The New York Law Journal reported on January 7, 2025 that in a rare move, U.S. District Judge Katherine Polk Failla of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York granted Coinbase’s request for authority to pursue an interlocutory appeal to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit on whether cryptocurrency transactions can be classified as investment contracts under federal securities laws.
Alan Rosenberg, a partner with Markowitz Ringel Trusty + Hartog in Miami whose specialty includes crypto litigation, commented in the story that of particular interest in the ruling and the underlying litigation is the Court’s emphasis on analyzing a crypto asset’s “ecosystem” to contrast these assets with commodities and applying that analysis to the Howey test. https://www.law.com/newyorklawjournal/2025/01/07/issue-of-first-impression-new-york-judge-clears-coinbase-appeal-amid-crypto-regulatory-clash/