Insights & Resources
Analysis and practical guidance on digital assets, complex litigation, and emerging technology — 78 articles from attorneys who work these matters every day.
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78 articlesCan You Sue a Prediction Market? Trader Remedies When Event Contracts Settle Wrong
Kalshi paid out on whether Brad Pitt attended the World Cup Final. Polymarket paid out on whether Strategy sold bitcoin. Traders cried foul both times, but only one dispute produced a lawsuit. Here is what traders can actually do when a prediction market settles wrong, and why the answer is less than most assume.
AI Training Data Copyright: Fair Use, Licensing, and Infringement Risk
Training AI models on copyrighted works carries real infringement risk, but the case law is now split rather than one-sided. Recent federal rulings have found model training transformative while treating the use of pirated copies as infringing. This guide covers fair use analysis, licensing options, and risk mitigation strategies.
California DFAL License Requirements: Who Needs One in 2026?
California's Digital Financial Assets Law is now live. Who needs a DFPI license, who is exempt, what the pending-application grace covers, and what the final regulations (effective June 29, 2026) changed for bond and net-worth expectations.
How to Get a Crypto Exchange License: State-by-State Requirements
A 2026 guide to licensing a U.S. crypto exchange — the FinCEN MSB baseline, money transmitter licenses in 49 states, New York's BitLicense, California's DFAL, the MTMA standardization trend, and how the GENIUS Act changes the picture for stablecoin issuers. Includes a strategic state-selection framework and partner-bank alternatives.
The Borderless-Internet Defense Just Died in the Ninth Circuit
For twenty years, online operators beat lawsuits by insisting the internet is everywhere and nowhere. Briskin v. Shopify ended that in the Ninth Circuit, Gelasio v. Zafar showed it reaches a foreign NFT operation that took a Californian's money, and in May 2026 the Supreme Court declined an invitation to intervene. Here is what changed, how far it reaches, and the seam that is still open.
Crypto Securities Class Actions: The Defendant's First 120 Days
BitGo Holdings went public on the NYSE on January 22, 2026. By June 8, a securities class action had named the company and eight of its officers and directors. Here is what the PSLRA's first 120 days look like from the defendant's chair.
Crypto Startup Founder's Legal Checklist: Formation to Launch
Complete legal roadmap for crypto founders: entity formation, securities compliance, regulatory requirements, and launch preparation. Real costs, timelines, and actionable checklists.
DAO LLC Formation Guide: Step-by-Step Wyoming DUNA Setup
Form a Wyoming DAO LLC in 4-8 weeks with this step-by-step guide. Covers filing requirements, costs ($15K-$50K legal fees), operating agreement provisions, smart contract integration, and governance structure for liability protection.
Federal AI Regulation Landscape: Where Things Stand in 2026
Where federal AI regulation stands in 2026. Track the live bills (Algorithmic Accountability Act, CREATE AI Act, AI Foundation Model Transparency Act of 2026), the July 2025 America's AI Action Plan and its executive orders, the December 2025 federal-preemption order, California's enacted SB 53, and what it all means for compliance.
Generative AI Copyright: Who Owns AI-Generated Content?
The U.S. Copyright Office requires human authorship for copyright protection—but who owns AI-generated content? This guide examines current law, platform Terms of Service, infringement risks, and strategies to protect AI-assisted creative work.
How to Recover Stolen Cryptocurrency: A California Legal Guide
Stolen crypto is recoverable where it touches the regulated financial system, and only while it sits there. A California litigator's honest guide to freezes, treble damages under Penal Code section 496, constructive trusts, the FBI lane, and the recovery scams that target victims twice.
State-by-State Crypto Licensing Map: 2026 Requirements Guide
A 2026 state-by-state crypto money-transmitter licensing reference covering all fifty states and DC, New York's BitLicense, California's DFAL, the MTMA standardization trend, and how the GENIUS Act changes the picture for payment-stablecoin issuers. Includes a strategic state-selection framework. Verify current figures with each regulator.
Sued by Your Business Partner in California? A Defendant's Guide to Freeze-Out and Fiduciary-Duty Claims
Most guides to partner disputes are written for the plaintiff. This one is for the founder or majority owner who just got served: what the claims actually mean, the first fourteen days, the defenses that work, and the buyout that can end the case.
How to Sue an Offshore, Foreign, or Anonymous Defendant in California
Foreign incorporation and offshore residence no longer put an internet operator beyond California's reach. A step-by-step guide to jurisdiction, service, and anonymous defendants, from the attorney who argued Gelasio v. Zafar in the Ninth Circuit.
Your Protocol Just Got Hacked: The First 72 Hours — A Legal Playbook for Crypto Incident Response
In the first 72 hours after a crypto hack, the legal decisions — the bounty tweet, the freeze request, the forensics engagement, the public statement — determine whether the protocol ends the incident as a victim with live recovery options or as an OFAC violator and civil defendant. A playbook for founders and GCs.
The EU AI Act Deadline That Did Not Move: What US AI Companies Owe by August 2, 2026
The Digital Omnibus taught the market that the EU AI Act got delayed. That lesson is half wrong in the most expensive direction: Article 50 transparency and Commission enforcement over GPAI models still switch on August 2, 2026 — and the deferrals everyone is relying on are not yet law.
When Does the GENIUS Act Actually Take Effect? The 120-Day Trigger and the January 18, 2027 Backstop
Federal regulators arrive at the GENIUS Act's July 18, 2026 rulemaking deadline with eleven proposed rules and zero final ones. That does not delay compliance — it fixes the effective date at January 18, 2027 while compressing the build window issuers have left.
Know Your Agent (KYA): The Legal Compliance Standard for AI Agents That Move Money
AI agents can now initiate real payments, and every technical standard — Visa, Mastercard, Google, NIST — builds cryptographic identity without answering the only question the law cares about: which legal person answers for the transaction. Know Your Agent (KYA) is the compliance standard that answers it.
SEC Innovation Exemption and Token Safe Harbor: A Founder's Guide to 'Regulation Crypto' (Updated July 2026)
As of July 18, 2026, the SEC's token safe harbor is still a speech plus an agenda item — the April NPRM target passed without publication. What founders can actually use now: the operative March 2026 taxonomy, the named 16-token digital-commodities list, and the live exemption stack.
Who Qualifies for the SEC's Token Startup Exemption and Safe Harbor?
Eligibility for the SEC's proposed token exemptions is a three-gate analysis: classification, pathway, and exit. Run the gates in order and most founders' answer changes from 'wait for the rule' to something they can act on today.
Ethereum Staking Regulation in 2026: What Institutions Can Rely On, and What Only Congress Can Settle
Ethereum staking went from enforcement target to regulated-product feature in three years. But everything institutions now build on is rescindable guidance — and that durability gap is what the CLARITY Act is actually for.
Who Is Liable When an AI Agent Loses Your Money?
AI agents now trade, pay, and move money on their own, and some of them have already lost it. No AI-liability statute governs the loss. Existing law does, and it keeps asking one question the industry cannot dodge: who controlled the agent?
Can an AI Agent Legally Enter Into a Contract?
The law answered whether a machine can make a contract back in 1999. Federal and state electronic-transaction statutes call the software an 'electronic agent' and say a contract it forms is not void just because no human reviewed it. The contract is attributed to the person who deployed the agent — who is bound by what it does, mistakes included. The genuinely open questions are about authority and error, not validity.
Does Your Agentic-Payments Startup Need a Money Transmitter License?
When an AI agent moves money on a user's behalf, the licensing question turns on one thing regulators have asked for decades: do you control the funds? If your platform holds, pools, or controls customer money, you are likely a money transmitter — federally and in most states — no matter how autonomous the agent is.