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Fintech

  • July 21, 2025

    Crypto-Based Polymarket Sets US Return With Exchange Deal

    Prediction market platform Polymarket said Monday it's returning to the U.S. with the acquisition of a registered derivatives exchange, a planned reentry that comes after a recently closed FBI investigation and a 2022 civil regulatory settlement that sent it offshore in the first place.

  • July 21, 2025

    Not So Fast: ÃÛÌÒÊÓÆµ Shelves Bid To Scrap State Notice Rules

    The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau on Monday withdrew a plan to repeal rules that regulate how state officials are supposed to alert it before suing companies under its federal enforcement authority, reversing course after industry groups lobbied to tighten, not toss, the requirements.

  • July 21, 2025

    The Ether Machine Goes Public With $1.5B Via SPAC Merger

    Ether generation company The Ether Machine, advised by Skadden Arps Slate Meagher & Flom LLP, on Monday launched as a public company with more than $1.5 billion of committed capital following its merger with Gibson Dunn & Crutcher LLP-advised special purpose acquisition company Dynamix Corp.

  • July 18, 2025

    Law360 Names 2025's Top Attorneys Under 40

    Law360 is pleased to announce the Rising Stars of 2025, our list of more than 150 attorneys under 40 whose legal accomplishments belie their age.

  • July 18, 2025

    As Trump Signs Stablecoin Bill, Attorneys Talk Compliance

    President Donald Trump on Friday signed into law a bill to regulate stablecoins, known as the Genius Act, and practitioners are now turning their attention to helping firms comply with both the provisions of the statute and the coming rulemakings from regulators.

  • July 18, 2025

    Stewart Issues Discretion Decisions For 56 More Petitions

    Acting U.S. Patent and Trademark Office Director Coke Morgan Stewart issued 25 more orders on requests for discretionary denial, deciding a total of 56 cases, while the results of earlier proceedings she let move forward have started to roll out.

  • July 18, 2025

    Crypto Firms' OCC Charter Bids Draw Bank Industry Scrutiny

    Major banking industry groups are warning the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency that approving pending bank charter bids from crypto-linked firms like Ripple could "represent a fundamental departure" from long-standing policy, urging the agency to delay action until more information about their plans is made public.

  • July 18, 2025

    Gibson Dunn Ends SEC Suit Over 'Dealer' Theory

    Gibson Dunn & Crutcher LLP has dropped a suit accusing the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission of violating the Freedom of Information Act by not producing requested records regarding enforcement actions against investors who provided convertible loans to public companies but were not registered as dealers.

  • July 17, 2025

    Bitcoin Treasury Firm To Go Public Via $1.5B SPAC Deal

    Bitcoin investment company BSTR Holdings Inc. announced on Thursday that special purpose acquisition company Cantor Equity Partners I Inc. will provide it with up to $1.5 billion in financing in a go-public deal, guided by Ellenoff Grossman & Schole LLP and Skadden Arps Slate Meagher & Flom LLP.

  • July 17, 2025

    Circle's Bank Plans Include Regulatory Vets At Helm

    Stablecoin giant Circle has tapped Heath Tarbert, its president and former top derivatives regulator, as well as a former Office of the Comptroller of the Currency chief counsel to help oversee its proposed national trust bank, according to application materials made public Thursday.

  • July 17, 2025

    3 Crypto Bills Pass House, With Stablecoins Headed To Trump

    The House of Representatives on Thursday agreed to send a bill to regulate stable-value tokens to the president's desk, in addition to advancing proposals to regulate crypto markets and ban the government from exploring the issuance of a digital dollar onto the Senate.

  • July 17, 2025

    Former Club Rugby Champ Jailed For Crypto Ponzi Scheme

    A Seattle federal judge on Wednesday sentenced a former national champion club rugby player to 30 months in prison for wire fraud after he defrauded investors with promises of building a new cryptocurrency mining operation.

  • July 17, 2025

    CFTC Restructures Enforcement Division Amid Layoffs

    The Commodity Futures Trading Commission plans to lay off around two dozen staff members and has restructured its enforcement division by eliminating some management positions, a person familiar with the matter told Law360 Thursday.

  • July 17, 2025

    Watchdog Raises Concerns On 9th Circ. Nominee's Crypto Work

    President Donald Trump's nominee for the Ninth Circuit has a long record of representing cryptocurrency companies, which a watchdog group fears could aid what it calls the president's "self-enrichment" with digital currency.

  • July 16, 2025

    NFT Fraudster Says He Used Tornado To Hide $1.1M Rug Pull

    An admitted cryptocurrency fraudster who copped to a million-dollar nonfungible tokens scam Wednesday told the jury in the $1 billion money laundering and sanctions trial of Tornado Cash co-founder Roman Storm that when it came time to hide the proceeds of the NFT fraud, he turned to the crypto mixer to cover his tracks.

  • July 16, 2025

    Fed IG To Probe $2.5B HQ Renovation Amid Trump Criticism

    The Federal Reserve's inspector general confirmed Wednesday that it plans to look into the central bank's $2.5 billion renovation of its Washington, D.C., headquarters, an overbudget project that has become a target of White House criticism of Fed Chair Jerome Powell.

  • July 16, 2025

    Disbarred Atty Urges 9th Circ. To Nix $243M Loan Scam Order

    A Ninth Circuit panel appeared skeptical Wednesday of a disbarred attorney's bid to unwind an order requiring the lawyer to pay $243 million for his role in a student loan scam, pressing back against his claim that he had no opportunity to depose two witnesses because he was in custody.

  • July 16, 2025

    House Crypto Bills Clear Procedural Hurdle After Late Stall

    Three pieces of crypto legislation moved forward late Wednesday night after stumbling at a procedural hurdle in the House of Representatives as multiple Republican lawmakers broke with their party and temporarily withheld their support.

  • July 16, 2025

    Crypto Treasuries Gain Traction, But Regulatory Risk Remains

    Public companies are increasingly adding digital assets to their corporate treasuries amid a more favorable regulatory environment for crypto, but attorneys on the deals say they're still counseling clients to be prepared to pivot if policy winds change.

  • July 16, 2025

    2 Firms Tapped To Lead Meme Coin Pump-And-Dump Suit

    Two law firms have been named lead counsel in a proposed securities class action accusing a crypto platform, a venture capital firm and their executives of a "covertly orchestrated" scheme to pump and dump a token affiliated with a newly launched meme coin exchange.

  • July 16, 2025

    House Panel Urged To Modernize Tax Rules For Digital Assets

    Congress needs to create tax rules for digital assets such as cryptocurrency and nonfungible tokens because the current regime is burdensome for businesses and pushing development out of the U.S., industry representatives told a House Ways and Means Committee subcommittee Wednesday.

  • July 16, 2025

    Provable Taps Ex-CoinList Ventures Exec As General Counsel

    Provable, a company focused on developing products for compliant, confidential payments and creating tools for developers to use on the Aleo blockchain, has added a former CoinList legal leader as its general counsel.

  • July 15, 2025

    Tornado Founder Wasn't In On Crypto Laundering, Jury Told

    Counsel for a Seattle-area software developer and co-founder of Tornado Cash told a New York federal jury on Tuesday that he had nothing to do with North Korean cybercriminals and others who used the cryptocurrency mixer to launder more than $1 billion in ill-gotten gains.

  • July 15, 2025

    Interactive Brokers To Pay OFAC $11.8M For Sanctions Lapses

    Interactive Brokers LLC has agreed to pay more than $11.8 million to settle allegations from the U.S. Department of the Treasury's trade sanctions enforcement arm that the electronic broker-dealer violated various sanctions programs over a period of more than seven years.

  • July 15, 2025

    PCAOB Chief Erica Williams Has Resigned, SEC Chair Says

    Erica Y. Williams has resigned as chair and a board member of the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board after more than three years in the position, according to a statement issued Tuesday by U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission Chairman Paul S. Atkins.

Expert Analysis

  • How Banks Can Manage Risk As AI Adoption Expands

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    Following new, supportive comments from financial regulatory leaders about the use of artificial intelligence in the industry, banks may move toward wider, less-tentative adoption of the technology, but will also need to deploy important risk management measures, say attorneys at WilmerHale.

  • What Banks Must Do To Attract Gen Z Customers

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    The young adults of Generation Z bank differently, so financial institutions must engage appropriately if they wish to attract this key population, including by leveraging savvy marketing, well-designed online interfaces and top-notch customer service, says Madeline Thieschafer at Fredrikson & Byron.

  • What Bank Regulator Consolidation Would Mean For Industry

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    Speculation over the Trump administration’s potential plans to consolidate financial service regulators is intensifying uncertainty, but no matter the outcome for the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. and Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, the industry should expect continued policy changes, say attorneys at Foley & Lardner.

  • Getting Ahead Of The SEC's Continued Focus On Cyber, AI

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    The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission is showing it will continue to scrutinize actions involving cybersecurity and artificial intelligence, but there are proactive measures that companies and financial institutions can take to avoid regulatory scrutiny going forward, say attorneys at Morgan Lewis.

  • 3 Steps For In-House Counsel To Assess Litigation Claims

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    Before a potential economic downturn, in-house attorneys should investigate whether their company is sitting on hidden litigation claims that could unlock large recoveries to help the business withstand tough times, says Will Burgess at Hilgers Graben.

  • Breaking Down Ill. Bellwether Case For Bank Preemption

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    The banking industry's pending lawsuit against the state of Illinois stands to permanently enjoin state regulation of bank card processing, as well as clarify the outstanding and consequential issue of whether conflict preemption continues to cover third parties in certain circumstances, says Tom Witherspoon at Stinson.

  • A Primer On The Trading And Clearing Of Perpetual Contracts

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    The U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission recently released a request for comment on the trading and clearing of perpetual-style derivatives, most common in the cryptocurrency market, necessitating a deep look at how these contracts operate and their associated risks, say attorneys at Moore & Van Allen.

  • Series

    Teaching College Students Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    Serving as an adjunct college professor has taught me the importance of building rapport, communicating effectively, and persuading individuals to critically analyze the difference between what they think and what they know — principles that have helped to improve my practice of law, says Sheria Clarke at Nelson Mullins.

  • Planning For Open Banking Despite ÃÛÌÒÊÓÆµ Uncertainty

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    Though pending litigation or new Consumer Financial Protection Bureau leadership may reshape the Biden-era regulation governing access to consumer financial data, companies can use this uncertain period to take practical steps toward an open banking strategy that will work regardless of the rule’s ultimate form, says Adam Maarec at McGlinchey Stafford.

  • Crunching The Numbers Of Trump SEC's 1st 100 Days

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    During the first 100 days of the second Trump administration, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission brought significantly fewer stand-alone enforcement actions than at the beginning of the Biden and the first Trump administrations, with every one of the federal court complaints including allegations of fraudulent conduct, say attorneys at Dentons.

  • Series

    Adapting To Private Practice: From DOJ Enviro To Mid-Law

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    Practitioners leaving a longtime government role for private practice — as when I departed the U.S. Department of Justice’s environmental enforcement division — should prioritize finding a firm that shares their principles, values their experience and will invest in their transition, says John Cruden at Beveridge & Diamond.

  • Risk Control Tips For Banks With Cryptocurrency Customers

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    Given federal policy shifts, cryptocurrency's presence within the U.S. banking system will doubtless increase, so banks should keep in mind key risk control considerations when accepting funds related to cryptocurrency transactions — and make sure they know their customers and the crypto industry, says Jason Noto at Polsinelli.

  • A Look At Probabilistic Tracing After High Court's Slack Ruling

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    Recent decisions following the U.S. Supreme Court's 2023 ruling in Slack v. Pirani have increased the difficulty of pleading Securities Act claims for securities issued in direct listings by rejecting the use of statistical probabilities to establish that share purchases were traceable to a challenged registration statement, says Jonathan Richman at Brown Rudnick.

  • FDIC Rules Rollback Foretells More Pro-Industry Changes

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    The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.’s March withdrawal of Biden-era proposals to tighten brokered deposit rules and impose new corporate governance standards shows that acting chair Travis Hill’s commitment to reviewing regulations that may restrict growth and innovation for financial institution and fintech companies is unlikely to flag soon, say attorneys at Cooley.

  • DOJ Memo Maps Out A Lighter Touch For Digital Assets

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    A recent memo issued by the Justice Department signals a less aggressive approach toward the digital asset industry, with notable directives including disbandment of the National Cryptocurrency Enforcement Team, a higher evidentiary bar for unlicensed money transmitting, and prosecutions of individuals rather than platforms, say attorneys at Cleary.

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