On July 4, 2025, the One Big, Beautiful Bill Act (the “Act”) was signed into law, making important changes to the Internal Revenue Code (the “Code”). The Act has implications for US and non-US companies and their domestic and international transactions, capital investment, and research and development activities, amongst other areas, which carry significant weight for the cryptocurrency/digital asset industry. From cryptocurrency exchanges, payment processors, asset managers and cryptocurrency funds to mining companies, token issuers,…
Earlier this month, New Zealand banned cryptocurrency ATMs. The move underscores a growing international trend: regulators are increasingly scrutinizing the cash-to-crypto pipeline, viewing it as a significant vulnerability for illicit finance. While the ban has sparked debate within the crypto community, it also offers a valuable case study in how jurisdictions are grappling with the intersection of digital assets and financial regulation. On July 16, 2025, David Zaslowsky published an article in the New York…
FTX’s spectacular collapse in November 2022 resulted in billions of dollars in losses for investors worldwide and triggered criminal charges against its founder, Sam Bankman-Fried, who is currently serving a lengthy prison sentence for fraud. In the wake of this collapse, a group of investors filed suit, alleging that celebrity endorsers and influencers materially contributed to the fraud by promoting FTX without disclosing their financial relationships or the risks involved. The plaintiffs contended that these…
The Federal Reserve’s announcement on April 24, 2025, to withdraw prior guidance and supervisory letters concerning banks’ involvement in cryptocurrency and stablecoin activities is the latest turn by US regulators under President Trump to ease cryptocurrency regulation in the United States. See our earlier posts here, here, here and here. On the campaign trail, President Trump vowed to make the U.S. the “crypto capital of the planet.” The Fed’s announcement said the Fed would work…
We have written about some of the significant changes under the new Trump administration with respect to cryptocurrency. See here. There was another seismic shift on April 7, 2025 with the memorandum that Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche wrote to all employees of the United States Department of Justice (DOJ) which, among other things, “effective immediately,” disbanded the National Cryptocurrency Enforcement Team (NCET) and took other steps to implement President’s Trump statement that “[w]e are…
We have already written about steps taken by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission during the very early days of the Trump administration to distinguish itself in the cryptocurrency space from the SEC under its former Chairman, Gary Gensler. There was recission of Staff Accounting Bulletin 121, which made it easier to custody crypto assets. See here. That was followed by the SEC’s pausing of a number of crypto lawsuits. See here. Then, the SEC voluntary…
In somewhat of a surprising turn of events, on February 19, 2025, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) filed voluntary motions to dismiss its appeals of parallel decisions handed down by U.S. District Judge Reed O’Connor. These decisions had vacated the SEC’s February 2024 “Dealer Rule” that sought to broaden the definition of “dealer” to include proprietary trading firms, certain hedge funds, and crypto firms. This move by the SEC is another indication in…
We have already written about steps taken by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission during the early days of the Trump administration to distinguish itself from the SEC under former chair Gary Gensler. See here. This post examines further evidence of that change. Under Chairman Gensler’s leadership, the SEC took an assertive stance on cryptocurrency regulation. Gensler, who served as SEC Chair from 2021 to January 20, 2025, said that he was prioritizing investor protection…
One of the persistent complaints over the way the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has operated in the digital asset space is its failure to issue clear guidelines. Within days of the inauguration of President Trump, and consistent with SEC acting Chairman Mark Uyeda’s commitment to shifting the regulator toward setting clear guidelines for digital assets, on January 23, 2025, the SEC issued Staff Accounting Bulletin (SAB) No. 122, effectively rescinding the controversial SAB No.…
BitMEX is one of the world’s largest cryptocurrency trading platforms. On August 10, 2021, the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York entered a Consent Order that the U.S. Commodities Futures and Trading Commission agreed to with five companies charged with operating BitMEX. The order required the BitMEX entities to pay a $100 million civil monetary penalty. See here BitMEX is owned and operated by HDR Global Trading Limited, which is registered…