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“At the FBI, we see first-hand the dangers posed when criminals bend the important technological promise of cryptocurrency to illicit ends,” said FBI Director Christopher Wray. “As this Enforcement Framework describes, we see criminals using cryptocurrency to try to prevent us from ‘following the money’ across a wide range of investigations, as well as to […]
Faegre Baker Daniels is being sued for legal malpractice by a company that says the firm provided “erroneous” legal services relating to the launch and operation of a fund set up to acquire and manage crypto assets. *** The complaint alleges that the law firm provided “inaccurate analysis and advice” to Digital Capital’s predecessor, Crypto […]
Haun spent her early years abroad thanks to her parents’ jobs at a Fortune 500 company, and her teenage years in Cairo, Egypt. She moved back to the States to attend Boston University, then Stanford Law School, and began her career as a law clerk. Haun eventually worked for Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy. When […]
In our 2018 SEC year in preview post, we called attention to an expected increase in SEC cybersecurity enforcement action. The SEC has certainly lived up to the billing throughout 2018, which was the first full year in existence for the SEC’s new Cyber Unit. In particular, the Cyber Unit and the SEC’s Enforcement Division […]
Cryptocurrency conversion platform Bancor has suffered a “security breach” that saw $13.5 million worth of digital tokens stolen. The Israeli start-up said Monday that a cryptocurrency wallet on its network had been compromised, leading to the theft of $12.5 million worth of ethereum and $1 million worth of the lesser-known token Pundi X. via Bancor […]
Roughly $1.1 billion worth of cryptocurrency was stolen in the first half of 2018, and unfortunately for owners, it’s pretty easy to do, according to cybersecurity company Carbon Black. Criminals use what’s known as the dark web to facilitate large-scale cryptocurrency theft. There are now an estimated 12,000 marketplaces and 34,000 offerings related to cryptotheft […]
The online retailer Overstock.com is another established company that late last year announced plans for a cryptocurrency offering. Overstock’s cryptocurrency plans were derailed earlier this month after its planned offering drew SEC scrutiny. Now, the company has been hit with a securities class action lawsuit relating to its miscarried cryptocurrency initiative, as discussed below. Though […]
The U.S. government is pushing back against an effort to dismiss the charges it filed in an ongoing initial coin offering (ICO) fraud lawsuit. In twin filings submitted Monday, the Department of Justice (DOJ) and the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) dismissed claims by defendant Maksim Zaslavskiy that U.S. securities laws don’t apply to the […]
The Federal Trade Commission shut down multiple online moneymaking schemes involving cryptocurrency Friday. A federal court in Florida, at the request of the FTC, halted activities and froze the assets of four men for allegedly promoting “deceptive” chain referral networks. via FTC shuts down the ‘Bitcoin Funding Team’ for promoting deceptive moneymaking scheme.
Cryptocurrencies are in the headlines every day and some say are powerful enough to take down the stock market as well as threaten the role of century-old banks and governments. Turns out, demand for the digital coins is still pretty low though. Less than 8 percent of Americans own cryptocurrencies, according to a new study […]
Major cryptocurrencies fell by double-digit percentages on legitimate markets Wednesday after a triple whammy of adverse developments: Google announced that it will ban cryptocurrency-related ads, the International Monetary Fund called for a worldwide regulatory crackdown on cryptocurrencies, and members of Congress clobbered them at a hearing on Wednesday. via Bitcoin, other cryptocurrencies plunge on wave […]
One of the highest profile digital-currency projects in Switzerland, a country that’s been among the most enthusiastic advocates for cryptocurrencies, is under fire from both outsiders and insiders over allegations of false marketing and mismanagement, prompting its president to resign. Now the Tezos Foundation, which raised $232 million in an initial coin offering, is engaged in […]
Virtual currencies and blockchain, the digital ledger that forms the basis of the cryptocurrencies, were intended to be democratizing and equalizing forces, buoyed by a utopian exuberance. But women who have been trying to participate in the gold rush are finding a lopsided gender divide. And some say the culture is getting worse, with the […]
There’s a long way to go before the U.S. government starts regulating bitcoin, Rob Joyce, special assistant to the president and White House cybersecurity coordinator, told CNBC on Friday. Speaking at the Munich Security Conference in Germany, Joyce emphasized the need to better understand the cryptocurrency’s risks and benefits before embarking on any sort of […]
The astonishing bitcoin bubble may have burst over the last several days. From its intraday peak in December 2017 of $19,783, the price for bitcoin had fallen as of Saturday to $8,524, a decline of over 60%. (Price declines continued on Monday.) Bitcoin’s price has fallen before and it has generally proven to be volatile. […]