SDNY and SEC bring first cryptocurrency insider trading case
In the midst of the "crypto winter," cryptocurrency enforcement activity is heating up. On July 21, 2022 the US Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York (SDNY) and Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) brought the first insider trading case involving cryptocurrency against a former cryptocurrency exchange employee and his brother and friend, following last month's first ever indictment for insider trading involving non-fungible tokens. In a prior New York Law Journal article, we discussed the mounting prevalence of frauds and other crimes utilizing cryptocurrency, how these crimes often resemble conventional crimes with which the public is all too familiar, and enforcement agencies' response: funneling resources to the cryptocurrency space to address such crimes. These insider trading charges are the latest example of traditional crimes being committed through cryptocurrencies and, given the continued direction of enforcement efforts towards the cryptocurrency space, they are unlikely to be the last.