Blockchain and Digital Assets News and Trends – April 2025

This periodic bulletin is designed to help companies identify important legal developments governing the use and acceptance of blockchain technology, smart contracts, and digital assets.

While the use cases for blockchain technology are vast, this bulletin focuses on uses of blockchain and smart contracts in the financial services sector. With respect to digital assets, we have organized our approach to this topic by discussing them in terms of traditional asset type or function (although the types and functions may overlap) – that is, digital assets as:

• Securities
• Virtual currencies
• Commodities
• Deposits, accounts, intangibles
• Negotiable instruments
• Electronic chattel paper
• Digitized assets

In addition to reporting on the law and regulation governing blockchain, smart contracts, and digital assets, this bulletin will discuss the legal developments supporting the infrastructure and ecosystems that enable the use and acceptance of these new technologies.

INSIGHTS

Redeemable, USD-linked stablecoins are not securities – latest SEC staff guidance

By Era Anagnosti, Margo Tank, Edmund Mokhtarian, Deborah Meshulam, Kristin Boggiano, Curtis Mo, Ron Llewellyn and Eric Hall 

The Division of Corporation Finance at the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) recently issued guidance regarding the application of federal securities laws to certain stablecoins.

While this guidance, released on April 4, 2025, expresses only the views of the staff of the Division of Corporation Finance and is not legally binding, it nevertheless clearly states the SEC staff’s current position on what the guidance defines as "Covered Stablecoins."

For a breakdown of the guidance, read more.

SEC staff observations on compliance with disclosure requirements in offerings and registrations of securities in the crypto asset markets

By Era Anagnosti and Ron Llewellyn

On April 10, 2025, the staff of the Division of Corporation Finance of the SEC issued a statement (Staff Statement) expressing its observations regarding certain disclosure requirements under the federal securities laws regarding the offering and registration of securities in the crypto asset markets.

The Staff Statement does not address all material disclosure items, but focuses on certain disclosure requirements set forth in Regulation S-K that apply to registration forms under the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, Form 20-F, and Form 1-A.

The Staff Statement outlines how compliance with a series of existing disclosure requirements should be approached in filings related to crypto asset markets. Read more.

STATUTORY AND AGENCY DEVELOPMENTS

FEDERAL DEVELOPMENTS

White House

President Trump pardons BitMex and executives. On March 27, President Donald Trump issued "full and unconditional" pardons to HDR Global Trading Limited, operator of the BitMex cryptocurrency exchange, and four of the firm's former executives – Arthur Hayes, Benjamin Delo, Samuel Reed, and Gregory Dwyer. The pardons relate to 2024 and 2022 guilty pleas to violations of the Bank Secrecy Act (BSA) and failure to maintain adequate anti-money laundering (AML) compliance programs. The individuals had been sentenced to probation and ordered to pay collectively more than $30 million, while HDR had been ordered to pay a $100 million fine in addition to $100 million to settle registration failures with the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) and the US Department of the Treasury's Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN). For more information on BitMex, see our prior issues: January 2025, July 2024, May 2022, and March 2022.

President Trump signs bill overturning IRS DeFi broker rule. On April 10, President Trump signed into law a Congressional Review Act of Disapproval (CRA) to overturn the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) Digital Assets Sale and Exchanges Rule, otherwise known as the "DeFi broker rule." The DeFi broker rule previously required digital asset "brokers" to report to the IRS certain decentralized finance (DeFi) transactions conducted on their platforms. The rule defined "brokers" to include DeFi platforms, which typically are unable to collect from users the information required by the rule. The CRA prohibits any future administration from issuing similar rules without new legislation. For more information on the DeFi broker rule, see our January 2025 issue.

DOJ

DOJ announces shift in digital asset enforcement priorities. The US Department of Justice (DOJ) issued a memorandum to departmental employees on April 7 that disbands the DOJ's National Cryptocurrency Enforcement Team and states that the DOJ "is not a digital assets regulator." The memorandum shifts DOJ enforcement priorities from "regulation by prosecution" by "target[ing] virtual currency exchanges, missing and tumbling services, and offline wallets for the acts of their end users." The shift changes the priorities to "investigations and prosecutions that involve conduct victimizing investors, including embezzlement and misappropriation of customers' funds on exchanges, digital asset investment scams, fake digital asset development projects…, hacking of exchanges and decentralized autonomous organizations resulting in the theft of funds, and exploiting vulnerabilities in smart contracts," and the use of digital assets in furtherance of unlawful conduct, such as human trafficking, cartels, fentanyl production, terrorism, and smuggling. The memorandum orders all ongoing investigations inconsistent with this directive to be closed.

Congress

Senators urge reversal of DOJ shift in digital asset enforcement priorities. On April 10, US Senators Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), Mazie K. Hirono (D-HI), and Dick Durbin (D-IL) – Ranking Member of the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs, a senior member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, and Ranking Member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, respectively – announced they led six Senators in writing to urge Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche to reverse the DOJ's recent decisions to effectively terminate its cryptocurrency investigations and prosecutions and disband its National Cryptocurrency Enforcement Team. In their letter, the Senators asserted the decisions are "grave mistakes that will support sanctions evasion, drug trafficking, scams, and child sexual exploitation" and demanded a staff-level briefing "on the rationale behind these decisions and their anticipated impacts on the Department's ability to enforce the law and protect Americans from cryptocurrency-based crimes."

FDIC

FDIC clarifies process for banks to engage in crypto-related activities. On April 7, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) announced it is rescinding Financial Institution Letter Notification of Engaging in Crypto-Related Activities (FIL-16-2022) and is providing new guidance in the form of FIL-7-2025 for FDIC-supervised institutions engaging or seeking to engage in crypto-related activities. Crypto-related activities include, but are not limited to, acting as crypto-asset custodians; maintaining stablecoin reserves; issuing crypto and other digital assets; acting as market makers or exchange or redemption agents; participating in blockchain- and distributed ledger-based settlement or payment systems including performing node functions; and related activities such as finder activities and lending. FIL-7-2025 affirms that FDIC-supervised institutions may engage in permissible activities – including activities involving new and emerging technologies, such as crypto-assets and digital assets – without FDIC prior approval, provided that they adequately manage the associated risks.

SEC

SEC publishes guidance on proof-of-work mining activities. On March 20, the SEC’s Division of Corporation Finance published a Statement on Certain Proof-of-Work Mining Activities as part of the Commission’s effort to "provide greater clarity on the application of the federal securities laws to crypto assets." The statement addresses mining of digital assets that are intrinsically linked to the programmatic function of a permissionless, public blockchain network. According to the statement, mining activities – including "mining pools" through which users pool their computational resources and share proportionally in the rewards – "do not involve the offer and sale of securities." Participants in these activities therefore "do not need to register transactions with the Commission." The statement offers the SEC’s analysis of mining activity under Howey and specifically observes that, even when users pool their resources, there is no expectation of profit derived from the entrepreneurial or managerial efforts of others. Participants who coordinate the pooled computational resources merely perform "an administrative of ministerial activity." In a dissenting statement, Commissioner Caroline Crenshaw disputed that miner have no expectation of profit from the managerial efforts of others.

CFTC

CFTC withdraws staff advisory related to clearing of digital asset derivatives. On March 28, the CFTC announced that it was withdrawing Staff Advisory No. 23-07, which warned Derivatives Clearing Organizations (DCOs) that the CFTC’s Division of Clearing and Risk (DCR) would treat digital asset services as involving "heightened cyber and other operational risks," exposing DCOs to greater scrutiny from the DCR. In withdrawing the advisory, the CFTC emphasized that "its regulatory treatment of digital asset derivatives" will not "vary from its treatment of other products."

CFTC withdraws staff advisory related to virtual currency derivative product listings. Also on March 28, the CFTC’s Division of Market Oversight (DMO) announced it was withdrawing Staff Advisory No. 18-14, which provided guidance and suggested greater burdens for listing virtual currency derivatives products. The DMO cited "additional staff experience" and "increasing market growth and maturity" as reasons for withdrawing the advisory.

OFAC

OFAC drops sanctions against Tornado Cash. On March 21, the Department of the Treasury announced the removal of economic sanctions against Tornado Cash "as reflected in Treasury’s Monday filing in Van Loon v. Department of the Treasury." Treasury asserted that it "remains committed to using [its] authorities to expose and disrupt the ability of malicious cyber actors to profit from their criminal activities through the exploitation of digital assets and the digital assets ecosystem."

OCC

OCC ends reputational risk examinations. On March 20, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) announced that it will no longer consider "reputational risk" in its examinations of OCC-supervised banks. Commenting on the announcement, Acting Comptroller of the Currency Rodney Hood emphasized that OCC examinations should focus on "appropriate risk management processes for bank activities, not casting judgment on how a particular activity may fare with public opinion."

FinCEN

FinCEN notes FATF identifies jurisdictions with AML/CFT deficiencies. On February 26, FinCEN announced that the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) updated its lists of jurisdictions with strategic anti-money laundering (AML), countering the financing of terrorism (CFT), and countering the financing of proliferation of weapons of mass destruction (CPF) deficiencies at the conclusion of its plenary meeting this month. FinCEN informed US financial institutions to consider FATF’s stance toward these jurisdictions when reviewing their obligations and risk-based policies, procedures, and practices. FATF added Laos and Nepal to its list of jurisdictions under increased monitoring and removed the Philippines from that list. Additionally, FATF's list of high-risk jurisdictions subject to a call for action remains the same (Iran, Democratic People's Republic of Korea and Burma).

STATE DEVELOPMENTS

Digital assets

California DFPI partners with state DOJ against crypto scams. On March 10, the California Department of Financial Protection and Innovation (DFPI) announced that "through its nationally-recognized Crypto Scam Tracker and a new partnership with the California Department of Justice (DOJ), the state has shut down more than 26 different crypto scam websites and uncovered $4.6 million in consumer losses." Additionally, "the DFPI has also identified seven new scam types based on more than 2,668 complaints submitted by consumers in California and from across the U.S. in 2024." The scam types include scams related to bitcoin mining, gaming, jobs, giveaways, and investments.

California DFPI issues proposed regulations on DFAL. On April 4, the California DFPI issued proposed regulations to implement the state Digital Financial Assets Law (DFAL), which requires digital asset companies operating in the state to obtain a license, maintain records, and submit reports to the state. Among other things, the regulations exempt from the state money transmission act "any money transmission of legal tender occurring in, associated with, or related to the normal, typical, or customary performance of digital financial asset business activity." Comments must be submitted by May 19.

Kentucky enacts framework for digital assets and blockchain. On March 24, Kentucky enacted HB 701, establishing a framework for the treatment of digital assets and blockchain under state law. The new law defines terms relating to blockchain technology; allows individuals to use digital assets and self-hosted wallets; prohibits local zoning changes that discriminate against a digital asset mining business; provides guidelines for operation of a node; amends state law to exclude home digital asset mining, digital asset mining business, and the operation of a node from money transmitter license requirements; and provides that digital asset mining or staking as a service shall not be deemed to be offering or selling a security.

Utah enacts blockchain and digital innovation amendments. On March 25, Utah enacted HB 230 which prohibits state and local governmental entities from restricting the acceptance or custody of digital assets; establishes the right to operate nodes, develop software, transfer digital assets, and participate in staking on blockchain protocols; creates exemptions from money transmitter licensing requirements for certain blockchain and digital asset activities; and restricts the ability of political subdivisions to impose sound limitations or zoning restrictions on digital asset mining businesses in industrial zones.

Nebraska enacts law to prevent fraud associated with Controllable Electronic Records. On March 11, Nebraska enacted LB 609 adopting the Controllable Electronic Record Fraud Prevention Act (CERFPA), which requires operators of kiosks for controllable electronic records (CERs) such as virtual currency to obtain a state money transmitter license. It also requires clear and conspicuous disclosures of all terms and conditions associated with the operator's activities, with an acknowledgment of receipt, and specifies certain content that must be included in the disclosures and the receipt. The CERFPA requires kiosk operators to take specified measures to protect against fraud, including the use of blockchain analytics, the adoption and implementation of a written antifraud policy, caps on daily transactions, the provision of live customer service by telephone, and designation of a compliance officer. Further, the CERFPA also requires the kiosk operator to refund consumers fraudulently induced to enter into a CER transaction if certain conditions are met.

Cryptocurrency

Wyoming stable token enters testing phase. On March 26, Wyoming Stable Token Commission Executive Director Anthony Apollo announced that the Wyoming Stable Token (WYST) entered its testing phase across several blockchain networks. Executive Director Apollo notes that the testing is "a key step towards launching the first fiat-backed and fully reserved stable token issued by a public entity in the United States." Testing is expected to occur throughout the second quarter of 2025, with a potential launch in July 2025. These announcements were made during a fireside chat with Governor and Commission Chairman Mark Gordon at the DC Blockchain Summit. Governor Gordon also highlighted the benefits of WYST for both the state and its users, including a statutory requirement to over-collateralize the stable token’s backing with cash and US Treasuries to mitigate the risk of de-pegging, and the deposit of interest derived from those treasuries into the state’s school foundation fund.

New York AG urges Congress to pass federal legislation to regulate cryptocurrencies. On April 10, New York Attorney General Letitia James announced she sent a letter to congressional leaders urging them to pass federal legislation to strengthen regulations on cryptocurrencies and digital assets. In the letter, Attorney General James warned that "the lack of strong federal regulations on cryptocurrencies increases the risk of fraud, criminal activity, and financial instability." She further argued that "federal regulations would bolster America’s national security, strengthen its financial markets, and protect investors from cryptocurrency scams, which now account for 10 percent of all financial fraud and 50 percent of all losses from financial fraud." The letter came in response to the US DOJ memorandum disbanding the DOJ's National Cryptocurrency Enforcement Team and shifting DOJ enforcement priorities regarding digital assets.

INDUSTRY DEVELOPMENTS

PwC issues Global Crypto Regulation Report. In March, Price Waterhouse Coopers released its Global Crypto Regulation Report 2025. The report "provides an overview of the global regulatory landscape, how regulatory frameworks are developing across the world, and the impact on crypto and traditional financial services firms." The report contains a "high-level snapshot of global cryptocurrency regulation," key regulatory trends, a summary of recent developments by "key global standard-setting institutions," and an overview of digital assets regulation across key jurisdictions.

ENFORCEMENT ACTIONS AND LITIGATION

FEDERAL

Securities

SEC and DOJ dismiss securities fraud case against BitClout founder. On February 28, federal prosecutors on behalf of the DOJ and the SEC voluntarily dismissed their case against Nader Al-Naji, founder of the crypto social network platform BitClout. The SEC and the US Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York had charged Al-Naji with lying to a venture capital firm about how decentralized his token-based social network really was. Al-Naji faced wire fraud allegations and separate civil charges that he defrauded investors by claiming that he would not benefit from the proceeds of his token sales, while allegedly spending millions of dollars from the token offering on himself and his family members.

Ripple Labs announces reduced SEC penalty and agreement to drop cross-appeals. On March 25, Ripple Labs’ Chief Legal Officer Stuart Alderoty announced on X (formerly Twitter) that the SEC had agreed to drop its appeal of a federal district court’s determination that retail sales of Ripple’s XRP token were not investment contracts subject to registration requirements under federal securities law. Alderoty further announced that the SEC would keep $50 million of the $125 million civil penalty the district court imposed on Ripple – but refund the remaining $75 million – while Ripple would agree to dismiss its own appeal of the district court’s order. The SEC has not yet confirmed these details, but on April 10 filed a motion with the court of appeals to stay proceedings.

SEC closes investigation into Crypto.com. On March 27, Crypto.com announced that it had received a No-Action Letter closing the SEC’s investigation in the crypto exchange. Crypto.com had reportedly received a Wells Notice from the Commission in August 2024 asserting that several of the cryptocurrencies sold on Crypto.com were unregistered securities. In response, Crypto.com filed a declaratory relief action in the US District Court for the Eastern District of Texas in October 2024, seeking to enjoin the SEC from bringing a civil action against the exchange.

Virtual currency

FBI seizes more than $8 million in cryptocurrency lost in Kansas pig butchering scam. On March 26, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) announced that it had traced and seized more than $8 million in cryptocurrency proceeds from a bank officer’s involvement in a $47-million fraud scheme. According to the FBI, CEO of Tri-State Bank Shan Hanes was duped into a pig butchering scam in which he eventually invested $47 million of customer deposits. While the customer deposits were insured, the loss caused the bank to fail with investors in the bank losing approximately $8.2 million. The FBI reports that the 30 bank shareholders will recover nearly all their losses.

Money laundering

DOJ disrupts Garantex crypto exchange. On March 7, the DOJ announced charges against two administrators operating a crypto money laundering service in a "a coordinated action with Germany and Finland to disrupt and take down the online infrastructure used to operate Garantex, a cryptocurrency exchange that allegedly facilitated money laundering by transnational criminal organizations – including terrorist organizations – and sanctions violations." The DOJ alleged that Garantex has processed at least $96 billion in cryptocurrency transactions, and the indictment filed in the US District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia charged Lithuanian national Aleksej Besciokov and Russian national Aleksandr Mira Serda with money laundering conspiracy, conspiracy to violate sanctions, and conspiracy to operate an unlicensed money transmitting business. The coordinated action resulted in law enforcement seizing Garantex servers and freezing $26 million in funds.

DOJ disrupts Hamas cryptocurrency financing scheme. On March 27, the DOJ announced it had seized more than $200,000 worth of cryptocurrency destined for terrorist group Hamas. The FBI reported that it had traced the seized cryptocurrency from addresses that had been used to launder more than $1.5 million in virtual currency since October 2024. According to the DOJ’s warrant documents, Hamas affiliated groups had at least 17 cryptocurrency addresses used for soliciting donations that the groups would then launder through exchanges and over-the-counter brokers.

SPOTLIGHT ON INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENTS

Hong Kong securities regulator publishes virtual asset guidance. On April 7, the Hong Kong Securities and Futures Commission (SFC) announced the publication of regulatory guidance to licensed virtual asset trading platforms (VATPs) on the provision of staking services (with appendix), and to SFC-authorized funds with exposure to virtual assets on their engagement in staking. The guidance requires VATPs to manage risks to investors by maintaining measures to effectively prevent errors associated with the services, safeguard staked client virtual assets, and ensure proper disclosure of risks to which the staked assets may be subject. The SFC-authorized funds are required to stake virtual asset holdings only through licensed VATPs and authorized institutions, subject to a cap to manage liquidity risk.  

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