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A federal court’s dismissal of claims against a decentralized cryptocurrency platform and its investors for the actions of scam token issuers is a case of first impression with wider significance.

By Jenny Cieplak, Benjamin A. Naftalis, Stephen P. Wink, Douglas K. Yatter, Gregory Mortenson, and Deric Behar

On August 29, 2023, the US District Court for the Southern District of New York dismissed a proposed class action lawsuit against Uniswap Labs and its CEO, foundation, and three venture capital backers[1] (the Defendants) brought by plaintiffs who sought damages from alleged exposure to scam tokens that originated with anonymous third-party token issuers on the company’s decentralized cryptocurrency trading protocol.

Whereas the original proposal did not directly discuss digital assets, the reopening release is mainly focused on digital asset platforms.

By Stephen P. Wink, Marlon Q. Paz, Naim Culhaci, and Deric Behar

On April 14, 2023, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) issued a release amending portions of its earlier proposal to reinterpret the definition of an “exchange” and reopening the comment period for the proposed amendments (the Reopening Release.)

The SEC had issued a set of proposed amendments (the Original Proposal) on January 26, 2022, regarding the regulation of alternative trading systems (ATSs). The Original Proposal would amend Rule 3b-16 (Rule 3b-16) under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (the Exchange Act) to more expansively interpret certain terms used in the statutory definition of an “exchange” under Section 3(a)(1) of the Exchange Act. This reinterpretation would, among other things, cause the “exchange” definition to capture “Communication Protocol Systems”, which are not captured under the present version of Rule 3b-16. (See this Latham post for more information.)

The proposal would require certain systems and platforms currently not subject to any registration requirements to register as broker-dealers and ATSs.

By Stephen P. Wink, Marlon Q. Paz, Naim Culhaci, and Deric Behar

On January 26, 2022, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) issued a set of proposed amendments (Proposal) regarding the regulation of alternative trading systems (ATSs) that would, among other things, substantially expand the definition of an “exchange” as interpreted by Rule 3b-16 under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (the Exchange Act) to capture “Communication Protocol Systems.” Specifically, Rule 3b-16’s interpretation of the “exchange” definition would be broadened in several meaningful aspects, including by removing the current requirement that a platform needs to bring together “firm orders” to be deemed an “exchange.”

The SEC issues second no-action letter for a digital token, but will “utility” token offerings reach the next level?

By Stephen P. Wink, Cameron R. Kates, Shaun Musuka, and Deric Behar

Gamers, rejoice! In only its second no-action letter to date for digital tokens, the SEC cleared the way for Pocketful of Quarters, Inc. (PoQ) to issue “Quarters,” one of two digital tokens issued by PoQ on the Ethereum blockchain.[i] PoQ, which was co-founded by a 12-year-old entrepreneur and his father, sought guidance from the SEC as to whether its offering of the stablecoin would require registration under Section 5 of the Securities Act and Section 12(g) of the Exchange Act. PoQ explained that Quarters are intended to be a “universal gaming token” that buyers can use across games deployed on PoQ’s platform. The benefit to gamers, PoQ asserts, is more efficient usage of value across participating online games rather than “siloed video game economies [that] result in large unspent balances of in-game currencies.”