By: Daniel L. McAvoy, Stephen A. Rutenberg and Jonathan E. SchmalfeldOn February 9, 2023, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (the “SEC”) charged Kraken with offering and selling Kraken’s Staking Program – its staking-as-a-service product – as an unregistered security. Kraken, more formally known as Payward Ventures Inc. and Payward Trading Ltd is…

By: Laila S. Wolfgram and Hope E. Hughes On February 8, 2023, a federal jury awarded Hermès International and Hermès of Paris, Inc. (“Hermès”) $133,000 in its trademark lawsuit against designer Mason Rothschild. Hermès sued Rothschild for selling non-fungible tokens (NFTs) of METABIRKINS in the metaverse, thereby infringing and diluting Hermès’ BIRKIN mark that is…

By: Jonathan Schmalfeld and Stephen RutenbergIn July of 2022, the United States Department of Justice (“DOJ”) and the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) each alleged insider trading violations against a former Coinbase employee Ishan Wahi (“Ishan”), his brother Nikhil Wahi (“Nikhil”) (collectively the “Wahi Defendants”), and another alleged acquaintance Sameer Ramani (“Sameer”). For background…

 By: Stephen Rutenberg,  Jonathan Schmalfeld and Tanya Behnam As Celsius Network LLC, et al., Case Number: 22-10964 (MG), proceeds in the Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York (the “Court”), the highly anticipated examiner report was released on January 31st. Shoba Pillay, a former prosecutor, was appointed by U.S. Bankruptcy Judge…

By: Stephen Rutenberg and Tanya BehnamCourt rules that Earn Account Cryptocurrency is owned by Debtors and will not be returned In our latest Bitblog update regarding the Celsius Network LLC, et al. (the “Debtors”) bankruptcy proceeding (Case No. Number: 22-10964 (MG), in the Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York (the “Court”)), …