Cod3x Updates: August 15, 2023

Weekly updates to the Cod3x, an open source crypto law treatise.

This newsletter provides weekly updates on the Cod3x progress, and longer form conceptual pieces on crypto law and art. The Cod3x is a free, open source (CC BY 4.0) legal treatise about crypto law. It is still under development, with lots to add! Are you a lawyer or law student and would like to help? Read more about how you can contribute at the bottom or right here.

Litigation Tracker

The Cod3x’s Litigation Tracker provides a comprehensive listing of enforcement actions brought by the government against crypto firms, as well as challenges to government action by crypto firms. It is updated on a rolling basis and includes links, where available, to court dockets through Court Listener and press releases about the cases, and for significant matters, links to major rulings.

Organizational Changes

• Created new sub-page for Case Summaries to make the list easier to access if desired but less bulky for navigation.

Case Additions and Updates

• Settlement press release (2023.08.10) added in SEC v. Bittrex, Inc., No. 2:23-cv-00580 (W.D. Wash. 2023.04.17).

  • Short summary: $24 million in fines and penalties and injunction against further violations of securities laws.

• In re Coinbase, Inc., No. 23-1779 (3d Cir. 2023.04.26)

  • Short summary: Coinbase petition for writ of mandamus seeking to require SEC to respond to its petition for rulemaking.

See something missing from the Litigation Tracker? Respond to this email to let me know.

Section Updates

The Cod3x’s sections currently cover Federal and State regulatory law, including the actions of major agencies, proposed rules, and statements of heads of those agencies.

There are no specific updates this week, but I’m working a lot on the backend to buildout specific subject matter section outlines, with the hope that they will be easy to further flesh out over time. The current roster of subjects will include:

• Crypto & DLT Business Basics (an intro with a lawyer’s focus on how the tech works at a very high level, including a short glossary)

• Mining & Staking

• Wallets

• Smart Contracts

• Stablecoins

• Central Bank Digital Currencies (CBDCs)

• DeFi

• Capital Markets & Fundraising

• Mergers & Acquisitions

• NFTs

• DAOs

• Exchanges

• Lending

• Insolvency

• Tax

The goal with each of these sections will be to weave together elements from the Federal and State regulatory sections and Litigation Tracker to provide targeted overviews that will be more helpful from a day-to-day practitioner’s perspective. We will accelerate crypto law practice by providing overviews of each of these subjects, which can be updated quickly as the law changes — as it is constantly doing on a daily and sometimes hourly basis! 🫠

What do you think of this list? What is missing? Is there a particular order for the sections (or completing them) you would like to see? Reply directly to this email to let me know.

Contribute

The Cod3x is a free, open source, CC-BY 4.0 resource available to the public. It is made available through the generous contributions of lawyers. You can contribute in three ways:

1. Share the Cod3x, any section you find helpful (the Litigation Tracker is the most popular!) to spread the word.

2. Subscribe to this list. All content is free, but you can pay for a subscription here for any length of time if you feel this work adds value to you.

3. Write content directly. If you would like to contribute to an existing page or add a new one, subscribers can respond directly to this email to learn more or reach out to me on X/Twitter @lawtoshi. Basic details of contributing are available publicly here. We are building the first free, open source legal treatise.

Thank you for reading! 🤙❤️‍🔥🌈