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On October 13, 2023, California enacted the Digital Financial Assets law. This law is California’s first comprehensive framework for regulation of digital asset markets, and some of its provisions may sound familiar to those versed in the state’s money transmitter licensing requirements. Under this new law, on and after July, 2025, crypto companies and everyone…

On October 3, U.S. District Judge Analisa Torres denied the Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC) interlocutory appeal of her July 13 decision. Judge Torres’ decision marked another public defeat for the SEC, and if you haven’t read the case or read about it, check out our earlier article, Ripple v. SEC – Respite for a…

On Tuesday, August 29, 2023, The U.S. Court of Appeals, District of Columbia Circuit (Court) unanimously granted Grayscale’s petition for review of the Securities Exchange Commission’s (SEC) denial of Grayscale’s Bitcoin Exchange Traded Product (Grayscale ETP) and vacated the SEC denial order.  The Court chastised the SEC for its “arbitrary and capricious” treatment of Grayscale’s…

Background On July 27, 2023, The U.S. House Financial Services Committee advanced a stablecoin-focused bill for the first time. The Clarity for Payment Stablecoins Act of 2023 would establish a federal regulatory framework for stablecoins with the U.S. Federal Reserve playing a pivotal role. The bill would grant the Federal Reserve the power to write…

Background On July 13, 2023, the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York (SDNY) finally issued an order in the infamous case brought by the Securities Exchange Commission (SEC) against the payment settlement system and currency exchange, Ripple Labs, Inc. (Ripple). District Judge Analisa Torres’s highly anticipated order has been touted as…

On July 11, 2023, Judge Paul J. Barbadoro of the US District Court for the District of New Hampshire issued a final judgment in favor of the Securities Exchange Commission (SEC) in its cases against LBRY Inc., a blockchain-based content-sharing platform. After the court issued its order granting the SEC’s request for an injunction and…

On June 20, Japan’s National Tax Agency (NTA) issued a notice confirming changes to the country’s corporate tax regulations. The notice confirmed that cryptocurrency issuers in the country would not be required to pay capital gains taxes on tokens they issue, or other unrealized gains if certain conditions are met. Japan’s ruling Liberal Democratic Party…

BlackRock Files for Spot BTC ETF BlackRock, the world’s largest asset manager, garnered headlines recently when it filed for a spot Bitcoin (BTC) exchange-traded fund (ETF). BlackRock’s BTC ETF would allow consumers to invest in the world’s most popular cryptocurrency without taking custody of the digital assets themselves and taking on the risks associated with…

Whether you are in the early stages of developing a blockchain protocol, you have a fully-designed and ready-to-launch token project, or your exchange processes millions of dollars in transactions each day, you have likely asked yourself at one point or another “Do I need a crypto lawyer?” Perhaps you wanted to ensure compliance with increasingly-complex…