While Not The Final Word, Summary Judgment Ruling in SEC v. Ripple Case Is “Bullish” For Crypto
On June 13th, 2023, Southern District of New York federal judge Analisa Torres issued her summary judgment order in the case of SEC v. Ripple[1] (the “Ripple SJ Order,” or “Order,” herein). The Order surprised many observers (and pleased most of the blockchain industry) by finding against the SEC on a majority of its main […]
A Tale of Two Token Offerings: Lessons from Blockstack (Reg A+) And Telegram (Reg D)
(*) Some of the biggest news of the past half-year on the US crypto regulatory front has been (1) Blockstack’s successful (qualified) “Reg A+” filing with the SEC and associated offering, and (2) the SEC’s lawsuit and injunction against Telegram, blocking distribution of their “Grams” tokens, sold pursuant to earlier “SAFTs” (Simple Agreements for Future […]
“Decentralized” No More — SEC Drops Proposed Blockchain Test?
Another takeaway of mine from the SEC’s April 3rd releases was noting a striking shift in gears from the SEC. Namely, there was a conspicuous lack of emphasis on the “degree of decentralization” of blockchain token-issuers as applied to the security-vs-utility analysis of their tokens (I didn’t mention this in my earlier post, to keep it as short […]
No, Airdrops Weren’t Just “Legalized” in the U.S.
A November 27, 2018 order in the case of ICO-gone-wrong SEC v. BlockVest, LLC (SoCal U.S. District Court), caused quite a buzz, for the ostensible holding that it (tentatively, of course, as this was not a final order) deemed the “airdrop” method of token distribution (i.e., free giveaways) permissible in the U.S. The order denied an asset freeze that […]
Doubts Emerge Regarding SEC Director Hinman’s “Decentralization” Token Security-Criteria
On June 14th, 2018, at the Yahoo! Finance All Markets Summit, the SEC’s Director of the Corporate Finance Division, William Hinman, made a “speech heard ’round the world” — best known for its bombshell conclusion that Ether coin (or “ETH”, of the Ethereum blockchain network) should not be considered a security [1]. While this sort of […]
Congress Members Push Back Against SEC; Promise To Introduce Utility Token/SAFT-friendly U.S. Legislation
A routine House Financial Services Committee hearing held on May 16th, 2018, turned eventful when a number of U.S. Congressional representatives sprung “initial coin offering” (ICO-related) questions on SEC officials — most of them from a more positive and supportive perspective than the SEC’s Chairman Jay Clayton has evinced in his comments directed at the […]
