2023

September 7, 2023 – CFTC Issues Orders Against Operators of Three DeFi Protocols for Offering Illegal Digital Asset Derivatives Trading (Link)

August 29, 2023 – DC Circuit Court of Appeals rules SEC must review rejection of Grayscale request to convert GBTC to an ETF (Decision)

August 28, 2023 – SEC Charges LA-Based Media and Entertainment Co. Impact Theory for Unregistered Offering of NFTs (Link) (Cease and Desist Order)

August 25, 2023 – U.S. Department of the Treasury, IRS Release Proposed Regulations on Sales and Exchanges of Digital Assets by Brokers (Link) (Unpublished PDF Version)

August 23, 2023 – DOJ (SDNY) Charges Tornado Cash Founders Roman Storm and Roman Semenov With Money Laundering And Sanctions Violations (Link) (August 23, 2023 Indictment)

August 16, 2023 – Coinbase Financial Markets, Inc. has secured regulatory approval from the National Futures Association (NFA), a CFTC-designated self-regulatory organization, to operate a Futures Commission Merchant (FCM) and offer eligible US customers access to crypto futures (Link)

July 13, 2023 – SDNY Judge Torres decision in SEC v Ripple (Decision)

June 8, 2023 – CFTC obtains default judgment order against OokiDao, in N.D. California (Order Granting Motion for Default Judgement) (Default Judgment)

June 6, 2023 – SEC Charges Coinbase for Operating as an Unregistered Securities Exchange, Broker, and Clearing Agency; Coinbase also charged for the unregistered offer and sale of securities in connection with its staking-as-a-service program (Link) (June 6, 2023 Complaint)

June 5, 2023 – SEC Files 13 Charges Against Binance Entities and Founder Changpeng Zhao
Charges include operating unregistered exchanges, broker-dealers, and clearing agencies; misrepresenting trading controls and oversight on the Binance.US platform; and the unregistered offer and sale of securities (Link) (Complaint)

April 17, 2023 – SEC Charges Crypto Asset Trading Platform Bittrex and its Former CEO for Operating an Unregistered Exchange, Broker, and Clearing Agency; Bittrex Global GmbH also charged for failing to register as a national securities exchange (Link)

April 14, 2023 – SEC Reopens Comment Period for Proposed Amendments to Exchange Act Rule 3b-16 and Provides Supplemental Information (re: the definition of “exchange”) (Link)

April 14, 2023 – SEC Chair Gary Gensler statement: Statement on Alternative Trading Systems and the Definition of an Exchange (Link)

March 27, 2023 – CFTC Charges Binance and Its Founder, Changpeng Zhao, with Willful Evasion of Federal Law and Operating an Illegal Digital Asset Derivatives Exchange (Link)

March 23, 2023 – US DOJ indictment against Do Kown unsealed in New York; Kwon arrested in Montenegro

March 23, 2023 – SEC issues investor alert: Exercise Caution with Crypto Asset Securities: Investor Alert (Link)

March 22, 2023 – SEC Charges Crypto Entrepreneur Justin Sun and his Companies for Fraud and Other Securities Law Violations; Eight celebrities also charged for illegal touting of Sun’s crypto asset securities (Link)

March 22, 2023 – SEC sends Wells Notice to Coinbase (PDF Link to Notice)

March 19, 2023 – Swiss National Bank provides substantial liquidity assistance to support UBS takeover of Credit Suisse (PDF Link)

March 19, 2023 – Federal Reserve: Coordinated central bank action to enhance the provision of U.S. dollar liquidity (Link)

March 19, 2023 – FDIC: Subsidiary of New York Community Bancorp, Inc., to Assume Deposits (EXCEPT deposits related to the digital banking business) of Signature Bridge Bank, N.A. (Link)

March 15, 2023 – Federal Reserve announces July launch for the FedNow Service (Link)

March 13, 2023 – FDIC Acts to Protect All Depositors of the former Silicon Valley Bank, Santa Clara, California (Link)

March 12, 2023 – Superintendent Adrienne A. Harris Announces New York Department of Financial Services Takes Possession of Signature Bank (Link)

March 12, 2023 – Joint Statement by Treasury, Federal Reserve, and FDIC, on Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) and Signature Bank (Link)

March 8, 2023 – Silvergate Capital announces plans for an orderly wind down of Bank operations and a voluntary liquidation of the Bank, following March 3, 2023 announcement to discontinue the Silvergate Exchange Network (Link)

February 28, 2023 – DOJ SDNY – FTX co-founder and former director of engineering Nishad Singh pleads guilty to federal fraud and conspiracy charges related to FTX collapse.

February 23, 2023 – DOJ SDNY – Unsealing of superseding indictment against FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried (PDF Link to Superseding Indictment)

February 15, 2023 – SEC Proposes Enhanced Safeguarding Rule for Registered Investment Advisers (SEC’s Custody Rule proposal) (Link)

February 9, 2023 – Kraken to Discontinue Unregistered Offer and Sale of Crypto Asset Staking-As-A-Service Program and Pay $30 Million to Settle SEC Charges (Link)

February 3, 2023 – SEC issues Wells Notice to Paxos, re: BUSD stablecoin (Paxos Feb 13, 2023 Statement)

January 27, 2023 – Federal Reserve: Federal Reserve Board announces denial of application by Custodia Bank, Inc. to become a member of the Federal Reserve System (Link)

January 27, 2023 – Federal Reserve: Federal Reserve Board issues policy statement to promote a level playing field for all banks with a federal supervisor, regardless of deposit insurance status (crypto policy statement) (Link)

January 23, 2023 – NY DFS Superintendent Adrienne A. Harris Releases Consumer Protection Guidance In the Event of Virtual Currency Insolvency; Guidance Reiterates Department’s Expectation for Sound Custody Disclosure Practices for Licensed Entities (Link)

January 19, 2023 – Genesis filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York

January 12, 2023 – SEC Charges Genesis and Gemini for the Unregistered Offer and Sale of Crypto Asset Securities through the Gemini Earn Lending Program (Link)

January 4, 2023 – NY DFS Superintendent Adrienne A. Harris Announces $100 Million Settlement with Coinbase, Inc. after DFS Investigation Finds Significant Failings in the Company’s Compliance Program (Link)

2022

December 22, 2022 – DOJ SDNY: United States Attorney Announces Extradition Of FTX Founder Samuel Bankman-Fried To The United States And Guilty Pleas Of Former CEO Of Alameda Research [Caroline Ellison] And Former Chief Technology Officer Of FTX [Gary Wang] (Link)

December 14, 2022 – Senator Warren: Warren, Marshall Introduce Bipartisan Legislation to Crack Down on Cryptocurrency Money Laundering, Financing of Terrorists and Rogue Nations; Digital Asset Anti-Money Laundering Act Would Bring Digital Assets into Greater Compliance with Anti-Money Laundering and Anti-Terrorism Financing Requirements, Leveling Playing Field Between Crypto and Financial System (Link)

December 13, 2022 – DOJ SDNY: United States Attorney Announces Charges Against FTX Founder Samuel Bankman-Fried; Bankman-Fried Charged in an Eight-Count Indictment with Fraud, Money Laundering, and Campaign Finance Offenses (Link)

November 28, 2022 – BlockFi files for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in the United States Bankruptcy Court for the District of New Jersey (Link)

November 11, 2022 – FTX group of entities files for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in the United States Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware (Link)

September 22, 2022 – CFTC Imposes $250,000 Penalty Against bZeroX, LLC and Its Founders and Charges Successor Ooki DAO for Offering Illegal, Off-Exchange Digital-Asset Trading, Registration Violations, and Failing to Comply with Bank Secrecy Act (Link)

August 19, 2022 – FDIC Issues Cease and Desist Letters to Five Companies For Making Crypto-Related False or Misleading Representations about Deposit Insurance (Link)

August 16, 2022 – Federal Reserve: SR 22-6 / CA 22-6: Engagement in Crypto-Asset-Related Activities by Federal Reserve-Supervised Banking Organizations (Link)

August 8, 2022 – U.S. Treasury Sanctions Notorious Virtual Currency Mixer Tornado Cash (Link)

August 3, 2022 – Senator Boozman: Senators Boozman, Stabenow, Booker and Thune Introduce Legislation to Regulate Digital Commodities (Link)

July 21, 2022 – SEC Charges Former Coinbase Manager, Two Others in Crypto Asset Insider Trading Action (Link)

July 21, 2022 – DOJ SDNY: Three Charged In First Ever Cryptocurrency Insider Trading Tipping Scheme; Former Coinbase Employee Allegedly Tipped His Brother and Friend Regarding Crypto Assets That Were Going to be Listed on Coinbase Exchanges (Link)

July 13, 2022 – Celsius and several of its affiliates commenced voluntary Chapter 11 bankruptcy proceedings in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York

July 6, 2022 – Voyager its U.S. affiliates commenced voluntary Chapter 11 bankruptcy proceedings in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York

June 27, 2022 – Senator Gillibrand: Lummis, Gillibrand Introduce Landmark Legislation To Create Regulatory Framework For Digital Assets (Link)

June 2, 2022 – CFTC Charges Gemini Trust Company for Making Material False or Misleading Statements and Omissions to the Commission (Link)

June 1, 2022 – DOJ SDNY: Former Employee Of NFT Marketplace [OpenSea] Charged In First Ever Digital Asset Insider Trading Scheme; Defendant Allegedly Traded on Inside Information About NFTs That Were Scheduled to be Featured on The Homepage of The Largest NFT Marketplace (Link)

May 5, 2022 – Federal Court Orders BitMEX’s Three Co-Founders to Pay a Total of $30 Million for Illegally Operating a Cryptocurrency Derivatives Trading Platform and Anti-Money Laundering Violations (Link)

February 24, 2022 – DOJ SDNY: Founders Of Cryptocurrency Exchange [BitMEX] Plead Guilty To Bank Secrecy Act Violations; Arthur Hayes and Benjamin Delo Designed BitMex as a Platform to Flout U.S. Anti-Money Laundering Rules (Link)

February 14, 2022 – SEC: BlockFi Agrees to Pay $100 Million in Penalties and Pursue Registration of its Crypto Lending Product (Link)

2021

October 15, 2021 – CFTC Orders Tether and Bitfinex to Pay Fines Totaling $42.5 Million; Tether to Pay $41 million Over Claims that Tether Stablecoin was Fully Backed by US Dollars; Bitfitnex to Pay $1.5 Million for Illegal Transactions While Operating Bitfinex Cryptocurrency Trading Platform and Violation of Prior CFTC Order (Link)

September 28, 2021 – CFTC Imposes A $1.25 Million Penalty against Kraken for Offering Illegal Off-Exchange Digital Asset Trading and Failing to Register as Required (Link)

August 10, 2021 – Federal Court Orders BitMEX to Pay $100 Million for Illegally Operating a Cryptocurrency Trading Platform and Anti-Money Laundering Violations (Link)

March 19, 2021 – CFTC Orders Coinbase Inc. to Pay $6.5 Million for False, Misleading, or Inaccurate Reporting and Wash Trading (Link)

February 23, 2021 – Attorney General James Ends Virtual Currency Trading Platform Bitfinex’s Illegal Activities in New York; Bitfinex and Tether Must Submit to Mandatory Reporting on Efforts to Stop New York Trading (Link)

2020

December 22, 2020 – SEC Charges Ripple and Two Executives with Conducting $1.3 Billion Unregistered Securities Offering (Link)

October 21, 2020 – SEC Obtains Final Judgment Against Kik Interactive For Unregistered Offering (Link)

October 1, 2020 – CFTC Charges BitMEX Owners with Illegally Operating a Cryptocurrency Derivatives Trading Platform and Anti-Money Laundering Violations (Link)

2019

May 19, 2019 – FinCEN: Application of FinCEN’s Regulations to Certain Business Models Involving Convertible Virtual Currencies (PDF Link)

April 3, 2019 – SEC publishes Framework for “Investment Contract” Analysis of Digital Assets (Link)

2018

July 26, 2018 – SEC Denial of Winklvoss Bitcoin Trust ETF; Order Setting Aside Action by Delegated Authority and Disapproving a Proposed Rule Change, as Modified by Amendments No. 1 and 2, to List and Trade Shares of the Winklevoss Bitcoin Trust (PDF Link)

2017

July 25, 2017 – SEC DAO Report: SEC Issues Investigative Report Concluding DAO Tokens, a Digital Asset, Were Securities (Link)

2016

June 2, 2016 – CFTC Orders Bitcoin Exchange Bitfinex to Pay $75,000 for Offering Illegal Off-Exchange Financed Retail Commodity Transactions and Failing to Register as a Futures Commission Merchant (Link)

2014

January 30, 2014 – FinCEN Guidance: Application of FinCEN’s Regulations to Virtual Currency Software Development and Certain Investment Activity (Link)

2013

March 18, 2013 – FinCEN Guidance: Application of FinCEN’s Regulations to Persons Administering, Exchanging, or Using Virtual Currencies (PDF Link)