gulovsen

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New Rules for Crypto Influencers

Last month (July 2023), the UK Financial Conduct Authority (“FCA”) published its Guidance Consultation relating to Financial promotions on social media (“GC23/2”), which includes requirements that apply to all individuals and entities who promote financial products using “communications capable of having an effect in the UK.” In particular, GC23/2 addresses cryptocurrency-related social media…

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Attorney Grant Gulovsen Quoted in CoinDesk on SEC v. Ripple Labs, Inc.

Attorney Grant Gulovsen of Gulovsen Law Office was quoted in CoinDesk on the release of the “Hinman Emails” as part of the ongoing SEC v. Ripple Labs, Inc. litigation. The emails in question are communications involving William Hinman, former Director of the U.S. Securities & Exchange Commission’s Division of Corporation Finance, which were made leading up to a speech he gave in June of 2018 when…

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Indictment in U.S. v Kane, et al.

Here is a link to the indictment in U.S. v. Kane, et al. which was unsealed on April 24, 2023. Contact Gulovsen Law Office If you would like to schedule an appointment to speak with an attorney, please send an email to grant@gulovsen.io or (if you prefer a more secure method) gulovsen@protonmail.com.

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Crypto Law Update: The LBRY Decision

Crypto Law Update: The LBRY Decision

Bad News for Crypto Projects in the U.S. On November 7, 2022, United States District Judge Paul J. Barbadoro issued a memorandum and order in District of New Hampshire Case No. 21-cv-260-PB titled “Securities and Exchange Commission v. LBRY, Inc.” As I’ve already said before, a decision in this case would have wide-ranging implications for projects in the cryptocurrency sector, and given how the…

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How NOT to Promote Your NFT or Metaverse Project: Part 3

In the wake of the SEC's settlement with Kim Kardashian, it's more important than ever to ensure that Web3, NFT & Metaverse project founders - as well as influencers hired to help promote those projects - make all legally-required disclosures. Here’s why…

Make Proper Disclosures In the wake of the SEC’s settlement with Kim Kardashian, it’s more important than ever to ensure that Web3, NFT & Metaverse project founders – as well as influencers hired to help promote those projects – make all legally-required disclosures. Here’s why… On October 3, 2022, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) announced charges against Kim Kardashian for…

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Attorney Grant Gulovsen Quoted in CoinDesk and Protos Media on CFTC v. OOKI DAO

Attorney Grant Gulovsen Quoted in CoinDesk and Protos Media on CFTC v. OOKI DAO

Attorney Grant Gulovsen of Gulovsen Law Office was quoted in two articles this week, providing his opinions about the impact of the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission’s September 22, 2022, complaint and order against OOKI DAO, Not only can DAOs be sued by state and federal regulators, but – at least according to the CFTC – holders of governance tokens who participate in DAO governance can…

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How NOT to Promote Your NFT or Metaverse Project: Part 2

Being able to programmatically collect royalties is one of the unique selling points of NFTs. But if you redistribute those royalties via a pooled or similar arrangement to other NFT or token holders you might be violating U.S. securities law. Here's why…

Don’t Offer Unregistered Securities Being able to programmatically collect royalties is one of the unique selling points of NFTs. But if you redistribute those royalties via a pooled or similar arrangement to other NFT or token holders you might be violating U.S. securities law. Here’s why… In Part 1 of How NOT to Promote Your NFT or Metaverse Project, I talked about how using “enter for a…

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How NOT to Promote Your NFT or Metaverse Project: Part 1

In order to encourage collectors to mint in-game NFTs, several Metaverse projects I've seen offer a chance to win prizes ranging from cryptocurrency to new cars. Unfortunately, projects offering these incentives are probably breaking the law. Here's why…

Avoid Making Your Project an Illegal Lottery In an effort to encourage collectors to mint in-game NFTs, several Metaverse projects I’ve seen offer a chance to win prizes ranging from cryptocurrency to new cars. Unfortunately, projects offering these incentives are probably breaking the law. Here’s why… In the vast majority of U.S. states, a “lottery” is typically defined as “any scheme or…

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How NOT to Promote Your Cryptocurrency Project or Token

I am often asked by clients about what they can & cannot say when talking about their crypto projects, so I decided to publish a list of statements made by token issuers used as evidence by the SEC in finding securities law violations.

As an attorney who has been advising crypto-focused startups since 2017, I am frequently asked by my clients about what they can and cannot say when talking about their projects publicly. I therefore decided to compile a list of examples relied upon by the U.S. Securities & Exchange Commission (“SEC“) in its various “Cyber Enforcement Actions” to conclude that the offer and sale of the tokens…

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Attorney Grant Gulovsen Quoted in CoinDesk on SEC v. LBRY

Grant Gulovsen believes “a judicial opinion in the LBRY case will have much more impact for people looking for clarity than the Ripple case. There are … many [more crypto] projects that did similar things to what LBRY did compared to what Ripple did.”

On March 11, 2022, Attorney Grant Gulovsen of Gulovsen Law Office was quoted in a CoinDesk article entitled This Tiny Blockchain Startup’s Tangle With SEC Could End Up as Landmark Case. Although the Ripple case is getting a lot more attention, Grant Gulovsen believes “a judicial opinion in the LBRY case will have much more impact for people looking for clarity than the Ripple case. There are ……

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Crypto Lawyer Grant Gulovsen Discusses Crypto Regulation in The Business of Business

Attorney Gulovsen provides some background on how he got involved in the crypto space, discusses the most common questions he receives as a lawyer representing crypto entrepreneurs, and shares his thoughts about the current state of crypto regulation.

On February 16, 2022, Attorney Grant Gulovsen of Gulovsen Law Office was featured in an article entitled Why BlockFi’s $100 million settlement is good news for crypto — a lawyer for startups explains in The Business of Business. In the article, Attorney Gulovsen provides some background on how he got involved in the crypto space, discusses the most common questions he receives as a lawyer…

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Attorney Grant Gulovsen Discusses “What If Tether Goes Belly Up?” on CoinDesk’s Opinionated Podcast

Listen to Grant sharing his thoughts on Tether’s recent (and long awaited) treasury disclosure, how it looks compared to other stablecoins, rumors about bank fraud allegations, what actually can happen if USDT loses its peg to the U.S. dollar, and more.

Attorney Grant Gulovsen joins CoinDesk’s Ben Schiller, Anna Baydakov and Danny Nelson to share his thoughts on Tether’s recent (and long awaited) treasury disclosure, how it looks compared to other stablecoins, rumors about bank fraud allegations, what actually can happen if USDT loses its peg to the U.S. dollar, and more. Click on the link below to hear the podcast now…

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Attorney Grant Gulovsen Discusses NFTs, SEC v. LBRY & BitClout

Attorney Grant Gulovsen Discusses #NFTs, SEC v. #LBRY & #BitClout

Attorney Grant Gulovsen appeared in several cryptocurrency-related news articles this month, sharing his thoughts on NFTs, the SEC v. LBRY case and BitClout: SEC likely finds MetaKovan’s Beeple-backed crypto very ‘interesting’ — here’s why – Protos (April 1, 2021) The IRS Sets Its Sights on Circle’s Customers – CoinDesk (April 6, 2021) A critic’s guide to BitClout, this cycle’s most hated…

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GOOGLE TO RELEASE ITS “GOOGLE DOODLES” AS NON-FUNGIBLE TOKENS (NFTs)

GOOGLE TO RELEASE ITS “GOOGLE DOODLES” AS NON-FUNGIBLE TOKENS (NFTs)

Google CEO Sundar Pichai announced today the company’s plans to launch a series of NFTs based on its popular “Google Doodles.” Except any of the April Fools ones. Because that would just be silly. 😊

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Attorney Grant Gulovsen in CoinDesk on The Securities Clarity Act

Crypto News from Gulovsen Law Office: Attorney Grant Gulovsen explains why he believes the Securities Clarity Act deserves support from the crypto community at large in his latest article on CoinDesk.

On September 24, 2020, U.S. Rep. Tom Emmer (R-Minn.) introduced a bill called the Securities Clarity Act which is designed “to provide a path to regulatory certainty for digital assets and other emerging technologies under securities law.” In a CoinDesk article entitled The Securities Clarity Act Is Simple and Logical (and Bad News for Lawyers Like Me), Attorney Grant Gulovsen of Gulovsen Law…

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The Corruption of DeFi in 2020

The Corruption of DeFi in 2020

On September 24, 2020, an anonymous author using the handle “crypto_angel” posted an article on Medium entitled “The corruption of defi in 2020” which describes how the current iteration of decentralized finance (a.k.a. “DeFi”) has become corrupted by insiders and crypto influencers who protect those insiders in exchange for information that they can use to enrich themselves at the expense of the…

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Attorney Grant Gulovsen in CoinDesk on Crypto Regulatory Landscape: “Attorneys make lousy fortune tellers.” Attorney Grant Gulovsen offered commentary in Coindesk about the impact that lack of regulatory clarity about Ethereum 2.0 and masternodes is having on the crypto industry.