Fintech

  • February 24, 2025

    Lobbyist Abramoff Testifies At Fraud Trial Against Crypto CEO

    Disgraced Washington, D.C., power broker Jack Abramoff told jurors on Monday that he participated in a conspiracy with the founder of an "anti-money laundering" cryptocurrency company accused of bilking investors out of $5 million, testifying remotely due to a recent cancer diagnosis.

  • February 24, 2025

    Patent Eligibility Appeals 'Will Not Go Away,' Justices Told

    Another plea to hear a patent eligibility case has been lodged at the U.S. Supreme Court, this time in an amicus brief from the owner of two invalidated patents covering medical machinery that warned "the problem will not go away. The problem will get worse and worse."

  • February 24, 2025

    SEC Crypto Task Force Wants Input, Commissioner Says

    U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission Commissioner Hester Peirce urged firms to bring their input to her Crypto Task Force in a Friday statement that outlined a series of questions the group is grappling with, including the taxonomy of tokens.

  • February 24, 2025

    Robinhood, OpenSea Say SEC Closed Crypto Inquiries

    Robinhood said Monday that the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission "has officially closed" an investigation into its cryptocurrency arm without any enforcement action, joining a growing number of crypto matters the SEC has dropped or paused under the new Trump administration.

  • February 24, 2025

    Tax Software Co. Says Rival Is The Real Trade Secrets Thief

    Corporate-focused tax preparation software company Avalara, accused by Vertex Inc. of poaching workers to steal trade secrets, has asked to file counterclaims, arguing Vertex has actually done the illegal poaching.

  • February 24, 2025

    SEC Could Loosen Income Limits On Startup Investments

    The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's acting chairman said Monday that the agency is looking at a number of changes aimed at freeing up capital for investment, including the possibility of allowing lower- and middle-income Americans to invest in private, early-stage companies.

  • February 24, 2025

    Crypto Exchange OKX To Pay $504M For Allowing Illicit Deeds

    Cryptocurrency exchange OKX on Monday agreed to pay $504 million in a deal with New York federal prosecutors who said the company ran afoul of U.S. anti-money laundering rules and allowed its platform to be used for more than $5 billion worth of suspicious transactions.

  • February 24, 2025

    Venable Litigator Jumps To Steptoe In California

    Steptoe LLP continues growing its West Coast team, announcing Monday it is bringing in a Venable LLP commercial trial lawyer as a partner in its Los Angeles and San Francisco offices.

  • February 21, 2025

    CFPB's Data Security In Spotlight After Agency Goes Dark

    The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's de facto shutdown following the arrival of Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency is raising concerns that sensitive data inside the agency could be exposed or exploited. Experts say financial institutions should take note.

  • February 21, 2025

    Trump-Targeted CFPB Drops Suit Against Online Lender

    The embattled Consumer Financial Protection Bureau told a California federal judge Friday that it has dropped litigation it filed against online lending platform SoLo Funds, which the watchdog agency had accused of deceiving borrowers about the total cost of loans.

  • February 21, 2025

    Wall Street Groups Back Rescinding Biden Crypto Guidance

    Wall Street's top lobbies are backing President Donald Trump's cryptocurrency agenda and have called for the recission of Biden-era federal banking policies and guidance that it says have "hindered" banks' ability to engage in the digital asset industry.

  • February 21, 2025

    CFPB Shutdown Means 'Irreparable Harm,' 23 State AGs Say

    Nearly two dozen attorneys general on Friday filed an amicus brief backing the union that represents Consumer Financial Protection Bureau workers in their lawsuit over the agency's shutdown, arguing they will suffer "several forms of irreparable harm" without a preliminary injunction.

  • February 21, 2025

    GOP Leader Zeros In On Fintech And Enviro Rules For Repeal

    An Internal Revenue Service rule targeting digital asset sales and U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission guidance on the trading of voluntary carbon credits are among the environmental and financial regulations that Republicans are prioritizing for repeal, according to House Majority Leader Steven Scalise.

  • February 21, 2025

    Shkreli Avoids Sanctions Over 'Frustrating' Wu-Tang Tangle

    Convicted former pharmaceutical executive Martin Shkreli won't have to pay sanctions after purportedly dragging his feet for nearly six months on complying with court orders to hand over copies of a Wu-Tang Clan album to the crypto project that bought it from him.

  • February 21, 2025

    Crypto Mining Machine Co. Bgin Blockchain Files $50M IPO

    Cryptocurrency mining company Bgin Blockchain Ltd. filed for an initial public offering Friday with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission that is expected to raise $50 million, represented by Hunter Taubman Fischer & Li LLC and underwriters counsel Robinson & Cole LLP.

  • February 21, 2025

    Prime Core Crypto 'Hopelessly Commingled,' Plan Admin Says

    Counsel for the administrator of cryptocurrency custodian Prime Core's Chapter 11 wind-down plan on Friday defended its decision to treat the debtor's cryptocurrency as property of the estate, even when it came from customers.

  • February 21, 2025

    CFPB's $8 Late Fee Rule On Ropes As Banks Move In For Kill

    The U.S. Chamber of Commerce and other trade groups have urged a Texas federal judge to strike down the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's $8 credit card late fee rule once and for all, saying, among other things, that the CFPB is itself a "veritable issue-spotter of constitutional law violations."

  • February 21, 2025

    Coinbase Says SEC Will Drop Suit Amid Crypto Policy Shift

    Coinbase said Friday the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has committed to dropping its enforcement action against the crypto exchange, a move that would see the regulator walk away from one of its flagship crypto suits amid a wider policy shift under the Trump administration.

  • February 20, 2025

    DOJ Says Job Protections For ALJs Are Unconstitutional

    The U.S. Department of Justice announced Thursday that it no longer backs long-standing job protections for administrative law judges, saying it has determined that the "multiple layers of removal restrictions" shielding ALJs are unconstitutional because they violate the separation of powers doctrine.

  • February 20, 2025

    New SEC Enforcement Unit Shows Drift From Crypto Focus

    The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission continued its efforts to shift its approach to digital asset enforcement under the Trump administration when it announced Thursday that it replaced the unit responsible for many of its controversial crypto registration suits with a new fraud-focused iteration that will take a broader focus on "cyber and emerging technologies."

  • February 20, 2025

    FDIC Watchdog Will Review Agency Layoffs' Impact

    The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.'s inspector general has indicated that she will review how the agency and the larger banking industry will be impacted by the agency's acting Chairman Travis Hill's recent decision to rescind more than 200 job offers to bank examiners following a presidential executive order.

  • February 20, 2025

    Ex-CFPB Chief Chopra Raps 'Totally Weird' Trump Shutdown

    Former Consumer Financial Protection Bureau Director Rohit Chopra knocked the Trump administration's efforts to shut down the consumer agency as a bizarre and potentially self-owning policy choice, warning Thursday that it will only hurt businesses and consumers.

  • February 20, 2025

    SafeMoon Exec Says He'll Cop To 2 Conspiracy Charges

    The chief technology officer behind the alleged SafeMoon LLC crypto fraud was a step closer to changing his not guilty plea Thursday on two of three counts of the indictment — a move that came after a Brooklyn federal judge declined to delay his co-defendant's trial last week.

  • February 20, 2025

    Fed's Barr Defends Long-Term Debt Mandate For Big Banks

    The Federal Reserve's chief bank regulator said Thursday that the country's financial system was "sound and resilient" but warned of increased risks if post-financial crisis reforms aren't maintained and finished, specifically arguing for the implementation of Basel III Endgame rules on liquidity standards and debt requirements.

  • February 20, 2025

    Trump Admin Says CFPB Defunding Suit Guesses At Harms

    The Trump administration on Thursday pushed back on a lawsuit alleging it seeks to "defund" the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, arguing that concerns about access to a consumer complaint database and other information are "baseless speculation" about the agency's future financial decisions that don't justify an injunction.

Expert Analysis

  • What Trump's 2nd Presidency Could Mean For Crypto Sector

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    Trump's second term will bring a fundamental shift from the Biden administration's approach to crypto-asset regulation and banking supervision, with the most significant changes likely taking effect in the first two quarters of 2025 and broader policy shifts emerging over the next year, say attorneys at Cahill.

  • Putting NYDFS AI Cybersecurity Guidance Into Practice

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    New guidance from the New York Department of Financial Services explains how financial institutions should assess and mitigate cybersecurity risks associated with artificial intelligence, focusing on four main threats and highlighting how varying environments require specific mitigation measures, say attorneys at Saul Ewing.

  • Promoting Diversity In The Selection Of ADR Neutrals

    Excerpt from Practical Guidance
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    Choosing neutrals from diverse backgrounds is an important step in promoting inclusion in the legal profession, and it can enhance the legitimacy and public perception of alternative dispute resolution proceedings, say attorneys at Lowenstein Sandler.

  • Opinion

    In Visa Case, DOJ Continues To Misapply The Sherman Act

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    The recent U.S. Department of Justice debit market monopolization case against Visa fuels concerns that a misguided Biden administration DOJ is inappropriately expanding its interpretation of the Sherman Antitrust Act beyond the demonstrable economic effects that business conduct has on consumers, says Shubha Ghosh at Syracuse University.

  • Series

    Playing Ultimate Makes Us Better Lawyers

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    In addition to being fun, ultimate Frisbee has improved our legal careers by emphasizing the importance of professionalism, teamwork, perseverance, enthusiasm and vulnerability, say Arunabha Bhoumik and Adam Bernstein at Regeneron. 

  • Call For Input Shows How Banks, Fintechs Can Address Risks

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    A recent request for information by federal banking regulators suggests that watchdogs are zeroing in on the bank-fintech partnerships they have long perceived as risky to consumers, but analyzing the publication can help companies anticipate regulators’ chief concerns and take steps to avoid becoming enforcement targets, say attorneys at K&L Gates.

  • E-Discovery Quarterly: Recent Rulings On Metadata

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    Several recent rulings reflect the competing considerations that arise when parties dispute the form of production for electronically stored information, underscoring that counsel must carefully consider how to produce and request reasonably usable data, say attorneys at Sidley.

  • How New OCC Priorities Will Affect Bank Compliance

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    With the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency recently releasing a new bank supervision plan for fiscal year 2025, all banks, not only those primarily supervised by the OCC, should consider how compliance with its guidelines creates opportunities and challenges, says Andrew Karp at Cadwalader.

  • SEC Rulemaking Radar: The View From Election Day

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    The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission seems poised to tackle many of the remaining items on its most recent Regulatory Flexibility Agenda by early 2025, despite the presidential election and the potential for a new chair to be nominated soon, say attorneys at Goodwin.

  • What FTC's 'Bitcoin ATM' Report Tells Us About Crypto Scams

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    The Federal Trade Commission's recent insights into bitcoin ATM scams highlight the technical evolution of fraudsters, the application of old scams to new technology, and the persistent financial impact on victims, say attorneys at DLA Piper.

  • The Fed. Circ. In October: Aetna And License-Term Review

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    The Federal Circuit's recent decision that Aetna's credit card licensing agreement with AlexSam did not give the insurer immunity from patent infringement claims serves to warn licensees to read their contracts carefully, say attorneys at Knobbe Martens.

  • A Look At Grewal's Record-Breaking Legacy After SEC Exit

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    Gurbir Grewal resigned as director of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's Division of Enforcement last month after more than three years on the job, leaving behind a legacy marked by record numbers of penalties and enforcement actions, as well as mixed results in aggressive lawsuits against major crypto players, say attorneys at Debevoise.

  • Striking A Balance Between AI Use And Attorney Well-Being

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    As the legal industry increasingly adopts generative artificial intelligence tools to boost efficiency, leaders must note the hidden costs of increased productivity, and work to protect attorneys’ well-being while unlocking AI’s full potential, says Ed Sohn at Factor.

  • Takeaways From The IRS' Crypto Doc Summons Win

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    A recent First Circuit decision holding that taxpayers do not have a Fourth Amendment reasonable expectation of privacy in cryptocurrency transaction records should prompt both taxpayers and exchanges to take stock of past transactions and future plans, say attorneys at BakerHostetler.

  • Empathy In Mediation Offers A Soft Landing For Disputes

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    Experiencing a crash-landing on a recent flight underscored to me how much difference empathy makes in times of crisis or stress, including during mediation, says Eydith Kaufman at Alternative Resolution Centers.

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