In somewhat of a surprising turn of events, on February 19, 2025, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) filed voluntary motions to dismiss its appeals of parallel decisions handed down by U.S. District Judge Reed O’Connor. These decisions had vacated the SEC’s February 2024 “Dealer Rule” that sought to broaden the definition of “dealer”
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The Controversy Surrounding Argentine President Javier Milei and the LIBRA Token
The cryptocurrency world has been rocked this week by an episode involving the LIBRA token and Argentina’s President Javier Milei. What began as a seemingly promising initiative quickly turned into a controversy that has had significant political and financial repercussions.
The LIBRA memecoin was launched on February 14, 2025. One of the men allegedly behind the…
The SEC is Pausing Some Crypto Lawsuits, Further Evidence of the Changes in the Trump-Led SEC
We have already written about steps taken by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission during the early days of the Trump administration to distinguish itself from the SEC under former chair Gary Gensler. See here. This post examines further evidence of that change.
Under Chairman Gensler’s leadership, the SEC took an assertive stance on…
One of the First Moves of President Trump’s SEC Was Rescinding Staff Accounting Bulletin 121, Making it Easier to Custody Crypto-Assets
One of the persistent complaints over the way the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has operated in the digital asset space is its failure to issue clear guidelines. Within days of the inauguration of President Trump, and consistent with SEC acting Chairman Mark Uyeda’s commitment to shifting the regulator toward setting clear guidelines for digital…
Spain: Crypto Exchanges Welcome More Flexibility on Spanish Crypto-Asset Advertising Rules
Crypto asset providers that offer their services in Spain received some good news to pave a renewed push to their marketing efforts during 2025.
2025 welcomes the entering into force of the new European Crypto Asset Regulation (so called MiCAR) which regulates both crypto-asset issuers and other providers. See our earlier posts on MICAR…
BitMEX Fined Additional $100 Million For Flouting U.S. Anti-Money Laundering Laws
BitMEX is one of the world’s largest cryptocurrency trading platforms. On August 10, 2021, the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York entered a Consent Order that the U.S. Commodities Futures and Trading Commission agreed to with five companies charged with operating BitMEX. The order required the BitMEX entities to pay a…
The Evolution of Cryptocurrency Regulation in Kenya: From Opposition to Legalization
Cryptocurrency has been a topic of significant debate and evolution worldwide, and Kenya is no exception. The journey of cryptocurrency regulation in Kenya is a tale of transformation from initial skepticism and outright opposition to eventual acceptance and legalization.
In the early 2010s, as cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin began gaining global attention, Kenya’s financial landscape was…
U.S. Justice Department Pursues Largest NFT Indictment To Date
The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) has charged two California men in Los Angeles federal court with defrauding investors of more than $22 million in what DOJ describes as the largest non-fungible tokens (NFT) scheme it has ever prosecuted. View the indictment here. Both defendants, aged 23 and hailing from Thousand Oaks, California, were…
Hawk Tuah Girl is Trying to Distance Herself From the Collapse of Her $Hawk Memecoin
Social media – with Tik Tok being the primary medium these days – illustrates the continued power of the internet to lift people from obscurity to international stardom. Haliey Welch is a perfect example. The 22-year-old went viral in the summer of 2024 after a street interview where she used the term “hawk tuah” to…
The IMF’s $1.4 Billion Loan To El Salvador Required Bitcoin Concessions From the World’s First Crypto Nation
In September 2021, El Salvador made headlines by becoming the first country in the world to adopt Bitcoin as legal tender (see our post). This bold move, spearheaded by President Nayib Bukele, aimed to revolutionize the nation’s financial system, promote financial inclusion, and attract foreign investment. However, the journey has been fraught with challenges…