On September 8, 2025, the Nasdaq Stock Market submitted a proposed rule change to the Securities and Exchange Commission that, if implemented, would allow for the trading and settlement of tokenized securities. Nasdaq points out that even traditional securities are traded in electronic format, and that it should not be a
Digital Assets: What to Expect from the Incoming Administration and Congress
By Frank Zarb, Jeffrey Neuburger & Wai Choy on
The Trump Administration and the new Republican-led Congress are expected to create a friendlier governmental approach to crypto assets. Among other things, key nominees to serve as senior administration officials are known to favor a friendlier approach, including Paul Atkins, who has been tapped to become Chairman of the Securities…
SEC Approves Exchange Listing Applications for Spot Bitcoin ETPs
On January 10, 2024, the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) issued an order approving the applications of 11 different spot Bitcoin exchange‑traded products (the “Approved ETPs”) to each list and trade their shares on a national securities exchange. As a result, each Approved ETP is expected to commence trading on…
U.S. Senate and House of Representatives Introduce Competing Crypto Regulation Bills
By Ryan Harris & Elanit Snow on
On July 12, 2023, U.S. Senators Cynthia Lummis (R-WY) and Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.) proposed a revised version of their previously introduced crypto regulation bill to create better safeguards for the crypto industry generally while adding new, stronger consumer protection provisions and AML provisions. The Lummis-Gillibrand bill, also known as the Responsible Financial Innovation Act (“RFIA”), identifies the need for enhanced regulation of digital assets. The proposal addresses this need, in part, by creating clearly defined regulatory roles for the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (“CFTC”), which are two of the leading regulatory bodies currently engaged in regulating the U.S. crypto market, as well as creating a new Customer Protection and Market Integrity Authority self-regulatory organization. The need for greater clarity in the roles of the CFTC and the SEC and with respect to cryptocurrency regulations generally is certainly timely, given the recent CFTC actions against Blockratize, bZeroX (and its successor Ooki DAO), and others and recent high-profile SEC actions against major crypto exchanges.
The Ripple Effect: Implications of the SEC’s Partial Loss in SEC v. Ripple Labs Inc.
The SEC suffered a significant loss last week in its ongoing legal battle with Ripple over the XRP digital token. While the District Court held that Ripple’s initial sales of XRP to institutional investors constituted the sale of unregistered securities, it was a Pyrrhic victory as the court held…
The Crypto Wars Escalate
The gloves are off. The SEC’s recent enforcement actions against leading crypto exchanges suggest that the SEC has decided that time’s up for the crypto industry as it currently exists in the United States.
After spending years urging industry participants to come in and register, the SEC has made clear,…
Crypto Contagion – Managing Risk on Multiple Fronts
By Blockchain and the Law on
Crypto firm bankruptcies and resulting disruption in the crypto ecosystem will continue to exacerbate liquidity and regulatory concerns in this space. Since all participants supporting the crypto ecosystem are at risk, managing that risk is critical.
Fund managers should be prepared on multiple fronts.
Law360 Expert Analysis: SEC Approach In Wahi Presents New Challenges For Crypto
A recent guilty plea in U.S. v. Wahi in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, a crypto insider trading case, sets up an interesting situation where the defendants — who have already pled guilty to wire fraud — are challenging the SEC’s parallel civil charges…