CFTC Floats Framework For Crypto Cos. Offering Leverage

By Aislinn Keely

The U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission on Monday unveiled plans for a framework governing leveraged crypto transactions, seeking feedback on a proposal that attempts to use the agency's existing authority to regulate a section of crypto markets in the absence of legislation.

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FinCEN Nixes Plans For Crypto Mixer, Wallet Reporting Rules

By Jon Hill

The Financial Crimes Enforcement Network is moving to scrap two long-dormant proposals aimed at increasing anti-money laundering oversight of transactions involving self-hosted crypto wallets and anonymizing crypto "mixers," measures that had faced stiff industry resistance.  

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State Watchdogs Bristle At Prediction Market Incursion

By Alex Lawson

A group of state gaming regulators has urged the U.S. Supreme Court to consider reviewing Kalshi's ability to offer sports-related contracts in New Jersey, nodding to recent case law that has cut against the decision that gave rise to the state's petition.

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Illinois' Curbs On Kalshi Sports Contracts Blocked For Now

By Elaine Briseño

An Illinois federal judge temporarily blocked the state from enforcing its gambling license requirements against Kalshi and Coinbase on Friday, saying that the companies' core sports betting contracts are likely federally regulated swaps.

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Feds Wrap Up Case In $53M Uranium Finance Theft Trial

By Stewart Bishop

Manhattan federal prosecutors Monday concluded their case against a Maryland cybersecurity consultant accused of stealing about $53 million in crypto from Uranium Finance, a two-pronged heist that purportedly capitalized on "bugs" in smart contracts and brought about the end of the short-lived decentralized exchange.

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Crypto 'Godfather' Who Hired Cops To Extort Gets 6.5 Years

By Rae Ann Varona

A Los Angeles-based cryptocurrency businessman who called himself "The Godfather" was sentenced Monday to more than six years in prison and ordered to pay more than $23 million in restitution for getting Los Angeles County sheriff's deputies to harass his enemies and for separately stealing from Meta, federal prosecutors announced.

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Brief

OKX Files For Tokenized Stock Trading Under SEC Exemption

By Aislinn Keely

OKX has notified the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission of its plans to offer tokenized stock trading, becoming one of the first crypto exchanges to take advantage of the agency's closely watched innovation exemption.

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'Encouraging' Signs By 10th Circ. In Opt-Out Suit, Banks Say

By Rachel Konieczny

Banking industry stakeholders and their counsel spoke candidly Monday about their pending challenge before the Tenth Circuit to a Colorado law intended to curb high-cost lending in the state, saying the law instead harms consumers and that the en banc court seemed inclined to side with the banking groups.

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Justices Seek Trump Admin's Views In Escrow-Interest Fight

By Jon Hill

The U.S. Supreme Court asked Monday for the Trump administration to weigh in as the justices consider taking up a set of cases challenging whether federally chartered banks are exempt from state laws requiring lenders to pay interest on homeowners' mortgage escrow accounts.

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Coinbase Brass Beats Suit In Test Of Texas Incorporation Law

By Katryna Perera

Coinbase's top brass has escaped, for now, a shareholder derivative suit brought in Texas after the state's business court found that Texas law, rather than Delaware law, applies to the case even though the alleged wrongdoing occurred before Coinbase reincorporated in the Lone Star State.

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Exec Says Fintech Co. Fired Her After Pregnancy Disclosure

By MJ Koo

A former executive at a financial technology company has sued her ex-employer in Colorado state court, alleging that she was fired two weeks after disclosing her pregnancy and asking about her pay and that the company's standard severance agreement violates a state law protecting workers' right to discuss workplace discrimination.

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Wash. Bank Hid Fintech Loan Risks, Investor Says

By Sydney Price

Washington state-based Coastal Financial Corp. has been hit with an investor's proposed class action accusing it of failing to disclose risks related to its "banking as a service" offerings, which the shareholder says ultimately resulted in a 44% share decline earlier this year following the announcement of a $42 million quarterly loss.

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Kalshi Says User's Express Consent Bars Data Privacy Suit

By Gina Kim

Kalshi urged a California federal court to end a proposed class action alleging the prediction market shared user information through third-party tracking tools, arguing Friday the plaintiff expressly consented to the alleged interceptions through Kalshi's privacy policy, which discloses the use of online advertising technologies, including Google Analytics.

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Fed. Circ. Orders Tossing Indemnity Bid On Different Grounds

By Elliot Weld

The Federal Circuit on Monday ordered a federal district judge to lift an order dismissing shopping mall owner Simon Property Group's indemnification claim against gift card company Blackhawk Network over a patent infringement case involving methods of executing card payments.

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$150M Series D Values Mortgage-Focused Fintech At $2.3B

By Jade Martinez-Pogue

Mortgage servicing artificial intelligence company Valon Technologies on Monday revealed that its valuation doubled to $2.3 billion after it closed its latest funding round with $150 million in tow.

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O'Melveny Hires SEC Senior Enforcement Atty In DC

By Jack Rodgers

O'Melveny & Myers LLP announced Monday it has hired a senior enforcement attorney from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission who is joining the firm's white collar defense and corporate investigations practice as a partner in Washington.

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Prediction Market Case Tests Novel Insider Trading Theory

The government's argument in its case against a soldier accused of using classified information to bet on Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro's capture would represent a sea change in how insider trading wire fraud has been prosecuted for decades, says Alex Blanchard at Holland & Knight.

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Analysis

Judge Clevenger's Intellect Defined His Time On Fed. Circ.

By Dani Kass

Newly retired Federal Circuit Judge Raymond Clevenger has an "exceptionally keen intellect" that allowed him to spot holes or new paths in cases that the parties or fellow panel members hadn't explored, his former colleagues told Law360.

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Sotomayor Warns Judges: Don't Scare Your Jurors

By Brandon Lowrey

U.S. Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor on Monday criticized an Alabama trial court judge who frightened a pool of prospective jurors by ordering the arrest of a latecomer to jury selection, saying in a statement accompanying a denial of certiorari in the case that fear can undermine a defendant's right to an impartial jury.

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Quinn Emanuel Seeks $750K After Defeating Buzbee Suits

By Lynn LaRowe

Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan LLP is seeking nearly $750,000 in attorney fees after defeating claims in Texas state court that it conspired with rapper Shawn "Jay-Z" Carter to retaliate against prominent Houston plaintiffs attorney Tony Buzbee and two of his former clients.

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9th Circ. Pauses Rogoff's Return As Seattle US Atty

By Jack Karp

The Ninth Circuit has put on hold a Washington federal judge's decision to reinstate Roger Rogoff as Seattle's top federal prosecutor, a post Rogoff held for less than an hour before he was fired by President Donald Trump.

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Jackson Walker Deal Stalled By Standing Issue, Trustee Says

By Lauren Berg

The U.S. Trustee's Office told a Texas federal judge that its settlement with Jackson Walker LLP to disgorge fees from cases touched by scandal is on ice while a bankruptcy judge examines the watchdog's standing to seek such relief.

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Eckert Seamans Says Data Breach Harm Is Only Speculative

By James Boyle

Pittsburgh-based law firm Eckert Seamans Cherin & Mellott LLC told a Pennsylvania federal judge on Friday a pair of proposed class actions claiming damages from a data breach at the firm have not made specific complaints of actual harm caused by the breach and should be dismissed.

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