Exchange Commission v. Ripple Labs, Inc. Judge Analisa Torres found that the SEC failed to show that any...more
As the end of summer approaches, litigation in the digital asset industry has remained hot. In the SEC’s cases against various exchanges, ongoing discovery fights are starting to play out in court filings, and one can expect...more
On Aug. 7, the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York issued its judgment in U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission v. Ripple Labs, Inc., marking the end of district court- level proceedings in the highly...more
Big news dropped in the past few weeks, which sent shockwaves across the industry: according to a recently filed lawsuit, the SEC has classified the second largest cryptocurrency, Ether, as a security in certain ongoing...more
The focus in Web3 law the past few weeks has been on jurisdictional issues when litigating matters involving borderless digital asset transactions. This is expected to be an ongoing issue, as courts work through these...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
On April 5, 2024, a jury in the Southern District of New York found cryptocurrency startup Terraform Labs PTE Ltd. (the “Company”) and its co-founder, Do Kwon, liable for securities fraud. The jury sided with the SEC in...more
It was a busy week for digital assets with the Securities and Exchange Commission, as the agency was sued by a digital asset exchange hopeful and faces responses in its pending litigation against existing digital asset...more
On December 23, 2023, BarnBridge DAO (“BarnBridge”) and its founders, Tayler Ward and Troy Murray, agreed to settle charges with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”). BarnBridge violated Sections5(a) and 5(c)...more
More than 50% increase in SEC cryptocurrency-related enforcement actions in 2023 over 2022. The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) continues to view cryptocurrency-related enforcement as a top priority, bringing 46...more
On November 1, 2023, the U.S. Department of Justice (“DOJ”) and U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) brought charges against cryptocurrency project SafeMoon LLC and its U.S. subsidiary SafeMoon US LLC, along with...more
The Blockchain Bi-Weekly presented by the Polsinelli Blockchain+ team is a rundown of some of the key stories in the Web3, blockchain and crypto ecosystems curated by our attorneys navigating the intersections of code, smart...more
On October 19, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) dismissed its claims against Ripple Labs, Inc. (Ripple) executives Bradley Garlinghouse and Christian Larsen for allegedly aiding and abetting Ripple’s violations of...more