Jean Smith-Gonnell, a leader of Troutman Pepper Locke’s Cannabis Industry practice, was quoted in the May 21, 2025 MJBizDaily article, “Can Cryptocurrencies Solve Cannabis Business Banking Challenges?“
Crypto Investment Firm Agrees to Pay New York AG $200M to Resolve Market Manipulation Allegations Regarding Sale of Failed Token
On March 24, cryptocurrency investment firm Galaxy Digital Holdings (Galaxy) entered into an assurance of discontinuance (AOD) with New York Attorney General (AG) Letitia James to resolve allegations that Galaxy engaged in misrepresentations when it promoted the failed algorithmic cryptocurrency Luna from 2020 to 2022.
State AGs Allege Bitcoin ATMs Increasingly Facilitate Scams
Recent actions by the Pennsylvania and Iowa state attorneys general (AG) suggest increasing regulatory scrutiny of bitcoin transaction machines (BTMs) in connection with the role they allegedly play in facilitating scams. In Pennsylvania, AG David Sunday issued a consumer alert, warning Pennsylvanians that scammers are using BTMs to gain access to their money. In Iowa, AG Brenna Bird brought two lawsuits against Bitcoin Depot and CoinFlip, Iowa’s two largest BTM operators, over alleged collection of illegal fees and failures that allowed Iowans to send millions of dollars to scammers through their kiosks.
Regulating Digital Assets: Will Congress Finally Enact a Comprehensive Regulatory Framework in 2023?
The promise of digital assets is to decentralize finance. Yet in 2022, investors in decentralized technologies lost billions of dollars as the global market cap of all cryptocurrencies fell by 64.1% to $829 billion.
State AGs Reach $24M Settlement With Cryptocurrency Company Nexo
New York Attorney General Letitia James led a bipartisan multistate coalition to reach a $24 million settlement with cryptocurrency company Nexo for allegedly offering and selling unregistered securities and commodities. As noted in AG James’s press release, each of the 53 U.S. jurisdictional North American Securities Administration Association (NASAA) members will be eligible to claim a settlement of more than $424,000. In a parallel action, Nexo agreed to pay $45 million in penalties to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).
House Introduces Bill for CFTC Spot Market Oversight
On April 28, bipartisan lawmakers in the U.S. House of Representatives introduced legislation, allowing the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) to oversee cryptocurrency spot markets. The legislation intends to create a framework to fill the regulatory gaps between the CFTC and Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) digital asset marketplace and related regimes.