Crypto Lawyers Bet Big on Class Action Lawsuits as Market Slides (1)

As the Biden administration ramps up its scrutiny of the cryptocurrency industry, a handful of small litigation shops are piling up class actions against crypto exchanges and digital token issuers, pursuing theories that could shape how decades-old laws apply to the emerging field.

Led by partners from boutique firms, lawyers have filed 58 securities class actions against crypto companies since 2016, according to a report from the consulting firm Cornerstone Research and Stanford Law School.

More than one-third landed in the past two years, and the pace surged in the first six months of 2022, when the industry’s market capitalization ...