On April 17, 2024, Republican Senator Cynthia Lummis and Democratic Senator Kirsten Gillibrand introduced the bipartisan Lummis-Gillibrand Payment Stablecoin Act, which creates a clear regulatory framework for payment stablecoins that the Senators said will protect consumers, enable innovation and promote U.S. dollar dominance while preserving the dual banking system. Heads of both the Federal Reserve and the Treasury Department have recently called for Congress to regulate stablecoins. The Bill provides, among other things: (1) For depository institutions (banks)…
BitMEX is a cryptocurrency exchange and derivative trading platform. It is owned and operated by HDR Global Trading Limited, which is registered in the Seychelles. HDR is an acronym of the last names of its founders, Arthur Hayes, Ben Delo, and Sam Reed. In 2020, Plaintiffs brought a putative class action against the founders and HDR alleging multiple violations of the Commodity Exchange Act (“CEA”), including price manipulation. The Defendants moved to dismiss the case…
In 2021, Illusory Systems, Inc. developed a cross-chain bridge known as the Nomad Bridge. A “bridge” is a protocol that allows multiple blockchain networks to interact with each other and for users to swap one token for another without having to trade in and out of tokens on an exchange and incur multiple trading fees. While operational, the Nomad Bridge moved more than $912 million worth of crypto assets on behalf of more than 21,000…
On February 29, 2024, the U.S. House of Representatives Financial Services Committee passed a resolution (H.J. Res. 109) which, if enacted, would undo the recent US Security and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) Staff Accounting Bulletin No. 121 (“SAB 121”). It acted under the Congressional Review Act (“CRA”), which allows Congress to use their oversight authority to overturn rules issued by federal agencies. SAB 121 requires reporting entities which perform custodial duties in relation to crypto assets…
The Texas Blockchain Council (TBC) describes itself as a nonprofit industry association that works to make the State of Texas the jurisdiction of choice for cryptocurrency, blockchain and digital asset innovation. Riot Platforms, Inc. is a TBC member and Bitcoin mining company. On February 22, 2024, the two sued the United States Department of Energy (“DOE”), the U.S. Energy Information Administration (“EIA”) and the Office of Management and Budget (“OMB”), among others, for what Plaintiffs…
On February 26, 2024, Republican Senator Ted Cruz, along with fellow Republican Senators Bill Hagerty, Rick Scott, Ted Budd and Mike Braun introduced the CBDC Anti-Surveillance State Act. The Federal Reserve acts as the U.S. central bank. The proposed legislation states that no Federal Reserve Bank may “issue a central bank digital currency or any digital asset that is substantially similar, under any other name or label, directly to an individual.’’ This same prohibition was…
We have been following for years (see here) the steps that the United States Internal Revenue Service has taken to sensitize taxpayers to the need for them to properly report sales of cryptocurrency. There did not, however, seem to be any criminal cases brought for failure to do so. That is why the federal indictment against Frank Ahlgren III that was made public earlier this month was interesting. Unlike prior cryptocurrency criminal tax cases, which…
On January 16, 2024, the United States Internal Revenue Service and Treasury Department announced the delay of the reporting requirements for businesses who receive USD 10,000 or more in digital assets, pursuant to section 6050I. Section 6050I obligates any person who receives USD 10,000 or more in cash, in the course of their trade or business, in a single or multiple related transactions, to report such to the IRS using Form 8300. Form 8300 requires…
One of the issues that we, and much of the rest of the crypto community, have been following for many years is the battle between the crypto industry and the SEC on the issue of whether crypto assets are securities. In November 2022, a federal district judge in New Hampshire held that the LBRY token was a security. On July 13, 2023, a federal district judge in the Southern District of New York ruled that Ripple Labs’…
CoinList Markets LLC is a currency exchange. When its customers open accounts, there is a Know-Your-Customer (KYC) process which requires individual applicants to provide, among other things, their country of residence and address. CoinList maintained several sanctions compliance measures, including screening new and existing customers against Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) and other sanctions lists. By spring of 2021, CoinList’s onboarding protocols also included an automated process through which an application was meant to…