United States prosecutors have opposed a motion by a former employee of nonfungible token (NFT) marketplace OpenSea to remove “insider trading” references from his charges. Prosecutors said the phrase accurately describes the crimes the former OpenSea product manager Nathaniel Chastain is accused of in a memo filed on Oct. 14. It was responding to a motion by Chastain to stop referring to the phrase on Oct. 3, according to Law360. Chastain was charged in June for allegedly buying 45 NFTs from June to September 2021 through anonymous wallets and selling them for a profit. He allegedly used his position at …

Three associates of fugitive OneCoin founder Ruja Ignatova, known colloquially as the “Cryptoqueen,” have faced a German court over allegations of fraud, money laundering and banking crimes. Appearing in court on Oct. 18, a Munich-based lawyer connected to Ignatova is alleged to have transferred $19.7 million via the Cayman Islands on her behalf to purchase two London apartments. Additionally, a husband and wife are facing charges over allegedly handling $315.4 million worth of payments from OneCoin customers, as per a Bloomberg report. Ignatova launched OneCoin back in 2014 under the guise of a cryptocurrency and trading project, however according to …

A number of food companies have recently begun to position themselves within the Web3 ecosystem by filing trademark applications for the Metaverse, and nonfungible tokens (NFTs). Licensed trademark attorney Mike Kondoudis shared in a tweet that Kraft Foods Group had filed a trademark for its iconic hot dog-shaped Weinermobile on Oct. 12. The filing revealed that the brand plans to expand into NFTs, digital tokens, virtual goods, NFT marketplaces, virtual food, drink, and restaurants. Kraft has applied to trademark the iconic Weinermobile! The October 12 filing claims plans for: NFTs + Digital Tokens NFT Marketplaces Virtual Foods + Drinks + …

The Law Commission of England and Wales will set about reviewing private international legal challenges involving cryptocurrencies through a government-commissioned project. The review, launched on Oct. 18, will provide clarity on how international law approaches emerging technologies like cryptocurrencies, digital assets and electronic documentation. The law reform project, dubbed ‘Digital Assets: Which Law, Which Court?’, will outline current international legal rules and their application to digital contexts with the purview of making recommendations for legal reform to keep United Kingdom laws relevant. The project is sponsored by the Ministry of Justice and intends to develop reform proposals to be published …

Liquidators for Three Arrows capital (3AC) have asked a U.S. court to grant them permission to subpoena the embattled crypto hedge fund's founders through “alternative means.” To this date, the whereabouts of Three Arrow Capital founders Su Zhu and Kyle Davies remains unknown, with some accusing the duo of being on the run. In a court motion filed to the United States Bankruptcy Court Southern District of New York on Oct. 14, advisory firm Teneo claimed that standard methods to contact the duo have failed as the “Founders’ whereabouts remain unknown.” It also said that the request for Advocatus Law …

The $117 million Mango Markets exploiter has defended that their actions were ‘legal,’ but a lawyer suggests that they could still face consequences. Self-described digital art dealer Avraham Eisenberg, outed himself as the exploiter in a series of tweets on Oct. 15 claiming he and a team undertook a “highly profitable trading strategy” and that it was “legal open market actions, using the protocol as designed.” I believe all of our actions were legal open market actions, using the protocol as designed, even if the development team did not fully anticipate all the consequences of setting parameters the way they …

Nine months into the conflict between Ukraine and Russia, sanctions against the latter have continued to grow at an aggressive pace. This time around, legislators for the European Union announced that they are introducing a complete ban on all cross-border crypto payments between Russia and its citizens. To elaborate, a prohibition of all “crypto-asset wallets, accounts, or custody services, irrespective of the amount of the wallet” has now been initiated by the EU in response to Russia’s continued annexation of Ukrainian land, repeated mobilization of troops within the country and threats of nuclear escalation. It is worth noting that previous …

The founder and CEO of cryptocurrency exchange FTX, Sam Bankman-Fried has backed the idea of knowledge tests and disclosures to protect retail investors but said it shouldn’t just be crypto-specific. Bankman-Fried tweeted his thoughts in response to an idea floated by the Commodities Future Trading Commission (CFTC) commissioner Christy Goldsmith Romero on Oct. 15, saying the establishment of a “household retail investor” category for derivatives trading could give greater consumer protections. Romero said due to crypto, more retail investors are entering the derivatives markets and called for the CFTC to separate these investors from professional and high-net-worth individuals and have …

Considerable anxiety exists in the world of Web3 related to regulation and the legal status of cryptocurrency projects. It’s particularly apparent in the United States, where the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) fueled concerns in September with an announcement that it was imposing a $250,000 fine on a decentralized autonomous organization (DAO), Ooki DAO, and its investors. The fine was particularly ominous, considering DAOs are intended to be “regulation proof.” The CFTC said in its statement on the issue that Ooki DAO’s bZeroX protocol offered illegal off-exchange trading of digital assets. The agency took issue with the fact that the …

Over the last few years, the cryptocurrency industry has been a primary target for regulators in the United States. The legal battle between Ripple and the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Nexo’s lawsuit with the securities regulators of eight states, and the scrutiny targeting Coinbase’s Lend program last year are only a few high-profile examples. This year, even Kim Kardashian had first-hand experience with regulatory scrutiny after agreeing to pay a $1.26 million fine for promoting the dubious crypto project EthereumMax. While Ethereum developers intended to pave the way for key network upgrades in the future, it seems …

This month, the European Union (EU) agreed on the text for a unified licensing regime for cryptocurrency exchanges to operate across the EU bloc as part of its Markets in Crypto Assets Regulation (MiCA). The United States — despite being a traditional global leader in legal frameworks for technological innovation — has not provided that same regulatory clarity. National cryptocurrency exchanges in the U.S. are regulated at the state level through a patchwork of money transmission laws that overburden companies while under-protecting consumers. In our view, many digital tokens are properly characterized as digital commodities rather than securities. Yet, a …

John Hickenlooper, a United States Senator representing Colorado, has penned a letter to Gary Gensler urging the Securities and Exchange Commission chair to establish “clear rules” for the crypto market. In an Oct. 13 letter, Hickenlooper called on the SEC to take action on regulatory issues including identifying which cryptocurrencies were considered securities, establishing registration guidelines for trading platforms, and “determining what disclosures are necessary for investors to be properly informed.” According to the senator, the lack of a coordinated regulatory framework from the government has led to uneven enforcement, while the SEC is the agency “well positioned to offer …