CFTC Directs Prediction Markets To Stop Geo-Blocking Users

By Aislinn Keely

The U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission on Thursday directed prediction market platforms and other registrants to ensure nationwide access to their offerings, which could set up a challenging scenario for platforms under court orders to block some contracts in certain states as part of ongoing prediction market litigation.

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Analysis

Blue Congress, Red Regulators: 5 FinReg Predictions

By Jon Hill & Sarah Jarvis

Lawmakers are set to return to Washington, D.C., next week for the final stretch of Republican control on Capitol Hill before Democrats take over, a reversal that is reshaping the outlook for financial services oversight in the remainder of President Donald Trump's term.

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Analysis

Binance Mega-Hack Confirms Cyberinsurance Industry Fears

By Abraham Gross

The theft of $6.3 billion in crypto assets from cryptocurrency exchange Binance brought to life long-standing fears in the cyberinsurance industry that the scale of some state-backed cyberattacks may be uninsurable.

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SEC Notifies White House Of Broker Crypto Rule Proposal

By Jessica Corso

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission could soon introduce a proposal that would clarify the rules around broker-dealers' financial responsibilities and recordkeeping obligations when it comes to cryptocurrency assets, as the agency hopes to "support innovation" in the space.

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Ark. Calls Kalshi 'Pocket-Sized Bookie' In Latest State Action

By Aislinn Keely

Arkansas is the latest state to accuse Kalshi of violating its gaming laws by offering event contracts on sports, asserting that the bulk of the prediction market operator's business "is not a risk management tool; it is a pocket-sized bookie."

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Tribes Win Injunction Against Kalshi After 9th Circ. Reversal

By Ganesh Setty

A California federal court has blocked Kalshi from offering sports event contracts on the lands of three Native American tribes, after the Ninth Circuit found they were likely to prevail on their Indian Gaming Regulatory Act claims.

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Analysis

Racing Against Whistleblowers Could Cost Companies

By Phillip Bantz

The U.S. Department of Justice's new cash rewards program for tips on criminal fraud threatens to ramp up the pressure on companies to hurry internal investigations and quickly report suspected misconduct to the government before whistleblowers do, which could backfire in some cases, according to experts.

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California Regulator Orders Crypto ATM Co. To Pay $5.1M

By Katryna Perera

CoinFlip, an operator of cryptocurrency ATMs, has been ordered to pay $5.1 million by California's Department of Financial Protection and Innovation for allegedly failing to protect state users from financial fraud and for charging excessive fees to California consumers.

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FINRA Fines Webull $4.2M For AML, Best-Execution Failures

By Katryna Perera

Webull Financial LLC has agreed to pay the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority $4.2 million to resolve claims that it failed to implement proper anti-money laundering programs to verify customer identities and that it failed to properly monitor for suspicious transactions, among other things.

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DOJ Says Willow Bridge's RealPage Deal Needs No Tweaks

By Bryan Koenig

The U.S. Department of Justice responded to commenters pushing for changes to the rent price-fixing settlement it reached with Willow Bridge Property Co. LLC, arguing there's no need to add a distinction in the deal between rent renewals and first-time leases.

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Terror Victims Call Revised Binance Claims 'Leaner,' 'Robust'

By Katryna Perera

A group of plaintiffs alleging Binance and its former CEO aided and abetted 30 terrorist attacks have urged a New York federal judge to keep the suit alive, saying they have beefed up their claims to show how Binance "deliberately engineered its unregistered cryptocurrency platform to spur illicit use."

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Deals Rumor Mill

Oracle Scraps $7B China Chip Deal Under Pressure, And More

By Al Barbarino

Oracle has called off a $7 billion microchip leasing deal with China's Tencent, a tungsten mining company affiliated with President Donald Trump's sons is planning to go public at a $2 billion valuation, and Clayton Dubilier & Rice is exploring the purchase of the $40 billion payments processor Global Payments. 

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Series

Open-Water Swimming Makes Me A Better Lawyer

Swimming long distances in open waters is not necessarily an escape from my intellectual property practice, but a complementary discipline that similarly rewards sustained attention, intellectual curiosity, resilience and the ability to pursue a distant objective without losing command of the immediate task, says Christina MacDougall at Morgan Lewis.

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Controversial DOJ Civil Rights Division Leader Steps Down

By Alison Knezevich

Harmeet K. Dhillon, a U.S. Department of Justice official who instituted dramatic changes as leader of the Civil Rights Division, has stepped down from her role.

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Sullivan & Cromwell Brings On Weil Capital Markets Leader

By Isaac Monterose

Sullivan & Cromwell LLP has hired the co-leader of Weil Gotshal & Manges LLP's capital markets team for a capital markets partner role in its New York City office, the firm announced Thursday.

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Judge Albright's Do's And Don'ts For Patent Trials

By Dani Kass

Two months after former ​U.S. District Judge Alan Albright returned to private practice, he regaled a room of attorneys at the University of Texas School of Law on Thursday with lessons from his time on the bench.

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Trump's Hush Money Conviction Examined By Wary NY Panel

By Frank G. Runyeon

A New York State appellate court Thursday quizzed attorneys for President Donald Trump and state prosecutors over his hush-money conviction, exploring defense counsel's claims that the district attorney trespassed into federal jurisdiction by charging election violations and trampled on presidential immunity in a case "infected with multiple fatal errors."

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