On June 8, 2023, Judge Orrick of the Northern District California entered an Order and Default Judgment in a case the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (“CFTC”) brought against the Ooki DAO. The case has garnered a lot of attention because of issues it raised concerning whether a DAO (a decentralized autonomous organization) could be held liable for violating the law. Indeed, the CFTC issued a Statement that said: [I]n a precedent-setting decision, the court…
In previous posts, we addressed the interesting service of process issues that were the subject of a number of decisions in the lawsuit that the United States Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) brought against Ooki DAO (a DAO is a decentralized autonomous organization). But the case has also received a lot of attention for the larger issues of a proceeding against a decentralized organization and who might be liable for its acts. The court’s recent…
In an earlier post, we reported that Judge William Orrick of the Northern District of California had authorized service of process on Ooki DAO (a DAO is a decentralized autonomous organization) through a Help Chat Box on Ooki DAO’s website, with contemporaneous notice through an Online Forum linked through its website. In another post, we reported that the Judge Orrick subsequently required the CFTC also to serve process on two Token Holders once it was…
In an earlier post, we reported that a judge had authorized service of process on a DAO (decentralized autonomous organization) through a Help Chat Box on the DAO’s website, with contemporaneous notice through an Online Forum linked through its website. Four amici — venture capital firms Paradigm and Andreessen Horowitz, crypto legal consortium LeXpunK, and the DeFi Education Fund — sought reconsideration of that decision. On December 12, 2023, Judge William Orrick issued an order…
This post concerns a lawsuit brought by the United States Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC). The complaint alleges that, from approximately June 1, 2019 to approximately August 23, 2021, bZeroX, LLC (bZeroX) designed, deployed, marketed, and made solicitations concerning a blockchain-based software protocol that accepted orders for and facilitated margined and leveraged retail commodity transactions (functioning similarly to a trading platform). This protocol (the bZx Protocol) permitted users to contribute margin (collateral) to open leveraged positions…
For those who have followed for some time the law that has developed around blockchain, there is a strong likelihood they associate the term DAO (decentralized autonomous organization) with the well-publicized hack that took place in 2016 with respect to one of the relatively early ICOs (initial coin offering) of an organization called Slock.it UG. The objective of that DAO — referred to as The DAO — was to operate a for-profit entity that would…
The blockchain phenomenon has brought an ever increasing use of smart contracts. Those contracts raise numerous issue for disputes lawyers. Some are variations of old themes. But others are unique to developing technologies. Our ” What To Expect When Litigating Smart Contract Disputes” article looks at both sets of issues.
One of the big questions surrounding ICOs is whether the “coin” (or token) offered in the ICO is considered a security and, therefore, subject to securities laws, including registration. One of the U.S. SEC’s first official statements on the matter, issued in response to the DAO debacle, was probably most famous for its lack of definitive statements. It said that:
[F]ederal securities law may apply to various activities, including distributed ledger technology, depending on the particular facts and circumstances, without regard to the form of the organization or technology used to effectuate a particular offer or sale