Block.one Ruling Questions Where Crypto Transactions Take Place (1)

A federal judge’s recent refusal to approve blockchain-technology developer Block.one’s $27.5 million settlement with cryptocurrency investors is spotlighting plaintiffs’ challenges in class actions to recoup their money from foreign crypto companies.

Federal securities law’s reach is limited to “domestic transactions” in legal disputes involving securities not traded on a US exchange. Determining what’s a domestic or foreign transaction is more difficult in cryptocurrency, which is developed, bought and sold through a set of decentralized computers worldwide.

And as Williams et al v. Block.one shows, that distinction is important when considering proper class representation in crypto investors’ disputes. Crypto Assets Opportunity ...