In the following guest post, Sarah Abrams, Head of Claims Baleen Specialty, a division of Bowhead Specialty, takes a look at the D&O risks that can arise from crypto-adjacent firms’ use “liquidity pools,” in view of the D&O claims involving the bankrupt digital token firm, SafeMoon. My thanks to Sarah for allowing me to publish her article as a guest post on this site. Here is Sarah’s article.Continue Reading Guest Post: Liquidity Pool Fraud and D&O Risk
It is no secret that the SEC under the Trump Administration is taking a very different approach to cryptocurrency than the agency did under the Biden Administration. Indeed, a detailed December 2025 New York Times article (here) made it clear – if there were any doubt — that the administration’s more restrained approach to crypto starts at the very top. But what does the more restrained crypto approach mean in practical terms? A January 22, 2026, report from Cornerstone Research, which can be found here, spells out in detail what it means, both in terms of reduced numbers of crypto-related enforcement actions and in diminished crypto-related recoveries.Continue Reading SEC: Less Crypto Enforcement, Lower Crypto Recoveries
A recent series of U.S. Department of Justice actions highlights the agency’s focus on combatting so-called “pig-butchering” — a type of online financial scam where fraudsters build a long-term relationship with a victim to gain trust and then convince the victim to invest in fake cryptocurrency or trading schemes. In the following guest post, Sarah Abrams, Head of Claims Baleen Specialty, a division of Bowhead Specialty, takes a look at how developments in the crypto world coinciding with the DOJ’s crackdown may be creating increased D&O risk arising from pig-butchering schemes. I would like to thank Sarah for allowing me to publish her article on this site. Here is Sarah’s article.Continue Reading Guest Post: Another Emerging Cryptocurrency Risk for D&O Underwriters?
The rise of crypto currencies in recent years may be one of the more noteworthy financial developments of our time. Now, A growing number of companies are raising funds in the capital markets for the express purpose of accumulating cryptocurrencies as treasury assets. In the following guest post, Suresh Ellawala, Client Relationship Director at Price Forbes, takes a look at the recent rise of crypto treasury companies and considers the implications, including the risks potentially involved for directors and their insurers. I would like to thank Suresh for allowing me to publish his article as a guest post on this site. I welcome guest post submissions from responsible authors on topics of interest to this site’s readers. Please contact me directly if you would like to submit a guest post. Here is Suresh’s article. Continue Reading Guest Post: Crypto Treasury Companies – Been There, Done That?
We live in a time when cryptocurrency has friends in high places. In the following guest post, Sarah Abrams, Head of Claims Baleen Specialty, a division of Bowhead Specialty, considers the current environment for cryptocurrencies and examines the potential D&O liability and insurance implications. I would like to thank Sarah for allowing me to publish her article as a guest post on this site. I welcome guest post submissions from responsible authors on topics of interest to this site’s readers. Please contact me directly if you would like to submit a guest post. Here is Sarah’s article.Continue Reading Guest Post: Is There Stability in Stablecoin? Asking for a D&O Underwriter
Paul Atkins, President Donald Trump’s nominee to serve as SEC Chair, has not even yet assumed his new office – his nomination apparently is scheduled to go before the relevant Senate committee on March 27 – but big changes are already underway at the agency under Mark Uyeda, the agency’s acting Chair. Indeed, based on the changes so far, a group of five leading academics including Columbia Law Professor John Coffee Jr. and calling themselves the “Shadow SEC” has already raised the alarm, warning in a March 13, 2025 post on the CLS Blue Sky Blog that as a result of current and proposed staffing and budget cuts, the agency is well on the way to becoming a “shell of its former self,” as it “becomes an agency with little power, capacity, or independent judgment.”Continue Reading Big Changes are Already Underway at the SEC
It was no secret that the crypto enforcement approach was going to change under the Trump administration. Indeed, one of Trump’s first acts upon returning to the White House in January was to sign an executive order calculated to try to make the U.S. the “crypto capital of the world.” The SEC has likewise made it clear that under the new administration the agency will also be taking a new approach to crypto. The acting SEC leadership has already made a number of crypto-friendly moves – among other things, the new leadership disbanded the agency’s Crypto Enforcement Task Force. The SEC has also dismissed pending cases against Binance (here) and Coinbase (here). As discussed below, the agency recently has taken even further crypto friendly actions – all of which has at least one observer to ask whether the SEC crypto pull back has gone too far?Continue Reading Sounding the Alarm on the SEC’s New Crypto Approach
It was already understood that the SEC under the new Trump administration would be taking a different approach to cryptocurrency enforcement, but the announcement on January 21, 2025 that the agency under Acting Chair Mark Uyeda was forming a cryptocurrency task force “dedicated to developing a comprehensive and clear regulatory framework for crypto assets” certainly underscores the fact that the SEC will treating crypto differently than was the case during the Biden administration. But while we look ahead to what may be in store for crypto under the new administration, it is also worth looking back at what the agency’s approach to crypto enforcement has been up to this point. A new Cornerstone Research report entitled “SEC Cryptocurrency Enforcement: 2024 Update” (here) provides a comprehensive overview of the agency’s crypto enforcement so far.Continue Reading Cornerstone Research: Crypto Enforcement at the SEC
Among important recent developments in digital currency is the increasing governmental move toward Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC) and other forms of digital currency. In the following guest post, Burkhard Fassbach takes a detailed look at the rapidly evolving world of CBDCs and what their advent may mean for the D&O insurance industry. Burkhard is a D&O lawyer in private practice in Germany I would like to thank Burkhard for allowing me to publish his article as a guest post on this site. I welcome guest post submissions from responsible authors on topics of interest to this blog’s readers. Please contact me directly if you would like to submit a guest post. Here is Burkhard’s article.Continue Reading Guest Post: What D&O Professionals Need to Know About CBDCs and Stablecoins
As the authors put it in the title of their recent guest post on this site, crypto is the new frontier of securities litigation. The title is reference to a statement by Stanford Law Professor Joseph Grundfest, made in conjunction with Cornerstone Research’s release of its annual survey of securities class action lawsuit filings. The Cornerstone Research report showed that crypto-related securities lawsuit filings surged in 2022. In a March 27, 2023, memo from the Dechert law firm, entitled “Cryptocurrency Securities Class Action Litigation 2022 Year Review,” (here), the law firm memo’s authors take a detailed look at the 2022 crypto-related securities suit filings, including a review of the defendants and the allegations involved.Continue Reading A Detailed Look at the 2022 Crypto-Related Securities Suit Filings