On October 9th, the IRS released a revenue procedure ruling and related FAQ, clarifying tax treatment related to cryptocurrency in certain instances. The ruling focused on tax treatment of hard forks and airdrops, and provided that in the event of a “hard fork”—where a cryptocurrency’s blockchain protocol is changed, or…
On October 6, 2019, alleged cryptocurrency investors filed a putative class action complaint in the U. S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, alleging that Bitfinex, Tether, and other defendants coordinated to manipulate the price of Bitcoin and disrupted the cryptocurrency market. The complaint brought claims for…
On July 26, 2019, the Internal Revenue Service (“IRS”) published a release announcing that it has begun to send notices to virtual currency traders that potentially failed to: (i) report income and pay the resulting tax from virtual currency transactions; or (ii) properly report their virtual currency transactions. In its…
On July 25, 2019, the SEC issued its second no-action letter in connection with a token sale to Pocketful of Quarters. Pocketful of Quarters is a company founded to address “fragmentation” of in-game credits and currencies in the video game industry through a centralized platform built with blockchain technology. That…
On July 10, 2019, the SEC qualified the first-ever offering of digital tokens under Regulation A+. Blockstack PBC sought to offer up to 180,333,333 “Stacks Tokens” in the following ways: (1) 78,333,333 Stacks Tokens at a discounted price of US $0.12 per token (up to a maximum of US $3,000 per holder)…
On June 21, 2019, the U.S. District Court for the District of Connecticut certified a class of plaintiffs alleging violations of the Exchange Act and the Connecticut Uniform Securities Act in connection with their investments in products of GAW Miners, LLC, and ZenMiner, LLC. GAW Miners and ZenMiner “purchase[d] virtual…
On April 24, 2019, the New York Attorney General filed a petition in New York state court, alleging that Bitfinex (i.e., iFinex, Inc., BFXNA Inc., and BFXWW Inc.) and Tether (i.e., Tether Holdings Limited, Tether Operations Limited, Tether Limited, and Tether International Limited) hid a loss of more than US…
Bittrex, Inc. (“Bittrex”) is a US-based company that owns and operates one of the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchanges. Bittrex’s digital asset exchange platform allows approximately 1.67 million global users to trade over 200 cryptocurrencies. Bittrex offers two separate platforms, Bittrex and Bittrex International. The former is designed for use by…
On April 3, 2019, the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) released the “Framework for ‘Investment Contract’ Analysis of Digital Assets” (the “Framework”). The Framework—published by the SEC’s Strategic Hub for Innovation and Financial Technology (“FinHub”) —is the most comprehensive guidance the SEC has provided to date with respect to a…
On February 27, 2019, the Department of Justice (“DOJ”) announced the indictment of Randall Crater, founder and principal operator of My Big Coin Pay Inc. (“My Big Coin”) by a federal grand jury sitting for the District of Massachusetts for his alleged participation in a scheme to defraud investors by…