In this episode of The Crypto Exchange, hosts Ethan Ostroff and Genna Garver look back at 2025 — ultimately a pivotal year for digital assets and crypto regulation in the U.S. — drawing on Troutman Pepper Locke’s flagship publication, Financial Services Industry 2025 Digital Assets Year in Review. The report reflects insights from more than 10 of our firm’s practice areas and more than 30 attorneys, offering a comprehensive, cross-practice view of how the regulatory landscape is evolving.
On October 19, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) dismissed its claims against Ripple Labs, Inc. (Ripple) executives Bradley Garlinghouse and Christian Larsen for allegedly aiding and abetting Ripple’s violations of the Securities Act with respect to its “institutional sales” of XRP. The Southern District of New York had deemed “institutional sales” to be unregistered securities in its July summary judgment decision, however, at that time the court reserved judgment as to the aiding and abetting claims against the executives. The matter was set for trial in 2024.
Mindful of the impending retirement of many millions of investors in the “baby boomer” generation, which hold a substantial amount of the world’s wealth, the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) continues to heavily monitor its member firms supervision of their registered financial advisors who service vulnerable and elderly investor customers. For example, last month FINRA
On April 3, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) announced that it has seized virtual currency worth an estimated $112 million linked to cryptocurrency investment scams. Seizure warrants for six virtual currency accounts were authorized by judges in the District of Arizona, the Central District of California, and the District of Idaho. The virtual currency
Throughout the latter half of 2022, filing for bankruptcy became a reality for many high-profile crypto firms. The resurgence of “crypto winter” has brought many crypto-related entities to their proverbial knees. Indeed, in November 2021, the total cryptocurrency market capitalization reached an all-time high of approximately $3 trillion. That figure has decreased substantially, and today