Yesterday, hours before American entrepreneur Elon Musk sat down with former President Donald Trump on a live “X space,” EU Commissioner Thierry Breton fired off a snarky letter to “remind” Musk of his obligations to the European Union’s Digital Services Act. As of publication, this X post has garnered over 67 million views, 15,000 retweets, and over 72,000 direct replies, resulting in one of the…
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Give Lawsuit Plaintiffs the Final Say, Not Lawyers Hungry for More Cash
In a protracted eight-year-long legal battle, lawsuits against pharmaceutical and beauty giant Johnson & Johnson seem to be finally coming to a resolution. These cases have been some of the largest and most expensive in recent history and are providing memorable lessons for companies, consumers, and legal firms as to how massive claims can be best adjudicated to render justice. LTL Management, J&J’s Texas-based subsidiary, is being pursued for…
High Court’s Ruling Ends Administrative State’s Shady Legal Work
Supreme Coourt’s Administrative State Ruling a Setback for SEC, FTC A slew of recent opinions issued from the bench of the United States Supreme Court have given American consumers a handful of underreported victories. Now unshackled from “Chevron deference” thanks to the majority opinion in Loper Bright Enterprises v. Raimondo, courts will return to evaluating cases based on direct statutes issued by Congress, rather than deferring to agency bureaucrats…
Data breach exposes pitfalls of customer identification regulations
A recent hack of Evolve Bank and Trust shows the unintended consequence of excessive Know Your Customer and anti-money-laundering laws. One of the most consequential bank hacks of the last few years was just revealed to the public. In a post uploaded to its website two weeks ago, the Arkansas-based Evolve Bank and Trust informed its customers that a “cybersecurity incident” involving Russian ransomware group LockBit resulted…
The Regulatory Landscape of Bitcoin – Melanion Capital Podcast
The Role Of Education In Shaping Bitcoin Policy The world of Bitcoin is not just about digital currency; it’s also about policy and advocacy. In this Bitcoin Equities Talks episode, Yael Ossowski, Deputy Director at Consumer Choice Center discusses how the Bitcoin Policy Institute is at the forefront of educating lawmakers and the public about the implications of Bitcoin. They are working on policy primers…
Free speech platforms like ‘X’ will never pass the EU’s DSA test
Today, the European Commission released its initial findings in the investigation into X, formerly known as Twitter, and whether it has violated the Digital Services Act since begin designated a Very Large Online Platform (VLOP) on April 25, 2023. That designation came just six months after the platform was purchased and taken private by tech mogul Elon Musk, after X had declared its over 45 million monthly EU users. The…
Taking a bite out of MiCA, the EU’s comprehensive crypto legislation challenging the nature of decentralisation
To much fanfare, European Union legislators and commissioners last year negotiated the final framework of the bloc’s cryptocurrency regulation, known as the Markets in Crypto-Assets Regulation (MiCA). On June 30 of this year, Titles III and IV came into force, stipulating the requirements for issuers of “asset-referenced tokens” (commodity basket tokens) and “e-money tokens” (stablecoins). The rest of the regulation will come into force in December 2024….
The FTC should throw out its ‘junk fees’ rule and start over
Everything feels more expensive right now, and that’s because it is. Despite a notable decline from its peak of 9.1 percent in June 2022, inflation remains higher than the Federal Reserve’s 2 percent target. Since January 2021, prices have surged by an astonishing 17.6 percent. Grocery prices today are 21 percent higher than in January 2021, and while gas prices will tick down this summer, they’re still 10 percent higher than they…
Trial Lawyer Marketing Machine Needs a Reboot
If you ask most Americans when it’s time to call a lawyer, the answer is no mystery: after a law has been broken, you’re forced to do so. Just as we don’t ask doctors to prescribe medicine before we’re sick, most people don’t pay for lawyers and then go commit crimes. Trial lawyers, however, might be the exception. Where there is no injury, one must…
BTC Prague Panel: Investment in Over Regulated Environment
Our excellent panel from BTC Prague 2024 is now live on Youtube. Investment in Over Regulated Environment — lessons for bitcoiners from the EU, the US, and highly regulated industries that have persevered. Featuring Leon Wankum, James Putra & Yves Choueifaty. Enjoy!