Cryptocurrency exchange CoinEx has been sued by the New York Attorney General, Letitia James, alleging the firm falsely represented itself as an exchange due to failing to register as a securities and commodities broker-dealer in the state. A 38-page petition filed by James in the New York Supreme Court on Feb. 22 alleged CoinEx “engaged in repeated and persistent fraudulent practices” and violated the state’s Martin Act — considered one of the most strict anti-fraud and securities regulation laws in the United States. She also asserted CoinEx listed various tokens that qualified as “both commodities and securities” naming Amp (AMP), …

NBA Top Shot Moments nonfungible tokens (NFTs) may be considered a security, as it meets the requirements under the United States security laws, according to court filings on Feb 22. The decision comes as federal judge Victor Marreo denied a motion from Dapper Labs CEO Roham Gharegozlou to dismiss a class action lawsuit claiming its NBA Top Shot NFTs are securities. Upon denying the motion, the court authorized the case to proceed. Dapper Labs now has 21 days to respond to the court's decision. For the verdict, the judge reviewed the Howey Test, which determines whether the NFTs qualified as …

Attorneys working on behalf of former FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried have agreed to pay for a security expert to assist the federal judge overseeing his fraud case in navigating modern encryption technology to aid in possibly modifying Bankman-Fried's bail terms. Bankman-Fried’s lawyers Christian Everdell and Mark Cohen sent a letter to Judge Lewis Kaplan on Feb. 21 agreeing with his proposal for a technical professional to aid him. According to the letter, “the defense has already begun researching and contacting possible experts and anticipates being able to propose one or more potential candidates to the court by the end of …

The staking services offered by cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase are “fundamentally different” to what was offered by its peer exchange Kraken — which recently came under fire from the United States securities regulator — according to Coinbase's head lawyer. Paul Grewal, Coinbase’s chief legal officer, made the comments in his response to a shareholder question regarding its staking services during a Q&A session on the exchange’s fourth-quarter results, noting: “The staking products that we offer on Coinbase are fundamentally different from the yield products that were described in the reinforcement action against Kraken. The differences matter.” The first point of difference …

The United States Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC's) lawsuit against Terraform Labs and its co-founder Do Kwon could be seen as an SEC “roadmap” to taking down other stablecoins, according to a lawyer. Gabriel Shapiro, general counsel at investment firm Delphi Labs, explained to his 33,800 Twitter followers on Feb. 16 that the SEC’s arguments in its complaint against Kwon and Terraform were “more thorough than usual.” whew lad, lots to digest in the SEC lawsuit vs Do Kwon and Terraform Labs right off the bat, a very interesting fact is that the SEC is being more thorough than usual--specifically …

Former FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried could “conceivably” have his bail revoked after a federal judge said there was “probable cause” to believe he may have engaged in attempted witness tampering. In the Feb. 16 hearing on Bankman-Fried’s bail conditions, Judge Lewis Kaplan said there was “probable cause to believe that he [Bankman-Fried] has committed or attempted to commit a federal felony while on release, namely witness tampering” according to multiple reports. Kaplan suggested that this could “conceivably” see the FTX founder sent back to jail until his trial date in October. Kaplan noted however that the Feb. 16 hearing was …

Judge Lewis Kaplan reportedly targeted Sam Bankman-Fried’s internet usage in a hearing aimed at reviewing the former FTX chief executive officer use of a virtual private network, or VPN. According to a Feb. 16 tweet from NPR correspondent David Gura, Judge Kaplan may have suggested that Bankman-Fried be denied access to any electronic device and the internet as a condition of his bail. Though SBF’s lawyers reportedly said there was no television in Joe Bankman’s and Barbara Fried’s California home — where the former FTX CEO has largely been confined since his arraignment in the United States in December — …

Debtors for crypto lender Celsius Network have the authority to sell coupons for mining firm Bitmain coupons worth roughly $7.4 million following a ruling from a bankruptcy judge. In a Feb. 16 court filing, United States Bankruptcy Judge Martin Glenn said it was in the “best interests of the Debtors’ estates, their creditors, and other parties” to allow Celsius debtors to sell their Bitmain coupons. The judge’s ruling does not require the debtors to liquidate the holdings in question, but they would need the consent of the committee of unsecured creditors. Christopher Ferraro, interim chief executive officer of Celsius, claimed …

The alleged exploiter of the decentralized finance (DeFi) protocol Mango Markets, Avraham Eisenberg, is seeking to keep his share of crypto gained from his so-called “highly profitable trading strategy.” On Feb. 15 attorneys for Eisenberg filed an opposition in a New York District Court to a lawsuit from Mango that asked for $47 million in damages plus interest starting from the time of Eisenberg’s October 2022 attack that drained around $117 million from the protocol. The lawyers argued that Eisenberg shouldn’t need to pay back any more funds to the DeFi platform due to a settlement agreement he reached with …

The former dean of Stanford Law School who co-signed Sam Bankman-Fried’s bail said he considered Bankman-Fried’s parents “the truest of friends” who helped his family through a “harrowing battle with cancer.” In an emailed statement to Cointelegraph on Feb. 16, Larry Kramer said he co-signed Bankman-Fried’s bail as a way to return the favor. “Joe Bankman and Barbara Fried have been close friends of my wife and I since the mid-1990s,” said Kramer. He said that over the past two years, Bankman-Fried’s parents Joe Bankman and Barbara Fried, provided food and moral support while “frequently stepping in at moment's notice …

Sam Bankman-Fried, the former CEO of crypto exchange FTX may no longer be able to play League of Legends and other video games if newly proposed changes to his bail conditions from United States prosecutors are approved. In a Feb. 15 letter to United States District Judge Lewis Kaplan, U.S. Attorney Damian Williams asked the courts to further expand restrictions surrounding Bankman-Fried’s electronic device usage. They pointed to Bankman Fried’s recent device usage as cause for concern, and agreed with the court’s intuition that it was “shortsighted” by focusing only on apps, adding: “There is now a record before the …

Bankrupt crypto lender Celsius Network has chosen NovaWulf Digital Management as the sponsor for its proposed Chapter 11 restructuring plan which will see the investment advisory firm take over the operations of a new company, and most customers estimated to recover up to 70% of their funds. Celsius presented the plan on Feb. 15 in a filing to the United States Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York. The proposed plan has the support of the Celsius Official Committee of Unsecured Creditors (UCC) — a body representing the interests of Celsius account holders. The plan sees the creation …