Ryan VanGrack
@RVanGrack
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VP legal @coinbase; fmr GC Citadel Securities, SEC Senior Advisor, White House Atty | law, politics, crypto and Duke basketball (not necessarily in that order)
Joined September 2024
When @iampaulgrewal brought me to work on this case, I knew the stakes were high and the outcome was binary. Not all legal teams get to fight such a consequential battle. Even fewer get to win one. Grateful for the incredible work of @coinbase’s litigation army and that
"Case dismissed." Two words that every defendant in every case yearns to hear. Today we can announce upon full Commission approval @SECGov is dropping our case. There will be no settlement or compromise-- a wrong will simply be made right. 1/4
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Significant speech by Chairman Atkins underscoring the importance of process during @SECGov investigations. Worth a read. Among the notable lines: An open, informed, and thoughtful dialogue between the Division and potential respondents or defendants produces both better
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A long-awaited win for our New York users – welcome to staking at Coinbase! Time for the remaining holdout states (CA, NJ, MD, and WI) to follow suit and join the other 46. Residents in those 4 states have missed out on an estimated $130M rewards. Let’s unfreeze staking.
New Yorkers have lost out on millions of dollars of staking rewards available to others. That ends today.
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The court found: 1) no investment of money (because the tokens were marketed for consumption), 2) no common enterprise (insufficient allegations of nexus between the parties), and 3) no expectation of profits (statements about long-term or intrinsic value are not necessarily
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Many will try to dismiss this decision as isolated to NFTs, but the case also involved a cryptocurrency (ApeCoin). As a result, the findings here should be impactful throughout the crypto landscape. 2/3
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Important decision out of CA re: Howey test. In a private securities fraud case against Yuga Labs (Bored Ape NFTs, ApeCoin), the judge found the assets sold were not securities bc they met NONE of Howey’s three-part test. This is an important decision that: 1) appropriately
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The district court just ordered everyone to appear on October 8 to address the destruction of documents by the Gensler @SECGov as detailed by its own inspector general. We appreciate the Court's attention to this matter.
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And yet leaders in WI, MD, CA, & NJ have denied their constituents the same opportunity, barring them from earning staking rewards via @coinbase's staking services - in contrast to 40+ states. Depriving customers of choice (and rewards) is not only bad politics, it's bad policy.
People have slept on staking revenue generally in terms of both its opportunities and its scale.
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The data is clear: inconsistent state regs & contradictory enforcement actions stifle innovation/growth, often by design. That’s why @coinbase asked @TheJusticeDept to endorse market structure legislation and ensure uniform rules. An urgent issue with bipartisan support.
When Oregon can sue us for services that are legal under federal law, something's broken. This isn't federalism--this is government run amok. We just sent a letter to @TheJusticeDept urging federal action on crypto market structure to remedy this. 1/3
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Transparency is the bedrock of good governance - and tools like FOIA are a critical part of that process. @coinbase has asked for an immediate hearing to get to the bottom of what happened – and to ensure this doesn’t happen again.
The Gensler SEC destroyed documents they were required to preserve and produce. We now have proof from the SEC’s own Inspector General. Today we ask the federal court to address this gross violation of public trust to ensure that it never happens again. 1/3
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Today's filing is further proof of our philosophy - you don’t feed the beast; you fight it. Another proud day to litigate @coinbase
So that there's no confusion about the @coinbase approach to patent extortion, allow me to confirm how we do things: we don't pay out bogus claims, we sue you instead. Today was an example of that. 1/3
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Often lost in debates re crypto is the fact that: 1) when it comes to illicit finance, cash remains king (see @WSJ article below); and 2) the transparency/traceability of blockchain helps detect/deter such activity. Yet another reason to embrace, not encumber, this technology.
Chinese money launderers appear to have moved some $312 billion in illicit transactions through U.S. banks and other financial institutions in recent years to aid Mexican drug cartels and other criminals, the Treasury Department said
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We can all argue about the meaning of economic data. But data itself should be fixed. And available to all. Blockchains can do this--together with DOC, we're showing how.
We're proud to be a crypto infrastructure partner of the Department of Commerce on this project. Onchain data = higher transparency + better accessibility.
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Fighting for legal principles is a privilege, but fighting for those principles and winning is way more fun.
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"This issue has never been more potent and more bipartisan. The successes of the crypto voter are unmistakable. But we are not done. We are on the one yard line." Thank you @JennSanasie, @CoinDesk, and @StandWithCrypto for letting me join today's Crypto Day of Action. It's time
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In case you were wondering if @coinbase's litigation team takes the summer off: we don't do beach days, we do breach days. We allege BSO violated its lease and then kicked us out of a data center to clean up its mess. We appreciate the court’s consideration:
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Did @AGDanRayfield have the authority to bring his meritless case against @Coinbase? TL;DR: No. He tried to dust off a two-decades-old statute that has never before been used to bring a securities suit. So we moved to dismiss his case. We thank the court for its consideration.1/2
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