legal / 19 posts found
U.S. Court Dismisses Uniswap Lawsuit, Calls ETH & Bitcoin Commodities
The perplexing debate as to whether or not a digital asset is considered to be a “security” or a “commodity” continues to frustrate U.S. regulators and industry participants, as we aren’t getting much closer to understanding what criteria truly distinguish them. But now, things just got interesting with respect to the role developers and smart contracts play in a securities class-action lawsuit. In a “case of first impression,” New York District Judge Katherine P. Failla addressed whether the developers and investors in the Uniswap Protocol crypto exchange platform were subject to various provisions of our current federal securities laws. The […]
Grayscale Wins SEC Lawsuit, Court Cites ‘Lack of Coherent Explanation’
Grayscale Bitcoin Trust (GBTC), a prominent crypto asset manager, achieved a significant legal victory on August 29 against the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) in its long-winded pursuit of transforming its over-the-counter GBTC application into a listed Bitcoin ETF. Recent court documents from August 29 revealed that the U.S. Court of Appeals Circuit Judge Neomi Rao has granted Grayscale’s request for review and ordered the SEC’s denial of the GBTC listing application to be nullified. Judge Rao had previously criticized the SEC for lacking an explanation for its stance against Grayscale – something that continues to plague investors […]
Tornado Cash Founders Charged with Laundering More than $1 Billion
Hours after the DOJ announced that OpenSea’s former product manager Nathan Chastain would be sentenced to three months in prison, it just announced another major indictment — this time, against the crypto mixing service, Tornado Cash. And for its two founders, ominous clouds loom, signaling an impending storm. On Wednesday, Roman Storm, 34, and Roman Semenov, 35, the founders of the Russian cryptocurrency mixer platform Tornado Cash, were charged with laundering over $1 billion through its platform, according to a newly unsealed indictment. Tornado Cash has an unfortunate history of serving as the instrument and tool to helping scramble the location […]
Melania Trump’s New Buzz Aldrin NFT Violates NASA’s Image Policy
When former First Lady Melania Trump unveiled her newest NFT this week, she also found herself in potentially dangerous waters with NASA on the unauthorized use of its images that violate the federal agency’s strict image use policy, according to an initial report by Gizmodo. Her new NFT, entitled “Man on the Moon,” dropped on Wednesday, showcasing NASA astronaut Buzz Aldrin in the iconic 1969 photograph during the historic Apollo 11 lunar landing on July 20. The limited-edition NFT costs $75 and includes an embedded audio file that unlocks upon purchase. The United States put a man on the moon […]
Could Coinbase’s SEC Battle Come Down to Its S-1 Filing?
In the ongoing legal confrontation between cryptocurrency exchange giant Coinbase and the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), District Judge Katherine Polka Failla has raised eyebrows in the crypto community with her probing questions and comments related to the SEC’s 2021 approval of Coinbase’s S-1 filing. The relevant courtroom exchanges unfolded during a pre-motion hearing on July 13 and centered on Coinbase’s initial public offering (IPO) in 2021. Coinbase’s IPO, which required an effective S-1 filing with the SEC, allowed the company’s shares to be publicly traded for the first time. S-1 filings are the type of registration required by the […]
Coinbase Challenges the SEC: Seeks Case Dismissal, Defending Its Practices
Coinbase has sent waves throughout Web3 by taking a stand against the recent lawsuit filed by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). In a response submitted on June 28, the exchange giant contends that the case lacks a solid legal foundation and should be dismissed. The action comes amidst ongoing tension between the digital asset industry and the top U.S. securities regulator. Where SEC vs. Coinbase stands The SEC’s suit, lodged in early June shortly after a similar suit against Binance, accused Coinbase of operating as an unregistered securities exchange, citing over a dozen tokens on the platform as […]
Judge Permanently Bars Mason Rothschild From Selling MetaBirkin NFTs
In another decisive victory for Hermès, a Manhattan federal judge has issued a definitive injunction against artist Mason Rothschild. The decision comes after a 2022 legal battle where Hermès filed a lawsuit against Rothschild, accusing him of leveraging their esteemed Birkin brand for his financial gain. With this latest order, filed on June 23, the court has permanently prohibited further sales of Rothschild’s controversial MetaBirkin NFTs. This decision comes after Rothschild was ordered to pay $133,000 in damages in February 2023 after losing the initial trademark case. Rothschild vs. Hermès part two Rothschild — who released his 100 MetaBirkins NFTs […]
Ripple Breaks New Ground With Regulatory Approval in Singapore
San Francisco-based Ripple Labs has been granted provisional regulatory approval by the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) to operate and expand its digital asset products and services in the city-state. The in-principle approval from the country’s central bank was granted to Ripple’s local subsidiary, Ripple Markets Asia Pacific, and sets the stage for Ripple to enhance the cross-border transfers of its associated cryptocurrency, XRP. What a provisional license means for Ripple Over the past year, Ripple has witnessed significant growth in its Singapore operations. The company reported that most of its global On-Demand Liquidity (ODL) transactions flow through the city-state, […]
German Intelligence Agency Launches NFT Collection to Attract Cybersecurity Talent
As part of a truly unusual recruitment drive, the German Intelligence Agency, Bundesnachrichtendienst (BND), has launched an NFT collection called Dogs of BND. The initiative aims to attract tech-savvy individuals adept in blockchain technology and NFTs to aid in combating cybercrime. Inspired by the agency’s Pullach branch service dogs, Inka and Alex, the collection comprises 999 generative avatar images of dogs with varying characteristics. This includes many standard PFP traits, such as background colors, outfits, eyewear, headgear, and hairstyles. Although the collection is fully minted on the Ethereum blockchain, the pieces within it can only be obtained by users willing […]
Patronizing vs. Promoting Digital Assets: Where to Draw the Legal Line?
In March 2023, the SEC charged eight celebrities with violating certain provisions of the Securities Act of 1933 in their promotion of cryptocurrency assets. The charges stem from Section 17(b) of the act, an anti-fraud and anti-touting provision that addresses the failure to disclose payments related to promotional activity. The group of celebrities — which included Lindsay Lohan, Jake Paul, and Ne-Yo —specifically faced accusations of illegally promoting Tron (TRX) and/or BitTorrent (BTT) tokens offered by companies under the direction of Tron founder Justin Sun. While the SEC won the case, the questions at the heart of the matter remain […]