Court Tells CFTC: Prove Kraft Market Power Before Demanding Data The Seventh Circuit just blocked the CFTC’s attempt to force Kraft and Mondelez to hand over internal trading records in a market-manipulation probe, ruling the agency must first show it has a plausible theory that the companies controlled the wheat market. The decision tightens the…
**Court Slams Brakes on SEC’s Crypto Power Grab** The Fifth Circuit just handed the SEC a stinging defeat, ruling that the agency overstepped its authority when it tried to force DeFi platforms and crypto exchanges to register as traditional broker-dealers. The decision signals that federal courts are no longer willing to let the agency stretch…
Judge Pushes Crypto Class Actions Into One Court A federal panel has ordered three separate lawsuits against a major crypto exchange into a single Illinois courtroom. The move signals that judges are done letting plaintiffs shop for friendly venues when suing digital-asset platforms. The litigation explosion began after the exchange halted withdrawals last spring, leaving…
MetaMask Exits Lido Validators Amid Infrastructure “Security Incident” MetaMask has exited its validators on Lido following what was described as an infrastructure “security incident.” The decision affects the infrastructure supporting MetaMask’s participation in Lido’s validator set. Validators are responsible for helping secure and process transactions on proof-of-stake networks. An infrastructure incident involving them can therefore…
COURT HANDS CFTC DEFEAT IN MONEX CASE In a stunning reversal, the Ninth Circuit just ruled that the CFTC cannot use its anti-fraud powers to police a gold-and-silver dealer that sells leveraged spot contracts directly to retail customers. The decision guts a key enforcement theory the agency has relied on for years and signals that…
CFTC Loses Big in Kitchen Appeal, Authority Shaken A federal appeals court has handed crypto trader Trevor Kitchen a stunning victory over the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, ruling that the agency overstepped when it punished him for trading Bitcoin perpetual swaps on an unregistered platform. The June 5 decision in the D.C. Circuit marks the…
Bitmine Buys $41M More Ethereum, Reaching 99% of Its “Alchemy of 5%” Target Bitmine has purchased an additional $41 million worth of Ethereum, pushing its total holdings past 6 million ETH and bringing the firm to 99% of the way toward its stated “Alchemy of 5%” target. According to the information provided, Bitmine’s Ethereum position…
The “Largest Pure-Play” XRP Treasury Is About to Go Public A company described as the “largest pure-play” XRP treasury is preparing to go public, marking a potential new development in the way investors gain exposure to XRP through public markets. However, the available information does not identify the company, its expected listing venue, the timing…
CFTC’s Win Over Crypto Promoter Rewrites Rulebook The Ninth Circuit just handed the CFTC a clear victory in its long-running case against James Crombie, ruling that unregistered futures-style offers in virtual currency count as illegal commodity transactions. In three crisp paragraphs the appeals court affirmed the lower court’s injunction and penalty, signaling that regulators can…
Ruling Delivers IRS a Key Crypto Seizure Win A federal judge in D.C. green-lit the IRS’s seizure of twenty-four cryptocurrency wallets, giving investigators a powerful new template for tracing and confiscating digital assets without first charging a human defendant. The decision matters because it signals that anonymous wallets, not just people, can be treated as…
SEC Sues Binance — Crypto World Braces for War The Securities and Exchange Commission has filed a sweeping lawsuit against Binance Holdings and its founder Changpeng Zhao, accusing the world’s largest crypto exchange of operating an unregistered platform, commingling customer assets, and offering unregistered securities. The complaint, filed in federal court in Washington, D.C., seeks…
Once a $2.3 Billion Network, Ethereum Layer-2 Blast Is Shutting Down Blast, an Ethereum layer-2 network that once reached $2.3 billion in value, is shutting down. The closure marks the end of a project that had become a notable part of Ethereum’s expanding layer-2 ecosystem. Layer-2 networks process transactions away from Ethereum’s main blockchain before…
Delaware Court Hands Crypto Founders Rare Win Delaware Superior Court just handed two crypto entrepreneurs a narrow but real victory against their former company, sending an unmistakable message that Delaware judges will not let procedural gamesmanship bury legitimate claims. The ruling keeps the founders’ contract and fraud claims alive, which means the case now heads…
Grayscale Wins: Court Slaps SEC Over Bitcoin ETF Rejection A federal appeals court just handed Grayscale a major victory and forced the SEC to rethink its refusal to convert the world’s largest Bitcoin trust into an exchange-traded fund. The ruling doesn’t green-light the product yet, but it strips the agency of the legal excuse it…
CFTC WINS APPEAL, CRYPTO TRADER FACES NEW REALITY The Seventh Circuit just handed the CFTC a major procedural win that could reshape how crypto fraud cases get tried. In a unanimous decision, the appeals court affirmed the lower court’s decision to let the agency proceed against trader James Donelson without first proving his trades involved…
OpenWorld Begins Nasdaq Trading After VerifyMe Deal Creates Public Tokenization Company OpenWorld has begun trading on the Nasdaq following a deal with VerifyMe, creating a publicly traded company focused on tokenization. The transaction marks a shift for OpenWorld from a private venture to a company whose shares trade on a major U.S. exchange. It also…
Court Slams Door on Coinbase’s SEC Appeal, Crypto Left Exposed The Third Circuit just handed Coinbase a stinging defeat, refusing to review the SEC’s refusal to write new crypto rules. The ruling keeps the agency’s hands free to pursue enforcement without clear guidance, meaning exchanges, token issuers, and traders stay in regulatory limbo with rising…
MEXC and Payward Signal Intent to Explore Broader Collaboration Ahead of TOKEN2049 MEXC and Payward have indicated an intention to explore broader collaboration ahead of TOKEN2049, highlighting potential discussions between the two companies as the industry event approaches. No further details about the scope, structure, or timing of the potential collaboration were provided. The announcement…
Cardano’s ADA leads gains in a narrow, range-bound crypto market Cardano’s ADA token outperformed much of the crypto market this week, rising roughly in the mid-teens over seven days after rebounding from recent lows, even as broader prices remained largely range-bound. Technical analysts pointed to a key chart development: ADA moved above a long-running descending…
Bank Group Sues U.S. Regulator Over Granting Crypto Trust Charters A banking group has sued a U.S. regulator over its decision to grant trust charters to cryptocurrency-focused firms, challenging the regulator’s authority to approve the institutions. The lawsuit places the role of crypto trust companies within the broader debate over how digital-asset businesses should be…
