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Blockchain Securities Violations Unregistered Securities

Dechert LLP

SEC Charges Ethereum Developer Over Liquid Staking and Swap Programs

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The SEC has charged a leading developer on the Ethereum blockchain with engaging in the unregistered offer and sale of certain securities through a “liquid staking” program and with failing to register as a broker in...more

Polsinelli

Blockchain+ Bi-Weekly - May 2024

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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

Polsinelli

Blockchain+ Bi-Weekly - April 2024 #2

Polsinelli on

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

Farrell Fritz, P.C.

SEC’s First Two NFT Enforcement Actions Cast Shadow of Ambiguity

Farrell Fritz, P.C. on

The Securities and Exchange Commission recently brought its first two enforcement actions against issuers of non-fungible tokens (NFTs), resulting in cease-and-desist orders, penalties and other remedies, finding that the...more

Polsinelli

Blockchain+ Bi-Weekly - September 2023

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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

DarrowEverett LLP

The Ripple Effect: SEC’s Battle Vs. Crypto Gains Some Clarity

DarrowEverett LLP on

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) is paying considerable attention to the world of cryptocurrency (“crypto”). According to the SEC website, the SEC has brought more than 50 enforcement actions against crypto...more

ArentFox Schiff

NYAG Questions Historic Classification of Ethereum’s Cryptocurrency in KuCoin Lawsuit

ArentFox Schiff on

On the heels of recent legal setbacks and challenges for NFT collections offered by Dapper Labs and DraftKings, the New York Attorney General (NYAG) filed suit in New York state court against the parent companies of...more

Polsinelli

Kraken the Whip – Kraken Penalized Over Staking-as-a-Service

Polsinelli on

On February 9, 2023, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (the “SEC”) charged Kraken with offering and selling Kraken’s Staking Program – its staking-as-a-service product – as an unregistered security. Kraken, more...more

Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati

SEC Goes After Staking-as-a-Service: Crypto Exchange Kraken Shuts Down Its U.S. Staking Program

With the announcement of charges against and a settlement with two subsidiaries of a prominent crypto exchange, Kraken, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) appears to have a new target within the blockchain...more

Latham & Watkins LLP

SEC v. Ripple: Approaching Judgment Day

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While a conclusion to the much-hyped case may be approaching, market participants should be wary of doomsday prognostications. As a new year begins, the digital assets industry is still enduring a deep and widespread crypto...more

Troutman Pepper

SEC Scores Victory in Ongoing Effort to Classify Cryptocurrencies as Securities

Troutman Pepper on

A recent decision out of the District of New Hampshire underscores the risks proprietary cryptocurrency issuers face and provides ammunition to the SEC in its continued quest to classify cryptocurrencies as securities subject...more

Patterson Belknap Webb & Tyler LLP

A Brief Overview of the SEC’s Guidance on Cryptocurrencies in the Context of the Commission’s Enforcement Action Against Ripple...

A key question for any company considering the issuance of cryptocurrency is whether that digital asset will be treated by regulators as a security, like BP stock, or a commodity, like Bitcoin.  In 2019, the Securities and...more

Goodwin

SEC Settles First-Of-Its-Kind $13m DeFi Tech Action

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SEC Settles First-Of-Its-Kind $13m DeFi Tech Action; NASDAQ Board Diversity Rules Challenged in Fifth Circuit; Delaware Court of Chancery Declines to Enforce Contractual Limitations on Liability to Bar Contractual Fraud...more

Proskauer - Blockchain and the Law

SEC Brings Charges against Allegedly Fraudulent Unregistered Decentralized Finance Project That Ran on the Ethereum Platform

On August 6, 2021, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) announced that it had charged two men, Gregory Keough and Derek Acree, and their company, Blockchain Credit Partners, doing business as DeFi Money Market...more

Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft LLP

Securities Litigation Update: Southern District of New York Dismisses Putative Securities Class Action Alleging Sale of...

On April 16, 2021, in In re Bibox Group Holdings Ltd. Securities Litigation, Judge Denise Cote of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York dismissed a putative class action alleging registration...more

Amundsen Davis LLC

Ripple Effect: SEC Lawsuit against Cryptocurrency Company May Provide Guidance For Crypto Industry

Amundsen Davis LLC on

On December 21, 2020, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) filed a high-profile enforcement action against a major cryptocurrency company. The SEC complaint alleges violations of federal securities laws by defendant...more

Farrell Fritz, P.C.

SEC vs. Ripple Could Make Waves in Cryptocurrency Market

Farrell Fritz, P.C. on

On December 2, the Securities and Exchange Commission filed a lawsuit against Ripple Labs, Inc. and two of its executives alleging they offered and sold over $1.38 billion of digital asset XRP without registration or...more

Goodwin

SEC Complaint Against Ripple (XRP) And Possible Regulatory Signals Ahead For 2021

Goodwin on

The U.S. Securities & Exchange Commission (“SEC”) filed a complaint against Ripple Labs, Inc. (“Ripple”) and two of its executives, Brad Garlinghouse and Chris Larsen, on December 22, 2020 in the U.S. District Court for the...more

Farrell Fritz, P.C.

“Kik” in the Butt: Court Decision Against Initial Coin Offering Could be Opportunity for Others

Farrell Fritz, P.C. on

On October 21, 2020, the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York entered a final judgment on consent against Kik Interactive Inc. to resolve the Securities and Exchange Commission’s charges that...more

Stinson - Corporate & Securities Law Blog

SDNY Grants Preliminary Injunction to Halt Telegram Coin Offering

The Southern District of New York granted the SEC’s request for a preliminary injunction halting a coin offering in Securities and Exchange Commission v. Telegram Group Inc. et al....more

Orrick - On the Chain

They Did It for the Gram: SEC and Telegram File Dueling Expert Reports

Orrick - On the Chain on

The battle in federal court between the SEC and Telegram continues to progress at breakneck speed. The SEC commenced its action less than four months ago, on October 11, 2019, by seeking a temporary restraining order against...more

Orrick - On the Chain

Fraud is Fraud – Sales of Unregistered Digital Securities Resemble Classic Microcap Fraud

Orrick - On the Chain on

A Complaint filed by the SEC in the Southern District of New York last week reminds us that in the area of securities law violations there is not much new under the sun. Even though the action against Eran Eyal and...more

Farrell Fritz, P.C.

What to Make of SEC Leniency in Block.one ICO Settlement?

Farrell Fritz, P.C. on

On September 30, 2019, the Securities and Exchange Commission announced that blockchain developer Block.one had agreed to pay a $24 million fine to settle charges that it had engaged in an unregistered offering of securities...more

Latham & Watkins LLP

The SEC Continues Its Enforcement Streak Against Unregistered Token Offerings

Latham & Watkins LLP on

As the agency pursues and prevents offerings of tokens it deems unregistered securities, further issues emerge. The recent wave of US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) enforcement actions relating to initial coin...more

Orrick - On the Chain

Reading the Blockchain Tea Leaves: Reconciling Telegram and Block.one

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The juxtaposition of two recent SEC enforcement actions against token issuers may shed some light on the regulator’s evolving regulatory framework....more

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