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…
On February 14, 2019, the Southern District of California entered a preliminary injunction prohibiting Blockvest, LLC (“Blockvest”), a company set up to exchange cryptocurrencies, and its founder, Reginald Buddy Ringgold, III (“Ringgold”), from violating an anti-fraud provision of the federal securities laws. The decision came following the court’s initial denial…
On February 8, 2019, the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida granted in part and denied in part the plaintiffs’ motion for summary judgment dismissing a putative class action complaint alleging (among other things) that Monkey Capital, LLC and Monkey Capital Inc. (collectively “Monkey Capital”) violated Sections…
Basis, one of the most well-funded crypto-startups, had plans to create an algorithmic central bank that aimed to create a price-stable cryptocurrency within a decentralized monetary system. In its April 2018 fundraising efforts, Basis had secured $133 million in funding from large institutional investors. However, citing regulatory constraints, Basis announced…
On September 26, 2018, a federal judge in Massachusetts agreed with the Commodity Futures Trading Commission’s (“CFTC”) view that virtual currencies are commodities under the Commodity Exchange Act (“CEA”) and subject to federal regulation. See CFTC v. My Big Coin Pay, Inc., No. CV 18-10077-RWZ, 2018 WL 4621727 (D. Mass….
The National Law Journal named partners Grant Fondo and Mitzi Chang to its 2018 Cryptocurrency, Blockchain and Fintech Trailblazers list. This inaugural award recognizes lawyers who are making great strides as finance and technology grow more and more entwined. Please click here to read The National Law Journal’s profile on Fondo and Chang.