Dogecoin’s Day in Court
A Tale of Two Crypto Cases
FINCast Ep. 38 – The Future of Crypto: A Conversation with Coinbase’s Faryar Shirzad
Digital Assets: The Evolving Landscape from a Regulatory, Litigation & Tax Standpoint – IMS Insights Podcast Episode 62
Lowenstein Crypto advises leading digital asset and cryptocurrency projects, exchanges, and trading firms. Our practice covers regulatory advice, transactions and structuring advice, investigations, and adversarial matters...more
Here are curated AG and federal regulatory news stories highlighting key areas in which state and federal regulators’ decisions are having an impact across the US: • States Crack Down on Tech Platforms Over Child Safety - ...more
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
Oregon AG Dan Rayfield has filed a lawsuit against cryptocurrency trading platform Coinbase, alleging that the company failed to protect consumers from unregistered and high-risk cryptocurrencies in violation of Oregon...more
On February 27, 2025, the Securities and Exchange Commission formally abandoned its enforcement action against Coinbase. ...more
In other news from last month, we found out that Brian Quintenz was nominated by President Trump to serve as the next CFTC Chair. See our synopsis on Quintenz below. If and when Quintenz is confirmed—TBD on when the Senate...more
Three of the SEC’s key enforcement actions—all extensively covered in BitBlog and widely seen as emblematic of the agency’s adversarial stance toward the industry—are reportedly being halted or dismissed. The SEC has agreed...more
On Jan. 21, 2025, Mark T. Uyeda, the acting chairman of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), announced the launch of a cryptocurrency task force. This task force, led by SEC Commissioner Hester Peirce, with...more
On February 18, 2025, the Trump administration issued its most straightforward attack on the discretion of what it described as “so-called independent agencies.” Executive order 14215, titled “Ensuring Accountability for All...more
On Friday, Coinbase announced that the SEC staff had agreed in principle to dismiss its case alleging the company had failed to register as a securities exchange, broker-dealer, and clearing agency. We can expect the...more
On January 13, 2025, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit issued a pivotal ruling, directing the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) to provide a more detailed explanation for its denial of Coinbase Global...more
For years, the crypto industry has faced regulatory uncertainty, with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) relying on “regulation by enforcement” rather than establishing specific rules for digital assets. Coinbase,...more
After two and a half years, Coinbase, Inc. (Coinbase) and other crypto market participants may finally get an answer for why the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has declined to promulgate rules clarifying how and...more
On January 13, 2024, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 3rd Circuit ruled on Coinbase's Petition for Review of the SEC's Order denying Coinbase's Petition for Rulemaking requesting that the Commission promulgate rules...more
The ruling that the SEC acted arbitrarily in denying Coinbase's crypto rulemaking petition, issued in the waning days of the Gensler-era SEC, invites swift action under an Atkins-led SEC....more
The landscape of government enforcement, private litigation and federal and state regulation of digital assets, blockchain and related technologies is constantly evolving. Each quarter, Ropes & Gray attorneys analyze...more
The see-saw court battle over whether Coinbase is an unregistered securities exchange/broker-dealer/clearing agency has flipped, this time with the SEC dropping low. On January 7, 2025, the U.S. District Court for the...more
Earlier this year, Coinbase ran a Bitcoin sweepstakes promotion offering the chance to win one of six prizes, with the top two prizes amounting to the equivalent of $1,000 USD in Bitcoin (along with merchandise and event...more
It’s fitting that our second October Web3 legal update arrives on Halloween, as many in the industry might find the current legal landscape for digital asset products and services quite spooky. While the past few weeks have...more
The SEC has been busy, both in bringing actions against digital industry participants and in defending against affirmative lawsuits brought against the agency regarding the lack of notice and rulemaking for digital assets...more
The Nutter Securities Enforcement Update is a periodic update of noteworthy recent securities enforcement activity, settlements, decisions, and charges. We provide brief summaries that highlight recent enforcement action...more
Anyone who thought blockchain would keep their cryptocurrency transactions private from the IRS needs to think again. According to the First Circuit’s recent holding, cryptocurrency users do not have a Fourth Amendment...more
The widespread and debilitating impacts of the recent faulty Crowdstrike® software update has caused businesses to evaluate processes and examine potential claims and defenses related to the deleterious commercial impacts of...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
One will be forgiven for not closely following the myriad crypto developments in recent years. Mixed signals from regulators have complicated matters: some cryptocurrencies may be securities, some are commodities, some...more