The homestead exemption is a provision in law designed to protect an individual’s principal residence from creditors following the declaration of bankruptcy or the homeowner’s death. The amount of equity the exemption can cover depends on several factors, including whether the homeowner is current on their mortgage, the type of homestead exemption available to them, and the amount of equity …
Is Bitcoin Mining Legal?
The digital asset industry in the United States has grown into a trillion-dollar market. Legislators have now realized that crypto isn’t going anywhere any time soon, and some form of regulatory oversight is required to protect investors from unscrupulous practices. In March 2022, President Biden issued an executive order. He directed relevant federal agencies to consolidate their efforts and come …
Cryptocurrency and Taxes – What You Need to Know
2021 was a great year for cryptocurrency. It saw many first-time investors buying in, most of whom began investing in the last nine months or so. The market recorded several all-time highs and lows throughout the year, resulting in massive profits and losses in equal measure for many investors. If you’re part of this new crop of investors who got …
Can I Sue Coinbase for Inadequate Protection?
In November 2021, Coinbase, one of the world’s most popular digital currency exchanges, was slapped with a class action suit filed in the California Northern District Court. The plaintiff, Adam Alfia, alleged that Coinbase failed to protect customer accounts against data breaches and took unreasonable steps such as freezing customer accounts for extended durations to mitigate the cyberattacks. Adam Alfia …
What to Do if You Are a Victim of a Crypto Scam or Fraud
It’s no secret that cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin, Ethereum, and several others are a highly sought-after commodity in the digital world of online trading. Many smart investors have made massive profits, with many others becoming millionaires overnight. Unfortunately, there is a dark side to it all that people hardly ever talk about – Crypto fraud. That’s right. The prospect of overnight …
Legal Challenges With Starting a Crypto Business
Whether you’re looking to create a new blockchain technology or invest in it, starting a crypto business can be both lucrative and exciting. Like any new technology, navigating the murky regulatory and legal waters is a major concern for anyone looking to dive into the world of digital currencies and assets. This article takes an in-depth look at the three …
Does the SEC Regulate Cryptocurrency?
As cryptocurrency continues to transform from an investment that was seen as purely speculative to becoming a common feature in balanced portfolios, governments worldwide are still divided on the best approach to regulating this emerging asset class. The US is yet to develop a clear regulatory framework designed to protect crypto investors and keep these digital assets in check. The …
How Cryptocurrency Scams Work
The findings of a 2022 crime report compiled by Chainalysis indicate that investors lost more than $14 billion worth of cryptocurrency in 2021. That’s almost double the amount that scammers stole in the year before. No one ever believes they can fall for a scam—until they do. Fraudsters often aim to gain victims’ personal information by working various angles ranging …
Crypto Law – The Challenging New Legal Frontier
Crypto tokens are considered tradable assets. A single token can act as a unit that denominates a particular cryptocurrency. It can also represent other valuable items. With that in mind, the question then becomes whether these crypto-assets fall in the realm of securities. If so, would they be subject to the same laws and regulations that govern securities? If not, …
A Legal Overview: What Is Cryptocurrency?
With the launch of Bitcoin in 2009, cryptocurrency crossed over from being nothing more than an academic idea to becoming a (virtual) reality. Since then, there has been an explosion in the number of different cryptocurrencies on the market and, with it, an ever-growing need for certainty over their legal implications. Central banks, tax agencies, and regulatory authorities in the …