Per new updates to a bill to amend California’s securities law introduced in the state’s legislative body on May 5, the largest economy in the United States and the world’s tech hub may be providing new clarity to crypto owners. Formalizing the Howey Test for crypto? Updates to the definition of what constitutes a security include: “Investment contract, except any digital asset that meets one of the following criteria is presumptively not an investment contract.” The criteria named are more or less a line-reading of the Howey Test — the federal metric for assessing whether an asset qualifies as an …

Although the cryptocurrency markets have slightly recovered following massive sell-offs in mid-March, Bitcoin’s (BTC) faltering price has led to notable miner instability and closures. Soon after Bitcoin dropped below the $4,000 threshold on March 13, DPW Holdings, a Nasdaq-listed holding company, announced that it is temporarily shutting down its cryptocurrency mining business, Digital Farms. DPW notifies the SEC about multiple changes to its business in relation to the coronavirus According to a March 18 business update filed with the United States Securities and Exchange Commision (SEC), the Digital Farms’ suspension comes alongside other closures and changes at DPW in response …

A California court has argued that cryptocurrencies that are not securities may be subject to federal laws targeting unfair, deceptive, or abusive acts or practices (UDAAP) during a Feb. 26 hearing for a consolidated class action against Ripple Labs Inc. During the Feb. 26 hearing, the court asserted that transactions involving cryptocurrencies that are not deemed to be securities may be subject to UDAAP laws — paving the way for further putative action to be taken against other crypto projects that claim exemption from federal securities laws, particularly in California. However, the application of UDAAP laws is dynamic, as a …

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, or SEC, has ordered that ICO broker ICOBox must pay $16 million after the startup failed to act on previous legal action from the commission. U.S. District Judge Dale Fischer of California sided with the SEC in a default judgement, after the alleged unregistered broker failed to respond to the commission’s lawsuit against the startup from September 2019, according to a March 6, 2020 statement. ICOBox allegedly conducted an unregistered token offering, as well as unregistered broker activities. The SEC filed with California courts in January 2020 seeking such a default ruling. ICOBox allegedly …

Speaking at Elev8CON in Las Vegas on Dec. 10, Majority Leader of the California State Assembly Ian Calderon discussed plans to bring greater legal certainty for blockchain technology to the State of California. California is the most populous of the United States, with about 40 million residents. Were it to be an independent country, it would have the fifth-largest economy in the world. Calderon explained, “The government plays a huge role in the future of the blockchain industry. We need to create consumer confidence to let people know that this industry is safe. Government regulation provides this.” On Feb. 15th …

California-based financial firm SoFi has acquired a BitLicense from the New York State Department of Financial Services (NYDFS), the regulator said in a statement on Dec. 3. SoFi is now one of 24 crypto-related firms that have obtained a BitLicense since 2015, Bloomberg Law’s crypto reporter Lydia Beyoud tweeted the same day. Specifically, SoFi has acquired two licenses — a virtual currency license (BitLicense) and a money transmitter license — that will allow SoFi Digital Assets to offer crypto trading services to its New York customers. According to the announcement, the firm is authorized to support a total of six …

California-based financial firm SoFi has added zero-fee cryptocurrency trading to its platform SoFi Invest. According to an official announcement on Sept. 25, crypto trading on SoFi Invest joins the list of previously introduced trading of stocks and exchange-traded funds. SoFi Invest now offers clients to buy three major cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin (BTC), Ether (ETH) and Litecoin (LTC), with the firm claiming that users do not even need to set up a crypto wallet, according to the platform’s website. Increased demand for crypto from clients To welcome new crypto users on its platform, SoFi also offers a $25 bonus for …

Gemini, the cryptocurrency exchange founded by the Winklevoss twins, is joining crypto-friendly bank Silvergate’s Silvergate Exchange Network (SEN) to speed fiat transfers. Real-time fiat money transfers Gemini announced the move in an official blog post on Aug. 27. According to the announcement, the main benefit of the exchange’s partnership with Silvergate is that Gemini’s institutional investor clients can withdraw and deposit United States dollars from their accounts at any time. This is already the industry standard for cryptocurrencies, but not for fiat money, per the report. Additionally, the announcement states that Gemini is integrated into SEN’s application programming interface (API). …

The United States District Court for the Central District of California has issued a summons to video game virtual goods company OPSkins Group and Worldwide Asset eXchange (WAX) in response to a complaint filed by Crypto Asset Fund. The allegations On Aug. 15, the court issued a summons to OPSkins Group, WAX and several of their high-level employees in response to a civil complaint filed on Aug. 12 by Crypto Asset Fund and affiliate Digital Capital Management. The complaint included 12 charges — including fraud, unlawful business practices and violation of the Securities Acts of 1933 and 1934. In particular, …

On Aug. 14, at least two American states introduced regulatory actions targeting the crypto space. First, Maryland’s attorney general announced that the state is participating in Operation Cryptosweep, a joint initiative of state and provincial securities regulators in the U.S. and Canada, wherein they launch probes into potentially fraudulent or noncompliant crypto investment programs. Then, the state of Nevada unveiled new requirements for crypto ATM owners, obliging them to obtain a transmission license. The first location granted by the license will cost business owners as much as $10,000, while every additional kiosk requires an extra $5,000 (however, bond requirements cannot …

XRP investor Bradley Sostack has amended a class action suit against Ripple, in which he alleges that the company misled investors and sold XRP as an unregistered security in violation of federal law. Sostack submitted his latest filing on Aug. 5 to a United States district court in California. According to a report by CoinDesk on Aug. 13, the original class action suit was filed about a year ago, but had yet to gain traction as a class action suit. However, Ripple now must reportedly respond to this latest action by some time in mid-September. Appeal to SEC guidelines Crucially, …

States, provinces and municipalities could use cryptocurrencies to fund projects and programs. Municipal cryptocurrencies — that is, cryptocurrencies launched by cities — could offer citizens a new way to invest in a certain location and even buy goods while helping governments to fund projects. Campbell Harvey from Duke University told Cointelegraph that municipal cryptocurrencies could provide a mechanism to fund certain projects. According to Harvey: “I think of it as, say, we need to build a new soccer field, given that we now have more boys and girls teams and the old field just can't handle it. So, we need …