edoutputoutput: title: Top 10 Web3/Blockchain Legal Developments of 2024

legal in 2025, and several candidates—including Joe Biden, Bernie Sanders, and Elizabeth Warren—discussing crypto in their debates and town halls. Notably, Sanders and Warren both shifted their tones on the subject, with Sanders even proposing a “Robin Hood tax” on large crypto gains. Both Sanders and Biden also included crypto in their economic plans. Sanders even included a provision to shift regulatory authority over spot bitcoin markets from the SEC to the CFTC.

Moreover, several candidates included crypto in their debates and town halls, with some candidates even using NFTs to raise funds for their campaigns. Among the candidates who shifted their positions on crypto were Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren, both of whom discussed crypto at length during debates. Sanders even proposed a “Robin Hood tax” on large crypto gains, while both Sanders and Biden included crypto in their economic plans. Sanders even included a provision to shift regulatory authority over spot bitcoin markets from the SEC to the CFTC.

Ongoing Effects: A key takeaway from 2024 is that crypto is now a major lobbying force, despite the industry being barely a decade old and having no real presence in Washington before 2023. While several candidates who lost in 2023 were staunchly anti-crypto, several candidates who won were crypto-friendly. Notably, several candidates even used NFTs to raise funds for their campaigns. While some candidates shifted their positions on crypto, Sanders even included a provision in his proposed legislation to shift regulatory authority over spot bitcoin markets from the SEC to the CFTC.output:

The legal landscape surrounding blockchain technology in the United States underwent dramatic shifts in 2024, offering both remarkable opportunities and substantial compliance challenges. Governments introduced sweeping regulations, enforcement actions intensified and pivotal court rulings sent ripples across the crypto ecosystem. Throughout the year, the Polsinelli Blockchain+ team tracked these developments in our Bi-Weekly BitBlog updates.

As we enter 2025, we take a moment to recognize the milestones that significantly influenced the industry. The following review highlights the Top 10 Web3/Blockchain Legal Developments of 2024, each selected for its substantial impact on market participants, regulatory frameworks and the broader evolution of decentralized finance in the U.S. and beyond.

Whether you’re a startup founder, a seasoned crypto professional or simply an interested observer or investor, staying informed on these trends is crucial in 2025 as the industry stands poised for a level of mainstream adoption and acceptance that was hardly imaginable just a few years ago. If you would like to receive updates from us, you can sign up for our mailing list here.

1. SEC Targets Major U.S. Crypto Exchanges in Unprecedented Legal Actions

The SEC’s ongoing lawsuits against three of the largest digital asset exchanges in the United States—Coinbase, Binance, and Kraken—were arguably the most disruptive regulatory actions of 2024. This marked a significant and contentious shift in the SEC’s enforcement strategy, which had previously focused on issuers or promoters of digital assets.

The SEC alleged, among other things, that the exchanges acted as unregistered broker-dealers of investment contracts, purportedly represented by the digital assets sold on their platforms, raising serious questions about the agency’s regulatory reach and its approach to defining what constitutes a “security” in the digital asset space. Further compounding the disruptive nature and possibly intent of these actions, the SEC chose not to name the issuers of the assets alleged to be “crypto asset securities,” except in the case of Binance, where the exchange’s native token BNB was explicitly cited.

The complaint against Coinbase went even further, claiming that its self-custody wallet software facilitated unregistered broker-dealer transactions by integrating with decentralized finance (“DeFi”) platforms, which claim Coinbase successfully had dismissed. Additionally, the lawsuit asserted that Coinbase’s staking-as-a-service offerings constituted unregistered securities products, highlighting the SEC’s expansive view of its enforcement mandate.

Currently, the lawsuits against Kraken and Coinbase have proceeded to discovery, while the case against Binance awaits a ruling on the SEC’s Amended Complaint after portions of the original complaint were dismissed by the court.

These lawsuits are seen as “bet the company” cases, as a ruling in favor of the SEC could force the exchanges to delist all assets with unclear legal status—which could leave only a handful, such as ETH and BTC, as tradeable on those platforms.

The stakes are enormous, as these exchanges serve as the primary on-ramps between fiat currency and digital assets in the United States, particularly in light of the purported debanking of the industry described below. Any ruling, whether for or against these exchanges, will have profound and far-reaching implications for the digital asset economy, influencing the viability of current market participants and shaping the regulatory landscape for years to come.

However, with a new administration and changes in SEC leadership expected in 2025, there is a possibility these cases could see a shift