Expert Analysis

• What The CFTC's Event Contracts Amicus Brief Is Missing

  

  The U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission's recent amicus brief in the Ninth Circuit's North American Derivatives Exchange v. Nevada case declines to define the boundary between swaps and wagers, leaving market participants, exchanges and intermediaries operating within a regulatory framework whose boundaries remain undrawn, says Tamara de Silva at De Silva Law Offices.

• Series

  Podcasting Makes Me A Better Lawyer

  

  Podcasting has changed how I ask questions and connect with people, sharpening my ability to listen without interrupting or prejudging, and bringing me closer to what law is meant to be: a human profession grounded in understanding, judgment and trust, says Donna DiMaggio Berger at Becker.

• Del. Coinbase Outcome May Have Been Different In Texas

  

  The Delaware Court of Chancery's recent decision in Grabski v. Andreessen, finding that a member of the Coinbase special litigation committee was not independent, provides guidance for Delaware boards regarding the formation, composition and operation of SLCs, while offering a counterpoint to the procedures available to Texas-incorporated companies, says John Lawrence at Baker Botts.

• Why The NCUA's Stablecoin Moment Matters

  

  The National Credit Union Administration, a historically conservative federal agency, recently proposed a detailed stablecoin licensing framework, confirming that the proposition of building a regulatory architecture within the banking industry has moved well past "whether" and firmly into "how," says Stephen Aschettino at Fox Rothschild.

• Ill. Swipe Fee Ruling Sets Stage For A High-Stakes Appeal

  

  In Illinois Bankers Association v. Raoul, an Illinois federal court upheld the state's ban on credit and debit card swipe fees on tax and tip payments, while permanently enjoining the statute's data usage limitation, but an imminent appeal could significantly influence the trajectory of state-level payments regulation, say attorneys at Latham.

• Complaint Portal Updates Prove That The CFPB Is Listening

  

  The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's recent updates to its online complaint portal not only clarify complaint pathways and strengthen identity verification, but also signal that the bureau is more willing to consider industry perspectives on its activities and change course where warranted, say attorneys at Manatt.

• How Banks Can Apply FinCEN Beneficial Ownership Relief

  

  A recent Financial Crimes Enforcement Unit order limiting the circumstances under which banks should identify and verify beneficial owners may allow banks to tailor their approach to verification compliance, but only after reviewing customer due diligence policies and evaluating alignment with their risk profiles, say attorneys at Cleary.

• How CFTC Prediction Market Agenda Shifts The Playing Field

  

  Commodity Futures Trading Commission Chairman Michael Selig recently signaled that a more welcoming regulatory landscape for prediction markets like Kalshi and Polymarket is coming soon, but we can expect a hotly contested regulatory and legal environment with important implications for the platforms, state regulators and market participants, say attorneys at Sidley.

• Opinion

  3 Reasons We Need Digital Asset Market Structure Legislation

  

  As bills to regulate the cryptocurrency industry risk stalling in Congress, policymakers and market participants must remember why a durable statutory framework, not governance by agency action, is key to unlocking the full potential of the U.S. digital asset ecosystem, say attorneys at Davis Polk.

• Series

  Volunteering With Scouts Makes Me A Better Lawyer

  

  Serving as an assistant scoutmaster for my son’s troop reaffirmed several skills and principles crucial to lawyering — from the importance of disconnecting to the value of morality, says Michael Warren at McManis Faulkner.

• Series

  Law School's Missed Lessons: In Court, It's About Storytelling

  

  Law school provides doctrine, cases and hypotheticals, but when lawyers step into the courtroom, they must learn the importance of clarity, credibility, memorability and preparation — in other words, how to tell simple, effective stories, say Nicholas Steverson and Danielle Trujillo at Wheeler Trigg, and Lisa DeCaro at Courtroom Performance.

• How Leveraged Lending Pivot May Alter Bank Risk Oversight

  

  The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. and Office of the Comptroller of the Currency's recent withdrawal of leveraged lending guidance introduces several principles that may allow banks to better apply enterprisewide risk management programs and potentially create additional competition in the private credit loan market, say attorneys at Mayer Brown.

• What Kalshi Cases Reveal About State Authority, Regulation

  

  Prediction markets like Kalshi have ignited complex legal battles that get to the heart of how novel financial products intersect with traditional state enforcement authority, and courts are already beginning to divide over whether federal law preempts state enforcement authority restricting these offerings, say attorneys at Holtzman Vogel.

• Aligning Microsoft Tools With NYC Bar AI Recording Guidance

  

  The New York City Bar Association’s recently issued formal opinion, providing ethical guidance on artificial intelligence-assisted recording, transcription and summarization, raises immediate questions about data governance and e-discovery for companies that use Microsoft 365 and Copilot, say Staci Kaliner, Martin Tully and John Collins at Redgrave.

• 5 Different AI Systems Raise Distinct Privilege Issues

  

  A New York federal court’s recent U.S. v. Heppner decision, holding that a defendant’s use of Claude was not privileged, only addressed one narrow artificial intelligence system, but lawyers must recognize that the spectrum of AI tools raises different confidentiality and privilege questions, says Heidi Nadel at HP.