Creating A User Friendly Blockchain with Andrew Levine, CEO, Koinos Group
An Introduction to Crypto for Financial Services Professionals
ollowing the approval and launch of Bitcoin Exchange Traded Funds (EFTs) in January 2024, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) approved eight Ethereum ETFs for listing and trading on SEC-regulated exchanges on...more
Crypto assets are some of the most rapidly evolving and increasingly adopted assets in the world. Decentralized Finance (DeFi) is emerging as a blockchain-based alternative to traditional banking and financial services and...more
Financial Firms Complete Blockchain Pilot, UK Approves Crypto ETNs - A recent press release announced completion of the Canton Network pilot, “a first-of-its-kind program demonstrating the interoperability of twenty-two...more
The New Year is upon us, which means plenty of news stories looking back at blockchain events in 2023, such as this one (From NFTs to XRP: the biggest crypto stories of 2023 (Axios)), this one (The Year that Cryptocurrency...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
The Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) issued a cease-and-desist order on August 28, 2023, charging Impact Theory, LLC (“Impact Theory”) with conducting an unregistered offering of crypto asset securities in violation...more
In a published settlement of the charges on August 28, 2023, the US Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) stated that non-fungible tokens (“NFTs”) issued by Impact Theory, LLC (“Impact”) were “securities” under US...more
Summary - The SEC’s focus on the crypto industry expanded this week to include non-fungible tokens (NFTs). In its first NFT-enforcement action, the SEC settled with Impact Theory, a media and entertainment company, over...more
Federal District Court Enters Default Judgment Based on NFT Service of Process - A federal district court judge in Florida entered a $2.2 million default judgment against a defendant on whom the judge previously authorized...more
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
Dapper Labs was founded in 2018 shortly after the debut of its first NFT collection, “CryptoKitties,” which was so successful it created a bottleneck of transactions on the decentralized Ethereum Network. Seeking faster...more
DeFi Protocols Announce Updates, US Bank Introduces Deposit Token Concept - According to recent reports, Rocket Pool, a decentralized finance (DeFi) protocol used as an Ethereum (ETH) staking service, has reached $1...more
Four days after FTX, once the world’s third-largest crypto exchange, filed for voluntary Chapter 11 bankruptcy, former FTX investors filed a class action against 11 athletes and celebrities who promoted FTX in advertisements...more
New Crypto Payment Products Launch, Reports Publish Crypto Market Data A recent press release announced that MetaMask, the popular Ethereum (ETH) Network crypto wallet provider, will integrate its self-custodial wallets...more
The overlap of social media, celebrity endorsement, and cryptocurrency have long been viewed as a potential breeding ground for regulatory and litigation liability. The proliferation of cryptocurrency and the lack of...more
The regime introduces rules on various crypto tokens, including cryptocurrencies and stablecoins, in the Dubai International Financial Centre. On November 1, 2022, the Dubai Financial Services Authority (DFSA) crypto...more
The blockchain underpinning the ether cryptocurrency has just been made more energy-efficient, secure, and scalable. Ethereum, the blockchain that powers the ether (ETH) cryptocurrency, has upgraded its system in a move...more
New Crypto Products Launch; Singapore Completes DeFi Pilot with Major Banks - In a press release published this week, a major U.S. cross-border payments and money transfer company announced a new service in its existing...more
2022 promises to be a defining year for digital assets and blockchain, as governments move from a watch and wait position to delivering regulatory frameworks and taking strides to harness the potential of the technology....more
Ethereum Network Completes Transition to Proof of Stake Consensus - After years of development and delays, Ethereum’s long-awaited “merge” occurred this week, changing the network’s consensus mechanism from proof-of-work...more
Ethereum’s transition to proof of stake presents opportunities and pitfalls for certain digital assets and tokens built on the network. After years of development, the Ethereum blockchain appears poised to make its...more
Non-fungible tokens are seen by some as an exciting new way to own digital assets such as art, but seen by others as a global confidence trick akin to The Emperor’s New Clothes. Public awareness of non-fungible tokens...more
Blockchain – Crypto theft – Alternative Service on anonymous defendants - Jurisdictions the world over are seeing a marked increase in civil cases relating to crypto theft, fraud and misrepresentation. However, a major...more
The heavily publicized announcement by New York federal prosecutors of the first-ever charges for insider trading in digital assets — non-fungible tokens, or “NFTs” in particular — is a significant but somewhat confusing...more
Creators, investors, users, and dealers of non-fungible tokens (NFTs) are at the forefront of the intersection of art, music, sports, entertainment, and technology — and they are simultaneously charting a new path when it...more