Podcast: Is Cryptocurrency a Security (like an orange grove)?
Episode 286 -- Matt Stankiewicz on the Ripple Decision and Celsius CEO Indictment
From Station Wagon to Lamborghini: One CypherPunk’s Journey from Cryptoanarchy to Solana Cross-Chain NFT Innovations
Wax Studios
Summer Enforcement Action Review; Raising Money in a Pandemic - Investment Management Roundtable Discussion
Theoretical No More: Blockchain Technology, Cryptocurrencies and the Tax, Legal and Business Implications
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
Commissioner Uyeda spoke at the Securities and Exchange Commission’s 30th Annual Institute for Securities Market Growth and Development. Commissioner Uyeda focused on the need to root out bad actors and promote transparent...more
The world of cryptocurrencies on blockchains and the world of traditional assets in markets have often stood in stark contrast to one another since Bitcoin’s creation in 2008. The lack of a reliable bridge between these two...more
On August 9, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) sent a letter to U.S. District Judge Analisa Torres requesting leave to file an interlocutory appeal in SEC v. Ripple Labs, Inc. as to the two adverse liability...more
For the past several years, many have viewed “SEC v. Ripple” as one of the defining conflicts in the US crypto regulatory landscape. At the heart of this dispute is the question of whether digital tokens are “securities” for...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
Key developments of interest over the last two months include: the UK PSR publishing a policy statement on its new reimbursement requirement to fight APP fraud; the Australian government confirming its strategic plan for the...more
The world’s ever-changing technological landscape has led to the formation of new mediums of creativity — mediums that the sports and entertainment industry cannot ignore. Digital currencies, virtual universes, and enhanced...more
In his famous 2018 speech, William Hinman, Digital Asset Transactions: When Howey Met Gary (Plastic), the Director of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”), asked...more
This is the eighth part in our 2023 series examining important trends in white collar law and investigations. Up next: anti-corruption. The tumultuous crypto events of 2022, combined with the heightened agency and executive...more
Venture capital investors in blockchain companies often require formal rights to receive tokens or other digital assets created by those companies. Typically, these rights are provided through an instrument called a “token...more
Cryptocurrency had a market cap of $10 million in early 2011; it rocketed to nearly $3 trillion in February 2022 and is now down to about $1.1 trillion today. Some of this year's more notable gyrations in crypto's fall from...more
In last week's Cabinet News and Views, we examined the U.S. regulators' approach to the digital asset space, with a focus on the assertion of jurisdiction by the CFTC, the SEC, prudential regulators, state executive and...more
In a blog post on June 12th, 2022, Celsius announced that it was suspending “all withdrawals, Swap, and transfers between accounts … to put Celsius in a better position to honor, over time, its withdrawal obligations” amid...more
This week, Acting Comptroller of the Currency Michael Hsu gave remarks to the DC Blockchain Summit titled “Crypto: A Call to Reset and Recalibrate.” By speaking at the Blockchain Summit, Mr. Hsu may have gone into the...more
As the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) continues to step up its enforcement concerning cryptocurrencies, U.S.-based exchanges should take note when conducting due diligence concerning tokens to list for...more
Few investors made it through 2021 and 2022 without learning of, discussing, or perhaps purchasing, cryptocurrency or other blockchain assets, and the federal agency responsible for regulating the securities industry has...more
The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) announced yesterday that it would hire 20 additional positions to the Crypto Assets and Cyber Unit (formerly known as the Cyber Unit) within the Division of Enforcement, increasing...more
This article is the fifth in a multi-part series in which we explain how the SEC has structured its anti-cryptocurrency campaign, why the SEC has over-reached its regulatory authority in attacking the creators of digital...more
It’s very hard to keep up with digital and crypto lingo. But if you are dabbling in crypto, you need to know about rug pulls. What is a rug pull you ask? According to blogger Migi Delfin, “A rug pull is a fraud scheme that...more
A class action lawsuit filed against Kim Kardashian, Floyd Mayweather, and former professional basketball player Paul Pierce earlier this month underscores the need for celebrity endorsers to take care when they approach any...more
The guidelines set out the MAS’ expectation that digital payment token service providers should not promote their services to the general public in Singapore. On 17 January 2022, the Monetary Authority of Singapore (the...more
We highlighted in a recent post regulators’ clear intentions to bring greater order to the cryptocurrency industry this year. The last three weeks have demonstrated that private litigants are not waiting on regulators to rein...more
As the global digital asset industry continues to grow, regulators worldwide have increased efforts to define and shape the legal landscape through various approaches. In the UAE, for example, the Financial Services...more
The People’s Bank of China (“PBOC”) announced this morning that it is banning crypto currencies and related services, including “trading, order matching, token issuance and derivatives for virtual currencies are strictly...more