Matt Stankiewicz, Partner at The Volkov Law Group, joins us for another post discussing how the SEC’s recent settlement with BarnBridge DAO may impact the cryptocurrency industry. Matt can be contacted at [email protected]. On December 23, 2023, BarnBridge DAO (“BarnBridge”) and its founders, Tayler Ward and Troy Murray, agreed to settle charges with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”).  BarnBridge violated Sections5(a) and 5(c) of...

Matt Stankiewicz, Partner at The Volkov Law Group, joins us for a post on the recent scandal at OpenSea, the cryptocurrency industry’s preeminent NFT marketplace. Matt can be contacted at [email protected]. The crypto industry is abuzz with a recent scandal involving OpenSea, the largest NFT marketplace in the industry (for those not in the know, NFT stands for non-fungible token, and the most common use...

I recently came across a paper prepared by students from Columbia’s School of International and Public Affairs that delves into the benefits that cryptocurrency and the blockchain can provide to the world’s unbanked.  Specifically, the paper discusses how cryptocurrencies can help with “reaching and benefitting the unbanked/underbanked people, who do not make use of traditional financial services, including banks.”  Gemini Trust Company, LLC, one of...

As the blockchain industry continues to grow, we’ll begin to see traditional industries shifting to the blockchain to leverage the technology. Unstoppable domains is a company working to place web domains on the blockchain. Instead of traditional extensions like .com, .net, or .io. Unstoppable Domains will utilize .zil addresses as smart contracts on the Zilliqa public blockchain. This will first provide simple, human-readable crypto wallet...

Data privacy has become a hot topic lately. Companies have built massive fortunes by selling users’ personal information to the highest bidder. Meanwhile, they often fail to secure that same data while hackers run amok, putting the users at risk.  What’s a person to do?  Enter ImagineBC.  In the ImagineBC community, you’re in control of your personal information – and free to monetize it. Built on...

The blockchain revolution is still merely in its infancy.  Liquidity Digital seeks to continue pushing the industry forward, by digitizing securities – stocks, derivatives, real estate, and more – and placing them on the blockchain.  Liquidity Digital is building an ecosystem for the creation of new assets, introducing ways to allocate capital to traditionally underserved areas of financial markets and provide a practical application of distributed ledger...

  Investing in cryptocurrency is fraught with challenges and inefficiencies. Jason Davis is seeking to solve these problems with Hoard Invest – with a mission to empower anyone, anywhere in the world to hold, track, transfer, and transact with any tokenized asset from their mobile device, privately & instantly. The task in doing so is nothing short of monumental, especially considering the regulatory ambiguity around the industry....

When you read and learn about cryptocurrencies (e.g. Bitcoin, Ripple, Ethereum), there are some commentators, politicians and others who characterize cryptocurrencies as a “Ponzi” scheme.  Some countries have banned cryptocurrencies.  The issue of cryptocurrencies, like many other issues, is nuanced, and not so dogmatic.  As I like to say, there are benefits and there are risks.  Let’s address a number of the risks and lay...

Abbott and Costello’s famous routine — Who’s on First, What’s on Second — puts cryptocurrency regulation and enforcement risks in perspective.  Here is the classic comedy routine. When new technologies appear on the scene, Washington regulation is sure to follow.  The exact configuration can take years to sort out, especially when it comes to financial products, given the labyrinth of regulatory bodies seeking to lay...