In Westlaw Today, Litigation Attorneys Examine Federal Court Decision Analyzing Whether Cryptocurrency Constitutes a Security

In a Westlaw Today article, litigation & enforcement partner Amy Jane Longo and litigation & enforcement counsel Mark Cianci of Ropes & Gray LLP discussed a Connecticut federal court's rejection of a jury verdict concluding that a cryptocurrency was not a security under state and federal securities law. 

The attorneys explain that as the market for cryptocurrencies continues to expand in accessibility — particularly during periods marked by price volatility and market uncertainty — legislators, agencies, and courts will continue to grapple with how to classify and regulate these digital assets. 

They note that while the ultimate fate of the cryptocurrency at issue in Audet v. Fraser will remain unsettled pending re-trial, the court's ruling emphasizes the likely continued proliferation of a fact-intensive, product-specific approach to the question of cryptocurrency classification under the securities law framework.