ChainCatcher news, according to Cointelegraph, the American Web3 gaming company Ready Games has won a legal battle against its Gibraltar subsidiary Ready Maker and its CEO Christina Macedo. The Gibraltar Supreme Court has ordered the freezing of approximately 440 million PLAY tokens (about $7 million), which accounts for about half of the circulating supply. Ready Games founder David Bennahum stated that its subsidiary violated the trust agreement by unlawfully claiming ownership of the company and the PLAY tokens.

ChainCatcher news, Fox Business reporter Eleanor Terrett revealed that court documents show U.S. District Court Judge Amy Berman Jackson approved the joint motion to stay the lawsuit between the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and Binance on February 13. The order will pause the case for 60 days and requires both parties to submit a joint status report by April 14, 2025.

ChainCatcher news, according to the Jiangsu High Court's official WeChat account, the Jiangsu High Court has released typical cases involving foreign-related commercial trials, stating that overseas virtual currency investments are not protected by Chinese law. In the relevant case, Singaporean citizen Pan XX and Chinese citizen Tian XX signed a cooperation agreement with a third party to jointly operate the "MFA Blockchain" project. Pan XX transferred 15.74 million yuan to Tian XX for the purchase of MFA virtual currency, but later the virtual account involved in the case was locked, resulting in the total loss of the principal. Pan XX filed a lawsuit in court.The Jiangsu High Court, in its second instance, held that Pan XX is a Singaporean citizen, and the case has foreign-related factors. According to China's law application rules, matters involving China's financial security and social public interests should directly apply the mandatory provisions of Chinese laws and regulations, which prohibit virtual currency investments. In this case, the parties signed a contract to speculate on overseas virtual currencies, violating the mandatory provisions of China's financial regulatory field. Therefore, the investment losses claimed by the parties are not protected by law, and the resulting losses shall be borne by the parties themselves.

ChainCatcher news, according to Fox Business reporter Eleanor Terrett, Binance and the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) have jointly filed a motion with the court to request a 60-day pause in the lawsuit. This is the first cryptocurrency-related lawsuit pause request since Mark Uyeda took over as acting chair.Both parties stated that the SEC's newly formed cryptocurrency working group may have an impact on the case and facilitate a resolution. After the 60-day period, both parties will submit a joint status report to assess whether a further pause is necessary. Terrett expects that other non-fraud cases such as Ripple, Coinbase, and Kraken may take similar actions.

ChainCatcher news, according to CNBC, prominent attorney Tom Goldstein has been detained by the court for allegedly concealing cryptocurrency assets. Prosecutors pointed out that Goldstein did not disclose two cryptocurrency wallets he controls to the pretrial department, which received over $8 million in funds last week and transferred out over $6 million in the past five days.Prosecutors stated that since November 2022, one of the wallets had received and sent amounts of $75.6 million and $73.6 million, respectively. Goldstein was previously charged with tax evasion of $5.3 million in January this year, and prosecutors believe he poses a flight risk and has violated regulations prohibiting the transfer of funds without approval. Additionally, he is also suspected of providing cryptocurrency to an informant to influence witnesses.

ChainCatcher news, the People's Court of Tongzhou District, Nantong City, Jiangsu Province, heard a case regarding the conversion of virtual currency investment funds into a loan, rejecting the repayment lawsuit request from the plaintiff Han. Han and Ji were friends, and Ji suggested Han invest in Tether, claiming it could yield high returns. Han purchased 2,000 Tether through a platform, with Ji managing the investment on his behalf.However, Ji did not fulfill his promise, prompting Han to report to the police and reach an agreement with Ji to convert the virtual currency trading relationship into a loan relationship. Ji issued an IOU promising repayment but failed to repay, leading Han to file a lawsuit.The court held that Tether is not legal tender and lacks the characteristics of legal repayment, making the loan agreement invalid. Even though the parties had converted the virtual currency trading into a loan relationship, the court also found that virtual currency investment activities are not protected by law, and the losses should be borne by Han. Ultimately, the court ruled to dismiss Han's lawsuit request.

ChainCatcher news, according to Bitcoin.com, after spending nine months in a Dutch prison, one of the developers of Tornado Cash, Alexey Pertsev, was temporarily released on Friday, but he still faces a 64-month (5 years and 4 months) sentence. In a recent positive turn of events, the court released Alexey Pertsev and placed him under house arrest and electronic monitoring until his trial date.Pertsev posted on the X platform: "Freedom is priceless, and my house arrest could only be achieved through the efforts of my lawyers, who are paid for by your donations. My struggle is not over, and for the ultimate victory and confidence, I still need everyone's help."Previous news, Tornado Cash developer Alexey Pertsev has been granted conditional release to appeal.

ChainCatcher news, Coinbase has submitted an amicus brief regarding the ongoing bankruptcy case of Prime Trust, urging the court to support legal protections for customer assets held by the trustee. Coinbase's Chief Legal Officer Paul Grewal announced this document, emphasizing that customer assets should not be included in the trustee's bankruptcy proceedings.The company advocates for the enforcement of Section 8 of the Uniform Commercial Code (UCC), which ensures that assets held by the trustee belong to the customers, not to the trustee itself. Coinbase argues that both its user agreement and Prime Trust's user agreement clearly state that the assets remain the property of the customers. Bankruptcy should not alter these agreements or reclassify the assets as part of the trustee's property.The legal document will prevent customer funds from being included in Prime Trust's bankruptcy estate. Coinbase insists that upholding UCC Section 8 is crucial for maintaining trust in the trustee, whether in the digital finance or traditional finance sectors.

ChainCatcher news, according to Bloomberg, a union in the United States is seeking a temporary court order to prevent the U.S. Treasury from handing over personal and financial data of Americans to Elon Musk's government efficiency task force. The lawsuit mentions reports that after a career official at the Department of Justice resigned, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent allowed the DOGE team access to the federal payment system last week. The lawsuit claims that these systems contain confidential information about taxpayers, employees, and companies.

ChainCatcher News: A federal court in California has made a partial ruling in the SEC vs. Kraken case. The court dismissed Kraken's core defense argument that "Congress did not authorize the SEC to regulate cryptocurrency," supporting the SEC's regulatory authority over crypto assets.

ChainCatcher news, according to China's Legal Daily, to implement the spirit of the Third Plenary Session of the 20th Central Committee of the Communist Party, and to fully leverage the role of the rule of law in the modernization of the national governance system and governance capacity, a seminar on "Disposal of Virtual Currency Involved in Cases" was held in Beijing on January 19, organized by the Law School of Renmin University of China. Nearly 60 participants attended the meeting, including representatives from the Legislative Affairs Commission of the National People's Congress, the Supreme People's Court, the Supreme People's Procuratorate, the Ministry of Public Security, as well as legal theorists, lawyers, and business representatives.During the meeting, Wang Tuo, head of the Financial Case Handling Team of the Fourth Procuratorial Department of the Supreme People's Procuratorate, stated:We must face history and reality, and cannot ignore the decisive role of regulatory documents in curbing speculative behavior in cryptocurrencies. At the same time, we should accelerate top-level design to address various issues related to virtual currency crimes.We need to strengthen the coordination between criminal justice and administrative regulation, adhering to the principle of unified legal order.We should strive to reach a consensus on the nature of virtual currencies, especially ensuring that civil and criminal identifications do not contradict each other.We need to establish scientifically reasonable procedural norms to prevent various risks in judicial disposal.We should emphasize the complementary relationship between technology and case handling.

ChainCatcher news, a court order related to fraud claims in Hong Kong was "successfully executed" after being sent to two cryptocurrency wallets using tokenization technology. Experts say this novel approach will set a precedent for other jurisdictions and enhance Hong Kong's appeal as a technology hub. After a Hong Kong company became a victim of a false representation scam and lost over $2.6 million, the injunction was delivered to unknown holders of two wallet addresses on the Tron blockchain, prohibiting them from "disposing of assets globally and in Hong Kong."The plaintiff in the civil lawsuit is a marketing consulting company, Worldwide A-Plus, which transferred $2.66 million worth of Tether (a stablecoin pegged to the US dollar) to two wallets controlled by scammers who claimed to be salespeople from an online marketing platform that had been hacked.The order lists the unknown holders of the two wallets as defendants in the case, approved by High Court Deputy Judge Douglas Lam on December 5, and subsequently delivered by Ravenscroft & Schmierer law firm in the form of a "tokenized legal notice."

ChainCatcher news, a court order related to a fraud claim in Hong Kong was "successfully executed" after being sent to two cryptocurrency wallets using tokenization technology, experts say this novel approach will set a precedent for other jurisdictions and enhance Hong Kong's appeal as a technology hub. The injunction was delivered to unknown holders of two wallet addresses on the Tron blockchain after a Hong Kong company became a victim of a false representation scam, losing over $2.6 million, prohibiting them from "disposing of assets globally and in Hong Kong."The plaintiff in the civil lawsuit is a marketing consulting company, Worldwide A-Plus, which transferred $2.66 million worth of Tether (a stablecoin pegged to the US dollar) to two wallets controlled by scammers who claimed to be salespeople from an online marketing platform that had been hacked.The order names the unknown holders of the two wallets as defendants in the case, approved by High Court Deputy Judge Douglas Lam on December 5, and subsequently delivered by Ravenscroft & Schmierer law firm in the form of a "tokenized legal notice."

ChainCatcher News, U.S. defense attorney James K. Filan released an update on the lawsuit between the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and Ripple Labs, stating that Ripple Labs has requested the court to set the deadline for its court brief to April 16, 2025.

ChainCatcher news, WazirX has received approval from a Singapore court to repay $235 million to victims of a hacking incident.The restructuring plan was proposed by WazirX's parent company, Zettai, aiming to recover creditors through a court-supervised process and avoid liquidation. WazirX estimates that users can recover 75% to 80% of their account balances through token distribution.According to the court hearing, there is no evidence that WazirX was at fault or acted improperly during the cyber attack.WazirX will initiate a user voting process, expected to be completed within three months, along with an independent third-party audit. If the majority votes in favor, the plan will be implemented, and net liquid assets will be allocated to users based on their claims within 10 days, including any profits generated during the bull market.

ChainCatcher news, according to Bitcoin.com, the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals in Texas overturned the sanctions imposed on the cryptocurrency mixing platform Tornado Cash, stating that the sanctions by the Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) on Tornado Cash's immutable smart contracts exceeded its jurisdiction, as these smart contracts cannot be owned or controlled by any party.The court noted that Tornado Cash's immutable smart contracts do not fall under the definition of "property" in the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, as these self-executing programs operate independently and are not affected by shutdowns or modifications. The ruling also addressed the plaintiffs' defense of Tornado Cash's legitimate applications, such as ensuring financial privacy and preventing cyber threats.Legal analysts expect that this ruling will contribute to the ongoing discussions regarding cryptocurrency regulation and the governance of open-source blockchain systems.OFAC has not indicated whether it will appeal this case to the Supreme Court. Currently, the case has been returned to the district court for further proceedings based on the appellate court's ruling.

ChainCatcher news, according to Bloomberg Law, Coinbase has submitted an interlocutory appeal to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, requesting a ruling that cryptocurrency transactions on its platform do not constitute securities transactions. Coinbase believes that crypto assets are different from stocks and should not be regulated by the SEC.

ChainCatcher news, a court in Kazakhstan has sentenced three cryptocurrency exchange operators to imprisonment. According to the official report from the Financial Regulatory Agency (AFM) operated by the Kazakhstan government, the court sentenced these three individuals to 2.5 to 3.5 years in prison, and the bailiffs confiscated their assets worth $750,000.The three individuals "operated a platform without a license" and "charged fees for exchanging cryptocurrencies." The illegal exchange processed cryptocurrency transactions worth over $1.28 million for approximately 380 clients. Prosecutors provided "client" bank statements as evidence. The bailiffs confiscated the assets of the three, "including real estate, five cars, a four-wheeler, and expensive computer equipment."

ChainCatcher news, according to the typical cases of punishing gambling and related crimes published by the Supreme People's Court, the People's Court of Rongchang District, Chongqing, tried the case of defendant Wang Zhi, who operated a casino. He developed agents and gamblers through the "Pomelo Alliance" gambling platform, with a total amount involved reaching 590 million yuan, including over 900 bank card accounts and virtual currency funds. The court sentenced Wang Zhi to four years and five months in prison for the crime of operating a casino and imposed a fine, while also confiscating illegal gains and involved funds.The Supreme People's Court pointed out the typical significance of the case, stating that the people's courts closely cooperate with public security, prosecution, and other departments to implement relevant sealing and freezing measures in accordance with the law, confiscating involved funds amounting to tens of millions of yuan and a large amount of virtual currency.

ChainCatcher news, Coinbase Chief Legal Officer Paul Grewal posted on X: "We have requested the Second Circuit Court to hear our emergency appeal. Decades of appellate precedent confirm that 'investment contracts' must contain contractual elements. The circuit court can provide much-needed guidance on this fundamental legal issue.There are many details in the document, but simply put, transactions on the Coinbase platform do not violate federal securities laws. As I have repeatedly stated, Coinbase does not list securities.Last week, the district court acknowledged that the questions we raised presented 'clear and controlling legal issues' and 'substantial reasons for disagreement.' After years of uncertainty, we finally have the opportunity to resolve this issue once and for all.This lingering issue has plagued our industry for years, limiting potential technological innovations and services that could create a fairer economic system for everyone. Clarifying the issue can propel us forward so that we can foster innovation and growth while focusing on protecting consumers."