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How an Appeals Court Ruled on an Aspiring Class-Action Lawsuit Against Binance
13.3.2024
A federal appeals court ruled last week that Binance needs to face a putative class-action lawsuit from a group of U.S.-based crypto investors who allege the exchange allowed them to buy and trade unregistered securities in the form of certain cryptocurrencies. The ruling doesn't make...
How the SEC's Recent Win May Play in Its Coinbase, Binance Cases
6.3.2024
A federal judge ruled that secondary-market transactions for certain cryptocurrencies violated securities law. The catch: This was a default judgment. The defendant never showed up, and no one filed amicus briefs to oppose the Securities and Exchange Commission's motion for a default ruling
Sam Bankman-Fried Doesn't Want to Go to Prison for 100 Years
29.2.2024
Sam Bankman-Fried's new legal team filed his sentencing memo, alongside 29 different character references and other supporting documents, arguing he shouldn't face a lengthy prison term after his conviction last November on two fraud and five conspiracy charges
Looking at Kraken's Motion to Dismiss an SEC Lawsuit
24.2.2024
The SEC Takes on Dealer Definitions
14.2.2024
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission published a new definition for securities dealers, capturing crypto
Blockchain Could Have Saved Americans $74 Billion on Credit Card Fees: Coinbase
7.2.2024
Coinbase, a leading cryptocurrency exchange, has emphasized the potential of blockchain technology to save American consumers billions of dollars in its latest “State of Crypto Report,” released on Wednesday. According to the report, consumers could have collectively saved a minimum...
A Quick Look at Last Month's U.S. Crypto Crime Log
6.2.2024
While our attention was focused on exchange-traded funds earlier this month, federal regulators in the U.S. announced charges or sentences for various crypto parties
U.S. Regulatory Approach Pushing Crypto Overseas, New 21Shares Report Says
1.2.2024
The push by U.S. lawmakers for stringent regulations in the crypto industry is driving business overseas, a 2024 market outlook report released on January 28 from ETP provider 21Shares revealed. The U.S. Desperately Needs Regulatory Clarity 21Shares’ State of Crypto report claims regularity...
How the Crypto Industry Responded to FinCEN's Proposed Mixer Rule
30.1.2024
Last October, the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network proposed implementing a new regulatory regime for crypto mixing services that would treat the entire class of privacy tools as money laundering threats and force new recordkeeping rules on U.S. people or entities that use them. The industry...
What's Uniting the SEC's Crypto Cases
24.1.2024
Earlier this week, a federal judge asked attorneys with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission why – "big picture" – there wasn't any sort of uniting regulation addressing crypto
The SEC Goes Back to Court
20.1.2024
Last summer, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) sued crypto exchanges Coinbase and Binance, alleging they listed and traded unregistered securities in the form of various cryptocurrencies. This week, the regulator's legal teams faced the exchanges in court as the companies argued...
Bitcoin ETF Confusion Abounds
10.1.2024
The crypto industry can breathe a sigh of relief: It looks like a federal U.S. regulator will let the world's largest traditional finance asset managers and other firms list and trade shares of a vehicle giving retail and institutional investors exposure to the price of a decentralized, trustless...
Will 2024 Be the Year of the Bitcoin ETF?
4.1.2024
Excitement over a spot bitcoin ETF – a regulated financial product that would give institutional and retail investors easier exposure to bitcoin's price without requiring them to invest directly in the asset – continues to grow
Elections, SEC Cases, DOJ Cases: What Crypto Regulation May Bring in 2024
27.12.2023
The CoinDesk policy team is scattered throughout the world; in the final edition of this newsletter, each member explains what they're watching in 2024 in the world of crypto regulations. Happy holidays, and we'll see you next year!
SEC Chair Gary Gensler: 'Far Too Many Frauds and Bankruptcies'
22.12.2023
Earlier this month, I had the opportunity to speak with U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Chair Gary Gensler, recognized by CoinDesk as one of the most influential figures in the crypto industry over the past year, about how he views his agency's role in the digital asset world
In Search of the Elusive Crypto Voter
14.12.2023
On Monday, a New Hampshire state representative asked a mostly-filled room at an industry campaign event to raise their hands if they were visiting from another state. More than half the people in the room raised their hands. These visitors had come to hear from industry representatives, state...
The Most Influential Folks in Crypto Regulations
6.12.2023
CoinDesk published its annual Most Influential list (it's not a ranking, except for the top 10 being maybe more influential than the other 40). I wrote a few pieces (I had nothing to do with the art and didn't know about it when I wrote the pieces), as did my CoinDesk reg team colleagues, but...
Binance's Future and Other Questions Post-Settlement
29.11.2023
Binance is paying literally billions of dollars and giving the U.S. government unfettered access to its books, while its founder and former CEO Changpeng Zhao is looking at maybe a year and a half in federal prison. But Binance the exchange is still operating, while federal prosecutors...
Binance's Busy Day, Kraken's Second SEC Fight
22.11.2023
Binance is paying one of the largest fines in corporate history to the U.S. Department of Justice, while its founder and CEO, Changpeng "CZ" Zhao, stepped down from his role running the platform as part of a settlement with multiple federal agencies. Meanwhile, Kraken is facing a lawsuit from...
Delaware, We Need to Talk
14.11.2023
Some sectors of the crypto industry were excited (and/or confused) by an apparent BlackRock XRP Trust filing in the state of Delaware, suggesting the massive asset manager may try to launch an XRP exchange-traded fund (ETF) after applying to launch bitcoin and ether ETFs. But, this filing...