Court Says SEC Must Prove Binance’s Staking Rewards Are Securities The Fifth Circuit just forced the SEC to prove, not merely allege, that Binance’s staking rewards function as an investment contract under federal law. The ruling slaps down the agency’s fast-track enforcement style and hands crypto platforms a new procedural shield when regulators come knocking….
Deribit Secures Dubai Broker-Dealer License via Coinbase Deribit has secured a broker-dealer license in Dubai through Coinbase, marking a regulatory step that connects Deribit’s operations to a licensed pathway in the UAE. The development centers on Dubai’s role as an increasingly prominent jurisdiction for digital-asset firms, where companies seek formal permissions to offer services under…
Regal Commodities Beats Tauber, Crypto Hedges Still Exposed New York’s Appellate Division just told crypto traders that a futures contract is still a futures contract even when the underlying is Bitcoin. The court tossed out trader Matthew Tauber’s attempt to dodge a margin call by claiming his position was really a “security,” not a commodity,…
Judge Blocks CFTC’s Secret Kraft Raid The Seventh Circuit just slammed the brakes on the CFTC’s attempt to raid Kraft’s files without notice. In a rare writ-of-mandamus move, the court told the agency it cannot simply bypass the district judge and grab millions of internal documents on the cheap. The ruling matters because it shows…
Court Orders Crypto Exchange Cases to Chicago Three class actions against a major crypto exchange will now be heard together in Chicago, after a federal panel ruled that the overlapping claims were too similar to remain scattered across three districts. The decision, issued late last week by the Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation, hands significant…
SEC Loses Bid to Block Crypto Exchange Appeal The Fifth Circuit just refused to let the SEC slam the door on crypto exchange appeals. The court will hear the full case instead of letting the agency’s lower-court win stand unchallenged. For traders and platforms, that means months more uncertainty—and a chance that enforcement theories on…
Court Slams CFTC’s Reach Over Precious-Metals Leverage A federal appeals court has just handed the Commodity Futures Trading Commission a stinging defeat in its long-running fight with Monex, ruling that leveraged retail metals contracts sold to ordinary investors do not fall under the CFTC’s anti-fraud authority. The Ninth Circuit’s decision reins in the regulator’s ability…
Bessent Seeks Industry Feedback to Shape New GENIUS Rules U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent is seeking feedback from the crypto industry as the department works on rules tied to the GENIUS framework, signaling an effort to incorporate market input into how new requirements are written and applied. The outreach suggests Treasury is positioning the next…
CFTC Wins Round Against Crypto Trader, Court Upholds Enforcement Power The D.C. Circuit just handed the CFTC a clear win, affirming the agency’s authority to sanction Trevor Kitchen for trading unregistered crypto derivatives. The ruling matters because it signals that courts will continue to treat certain digital assets as commodities under CFTC jurisdiction, tightening the…
CFTC Wins Landmark Crypto Appeal, Expands Its Reach The Ninth Circuit just handed the CFTC a sweeping victory in its long-running case against James Devlin Crombie, declaring that the agency can regulate crypto derivatives even when they sit on foreign servers. The ruling matters because it tells every trader, exchange, and developer that geography no…
Court Hands IRS Green Light to Seize Crypto Wallets In a ruling that could reshape how federal agents chase hidden crypto fortunes, a federal judge in Washington just gave the IRS the legal muscle to seize twenty-four cryptocurrency accounts tied to an alleged tax-evading dark-web vendor. The decision matters because it marks one of the…
JUDGE RIPS SEC FOR OVERREACH IN BINANCE FIGHT U.S. District Judge Amy Berman Jackson just handed Binance a partial victory in the SEC’s sprawling lawsuit, refusing to let the agency claim that BNB and several other tokens are unregistered securities. The ruling is the first real crack in the SEC’s legal armor against crypto exchanges…
Delaware Court Slams Diamond Fortress, Crypto Patents Survive Delaware’s Superior Court just killed a major contract fight that threatened to unwind a crypto-patent deal, ruling that two blockchain-security inventors weren’t bound by the broad non-compete their former employer demanded. The decision narrows the legal reach of assignment clauses in crypto patents and signals that Delaware…
How a bug in Coldcard’s code went unnoticed for years, leading to $100 million in hacked funds The information needed to write this story wasn’t included in the raw content provided. The title suggests a long-running software bug involving Coldcard and an estimated $100 million in compromised funds, but there are no details about the…
Court Rejects SEC’s Bitcoin ETF Double Standard The D.C. Circuit just ordered the SEC to stop its selective freeze on bitcoin exchange-traded products. In a unanimous August 29 ruling, the court told the agency that it cannot approve futures-based bitcoin ETFs while simultaneously blocking spot bitcoin ETFs from Grayscale without offering a rational explanation for…
COURT EXPANDS CFTC SWEEP OVER CRYPTO PROMOTERS The Seventh Circuit just ruled that unregistered crypto promoters can be sued under the same laws that cover futures traders, handing the CFTC new ammunition in its fight to police digital assets. The decision means anyone who pitches tokens or trading schemes could now face federal enforcement even…
Court Deals Coinbase Sharp Blow on SEC Review The Third Circuit just slammed the door on Coinbase’s attempt to force the SEC into crypto rulemaking, leaving exchanges and token issuers exposed to more enforcement risk and fewer procedural shields. The ruling means the agency keeps its enforcement-first posture, and the industry loses a key lever…
Bitpanda fined 70,000 euros in Austria’s first published MiCA enforcement case Crypto platform Bitpanda has been fined 70,000 euros in what is being described as Austria’s first published enforcement case under the EU’s new crypto rulebook, the Markets in Crypto-Assets Regulation (MiCA). The case marks an early example of how European crypto oversight is beginning…
Live updates: Bitcoin flat near $63,500; lapsing US-Iran ceasefire revives the oil threat Bitcoin traded flat near $63,500 as markets digested renewed geopolitical unease tied to the US-Iran ceasefire, which appeared to be lapsing and reviving concerns about potential disruption in oil markets. The key development for investors was less about crypto-specific news and more…
Twitch Turns On Amazon AI Training by Default: “Nobody Would Opt In” Twitch has enabled a setting that allows Amazon to use content connected to the streaming platform for AI training by default, drawing criticism over how consent is handled and whether users were given a meaningful choice. The change matters for creators and users…
