Head of Digital Asset Disputes, United States
Norton Rose Fulbright US LLP
Eric Martin is Head of Digital Asset Disputes, United States and is based in St. Louis and Los Angeles. Eric represents clients in the cryptocurrency, securities and consumer finance industries. He has tried securities-related cases in court and FINRA arbitrations for broker-dealers and investment advisors, including claims involving defamation, suitability, selling away, raiding, non-compete agreements, Broker Protocol and Regulation S-P.
Eric's cryptocurrency practice focuses on the use of blockchain, cryptocurrencies and digital assets. He has represented cryptocurrency exchanges in multiple high-stakes actions, and national banks, mortgage servicers and consumer finance companies in precedent-setting individual suits and class actions. Eric has litigated claims of wrongful foreclosure, deceptive act practices, Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act (RESPA) violations and Fair Debt Collections Practices Act (FDCPA) violations.
Additionally, Eric represents clients in real estate litigation involving eminent domain, radius restrictions, adverse possession, condemnation and lease enforcement. He litigates real estate disputes in both the jury and bench trial contexts, and he assists clients in the telecommunications industry with various permitting and litigation issues relating to cell towers. He has litigated challenges to telecommunications permits in federal court under the Telecommunications Act of 1996 (TCA) and state court certiorari proceedings.
Recent Articles & Comments
In an off-the-cuff remark at the DC Blockchain Summit, Chairman Atkins noted that the new interpretative guidance is meant to ensure that the SEC sticks to regulating securities and does not become the Securities "and other stuff" Exchange Commission. That is a refreshing approach to clarifying the agency’s mandate and discarding the previous regulation by enforcement regime.
CRS is correct that a large portion of this bill hinges on the maturity of the blockchain protocol in question. As an aside, the CLARITY Act is ahead of Congress' "," so more changes still are likely to come. With that said, the most interesting points at present, deal with mature blockchain systems; specifically: the self-certification and the "system governance," "impartial system" and "distributed ownership" provisions of the "mature blockchain system" requirements. As an aside, the bill…
This 60-day hold on litigation is similar to the stay Binance and the SEC back in February, but this case is also of a different kind. Gemini's Earn product, per the SEC's , "touted the profits investors could earn by investing their crypto assets with Genesis through Gemini Earn." Given that the main allegation in this case was only around the earn product, it presents a tougher securities question than, say, Ripple or the other exchange cases which have been settled or withdrawn.
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SAB 121 is no more: the SEC's staff accounting bulletin requiring public companies to report bitcoin and crypto holdings for customers in a custodial manner as liabilities has been rescinded. Though its initial repeal was vetoed by President Biden last year, new SEC leadership was quick to act in doing away with a much-disliked policy.
Now, the regulatory environment is looking increasingly favorable for crypto adoption. With SAB 121 gone, banks will no longer have to record…