News & Analysis as of

Securities Act of 1933 Investment Contract

The Securities Act of 1933 is a United States federal statute enacted in response to the stock market crash of 1929 and the ensuing Great Depression. The Act has two primary purposes: 1) to give investors better... more +
The Securities Act of 1933 is a United States federal statute enacted in response to the stock market crash of 1929 and the ensuing Great Depression. The Act has two primary purposes: 1) to give investors better access to material information prior to investing 2) ensure that transactions are not based on fraud. In order to effectuate its dual goals, the Act requires that any offer or sale of securities is registered with the SEC. less -
Latham & Watkins LLP

SEC Staff Clarifies That Certain Protocol Staking Activities Do Not Implicate the Registration Requirements of the US Federal...

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The Staff clarifies that protocol staking does not qualify as a security under the Howey Test, clearing the way for market participants to engage in staking....more

Fenwick & West LLP

Looking Under the Hood of $TRUMP’s Legal Strategy

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On Friday, January 17, 2024, President Donald J. Trump announced the launch of the $TRUMP memecoin, which was organized and sold by CIC Digital, an affiliate of the Trump Organization. Within 60 hours, $TRUMP reportedly...more

Farella Braun + Martel LLP

Howey Test for Crypto Asset Transactions Analyzed in Recent Denial of Kraken's Motion to Dismiss in ND California

In a recent decision in SEC v. Payward, Inc. (d/b/a “Kraken”), Judge Orrick of the Northern District of California denied Kraken's motion to dismiss the SEC's suit against it. In its complaint, the SEC alleges that Kraken...more

Morrison & Foerster LLP

Top 5 SEC Enforcement Developments for August 2024

Each month, we publish a roundup of the most important SEC enforcement developments for busy in-house lawyers and compliance professionals. This month, we examine: •The SEC’s case against crypto firm Kraken is permitted to...more

Fenwick & West LLP

SEC v. Binance: Court Decides Majority of Claims Can Proceed but Expresses Skepticism of SEC’s Application of Law to the...

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Of particular importance for the crypto industry, the opinion analyzes the SEC’s allegations that Binance and BAM offered and sold various tokens and programs to investors as investment contracts without registering them with...more

Latham & Watkins LLP

Wyoming Adopts New Legal Structure for DAOs

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The legislation allows decentralized autonomous organizations to gain legal entity status and operate within the bounds of applicable law. ...more

Cornerstone Research

Number of Securities Class Action Settlements Falls as Median Settlement Amount Reaches Highest Level Since 2010

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The number of securities class action settlements declined 21% relative to 2022, following the 15-year high set in 2022, according to a new report released today by Cornerstone Research. Despite the decline in settlement...more

Winstead PC

Judge Rules That Terraform’s Crypto Assets are Securities

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Last year, the Court in SEC v. Terraform Labs suggested, by denying the defendants’ motion to dismiss, that the sale of a digital asset to the public on a secondary market may constitute a security. Now, the Court has...more

Ankura

Understanding the Crypto Ripple Effect

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On July 13, 2023, the Court ruled in partial favor of Ripple Labs Inc.’s argument that many of its XRP sales did not violate investor-protection laws. The ruling has sent the crypto world ablaze with speculation on the future...more

Farrell Fritz, P.C.

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

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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

A&O Shearman

SEC charges Impact Theory for unregistered offering of NFTs

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On August 28, 2023, the Securities and Exchange Commission (the “SEC”) charged Impact Theory, LLC (“Impact Theory”), a media and entertainment company headquartered in Los Angeles, with conducting an unregistered securities...more

Jones Day

Ripple and Terraform Labs: Two New York District Courts Address the Status of Certain Crypto Assets as Securities

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In Short - The Situation: Recently, two judges in Southern District of New York were required to apply the Howey test in separate cases to decide whether sales of certain crypto assets were investment contracts, and thus...more

Holland & Knight LLP

A Ripple of Doubt

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Specifically, the SEC wants a change to persuade the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit – now, not later – of its view that Torres got it wrong when she determined that the company's offer and sale of its XRP token...more

Willcox & Savage

Crypto and the SEC v. Ripple Labs, Inc. Decision: What Did the Court Actually Say?

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Earlier this month, a federal trial court judge issued an opinion ruling on whether sales of a digital token, XRP, constituted a “security” for purposes of federal securities laws. Some headlines reporting the ruling have...more

BakerHostetler

Ripple Decision Makes Waves Finding Some XRP Sales Not Securities

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On July 13, 2023, the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York issued its highly anticipated summary judgment decision in the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC) action against Ripple Labs, Inc....more

Goodwin

SEC Sues Binance and Coinbase: What Are the Allegations and What Is Next?

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In the span of two days, June 5 and June 6, 2023, the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) commenced proceedings against the largest crypto asset exchange in the world, Binance.com; its affiliated US exchange,...more

BakerHostetler

U.S. District Court Signals That In Certain Cases, NFTs May Qualify as Securities

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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

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

Husch Blackwell LLP

SEC v. LBRY: Is it Time for Blockchain Networks to Register Their Native Tokens?

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The New Hampshire District Court recently granted summary judgment in favor of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) in SEC v. LBRY, Inc., concluding that the native token of the blockchain protocol and network...more

Latham & Watkins LLP

LBRY Ruling: A Nice Read for the SEC

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In granting the SEC’s motion for summary judgment, a federal court ruled that sales of LBC tokens were securities transactions. On November 7, 2022, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) prevailed in a motion for...more

Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP

District Court Allows ‘Fair Notice’ Defense in SEC’s Cryptocurrency Case Against Ripple Labs, But Denies Motions To Dismiss

In December 2020, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) filed an action against Ripple Labs, Inc. and two of its executives, alleging they raised over $1.3 billion through an unregistered ongoing securities offering of...more

Kohrman Jackson & Krantz LLP

The Sec Had No Love For Blockfi This Valentine’s Day

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has not hesitated to conclude that crypto assets are securities subject to the Securities Act of 1933, but with BlockFi, the SEC went a step further and, for the first time with...more

Proskauer - Corporate Defense and Disputes

SEC’s Coinschedule Settlement Offers Mere “Clue-By-Enforcement” Into Whether Cryptocurrencies are Securities

On July 14, 2021 the SEC issued a consented-to Cease and Desist Order against U.K.-based cryptocurrency review website owner Blotics Ltd. (formerly doing business as Coinschedule Ltd.) for violating Section 17(a) of the...more

King & Spalding

Not Your Standard Orange Grove: Non-Fungible Tokens & Securities Laws

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With offerings across a growing number of online platforms and increased trading volume, NFT issuers, promoters, and buyers should consider the legal and regulatory implications relating to NFTs and federal securities laws. ...more

Morrison & Foerster LLP

Barron v. Helbiz Inc.: A Rare Mixture Of An ICO, Morrison, And State Law Claims

Pending before the Second Circuit is a unique (and apparently sua sponte) application of the jurisdictional test announced by the Supreme Court in Morrison v. Nat’l Australia Bank Ltd., to dismiss non-securities state law...more

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