On July 16, TradeStation Securities, Inc., a member firm of the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA), submitted a Letter of Acceptance, Waiver, and Consent (AWC) to FINRA’s Department of Enforcement. This AWC...more
Pig Butchering Crypto Scams are scams which resemble the practice of fattening a hog before slaughter....more
With its recent decision in Coinbase Inc. v. Suski, the U.S. Supreme Court held that when parties have agreed to two separate contracts, one sending arbitrability disputes to arbitration and the other sending arbitrability...more
Under the helm of SEC Chairman Gary Gensler, the Securities and Exchange Commission has argued that many cryptocurrencies qualify as “securities” under federal law, and therefore fall within the SEC’s bailiwick....more
On May 1, NYDFS settled with a cryptocurrency trading platform over the company’s cybersecurity deficiencies, resulting in a consent order and $1.2 million fine for the crypto company. NYDFS alleged “multiple deficiencies in...more
It is no secret that over the last several years, there has been an exponential increase in the utilization of blockchain and digital assets. Crypto trading and lending platforms have grown rapidly and the total crypto market...more
On top of all the legal trouble for FTX’s founder and CEO, Sam Bankman-Fried (“SBF”), the company has also filed for bankruptcy and SBF has been ousted as CEO. John J. Ray III, an attorney and bankruptcy professional, has...more
In an unwelcome reminder of the events that unfolded in the wake of the May 2022 crypto market collapse, Bahamian-based crypto exchange FTX is reportedly on the brink of collapse following an unexpected surge in...more
On October 12, 2022, Coinsquare Capital Markets Ltd. (CCML) was approved as a member of the Investment Industry Regulatory Organization of Canada (IIROC), the Canadian SRO for investment dealers. This is the first...more
While investors used to need to possess a certain level of tech-savviness to trade cryptocurrency, that is less and less the case these days. In recent years, many mainstream brokerage firms began to allow customers to buy...more
We highlighted in a recent post regulators’ clear intentions to bring greater order to the cryptocurrency industry this year. The last three weeks have demonstrated that private litigants are not waiting on regulators to rein...more
Despite the confusing interpretations by US regulators, non-compliance with crypto tax rules can cost taxpayers dearly. Unfortunately, the answer to “how is virtual currency taxed” depends on who you ask....more
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
The SEC simultaneously announced a pair of settled enforcement actions related to illegally offered ICOs with extensive remedial provisions to fix the faulty offerings....more
This is Part 3 of a seven-part series of posts looking at some broad legal issues affecting crypto-currencies. ...more
The cryptocurrency market is exciting to watch. Based on the revolutionary blockchain distributed ledger system, cryptocurrencies have exploded on the marketplace. As with any new “gold rush” to hit a market, cryptocurrency...more
On April 17, 2018, the New York Attorney General’s Office (“OAG”) launched a Virtual Markets Integrity Initiative and sent letters to thirteen cryptoasset trading platforms requesting, through a questionnaire, disclosures on...more
On Feb. 6, Jay Clayton and Christopher Giancarlo, the chairmen of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), respectively, jointly testified before the Senate Banking...more
Based on how 2017 ended, entities and individuals in the crypto-currency markets should expect increased scrutiny from the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) in 2018. The SEC’s Cyber Unit commenced its...more