The opinion editorial below was written by Michael Handelsman for Kelman.Law.
This Week in Crypto Law
This week’s developments show courts and regulators addressing crypto through several distinct legal frameworks. A federal court declined to erase a settled CFTC enforcement case despite the agency’s change in policy. The OCC documented banking restrictions affecting digital-asset businesses, while litigation over Illinois’s unusual crypto transaction tax moved toward an expedited decision. In Europe, $USDC became the first e-money token classified as significant under MiCA. A major English asset-recovery proceeding also produced an important choice-of-law ruling concerning 61,000 seized bitcoin.
Federal Court Refuses to Vacate the CFTC’s Gemini Settlement
On October 15, Judge Alvin Hellerstein of the Southern District of New York denied a joint request by the CFTC and Gemini Trust Company to vacate their January 2025 consent order.
The CFTC originally sued Gemini in 2022, alleging that the exchange made false or misleading statements during the agency’s review of a proposed bitcoin futures contract. Gemini later agreed to pay a $5 million civil penalty and accept a permanent injunction. Earlier this year, however, the CFTC joined Gemini in seeking relief from the judgment after concluding that the case would not have been filed under the agency’s current enforcement standards.
