archiveEXTERNAL-LEGAL

July 25, 2023 - In the fall of 2008, as the nation grappled with the consequences of what was generally considered the most severe financial crisis since the Great Depression, many questioned whether the traditional financial system best served their needs. With the extraordinary aftermath of the crisis, the seeds of the digital asset market were initially planted, when a person, or persons, using the pseudonym "Satoshi Nakamoto" published a Bitcoin whitepaper.This whitepaper introduced the idea of a "peer-to-peer" electronic cash payment system that would remove third-party intermediaries present in...

June 6, 2023 - As the number of litigations involving digital assets continues to rise, courts have increasingly grappled with how the U.S. securities laws apply to novel fact patterns that, in many instances, involve conduct occurring outside the U.S. Step one in this analysis is to determine whether they apply at all.The Supreme Court's landmark decision in Morrison v. National Australia Bank Ltd. sets forth the test for determining which transactions are sufficiently "domestic" to fall within the scope of the U.S. securities laws. 561 U.S. 247 (2010).The Morrison...