Cryptocurrency market
The rest of MiCA came into force as of 30 December 2024, covering crypto-assets other than ART and EMT and CASPs. MiCA excludes crypto-assets if they qualify as financial instruments according to ESMA guidelines published on 17 December 2024 as well as crypto-assets that are unique and not fungible with other crypto-assets https://info-dealer.com/.
There are thousands of different cryptocurrencies out there. Bitcoin’s success led to a flood of new coins—called altcoins—and tokens emerging. Due to the volatile nature of cryptocurrency, it’s best to seek professional investment advice and become very familiar with the crypto industry before deciding to invest. The following are examples of cryptocurrencies with a higher market cap and therefore tend to be more stable. Market capitalization figures are current as of April 3, 2025 :
Looking to invest in these financial assets? Learn how the technology works and how to screen out risky investment opportunities in as little as four months with Duke University’s online program, Decentralized Finance (DeFi): The Future of Finance.
Beginners can gain a solid foundation of knowledge in FinTech, crypto, and blockchain technology in the self-paced, online course Blockchain and Cryptocurrency Explained by the University of Michigan.
Hawk tuah girl cryptocurrency lawsuit
Haliey Welch, better known as the ‘Hawk Tuah Girl,’ responded to the lawsuit filed against the shady foundation behind the launch of her crypto token, which cratered by over 90 percent just hours after reaching a $490 million market cap.
According to the agency, the regulation is in place to prevent people from falling victim to fraudsters. If the violation is prosecuted criminally, selling unregistered securities is punishable by a maximum of five years in federal prison.
On Thursday, a lawsuit, filed in the U.S. District Court in New York, was filed against the $HAWK creators. Filed by investors, it accuses overHere Ltd., its founder, Clinton So, and social media influencer, Alex Larson Schultz, as well as the Tuah The Moon Foundation of unlawfully promoting and selling cryptocurrency that was allegedly never properly registered. Welch, however, is not named as a defendant in the suit.
Haliey Welch, better known as the ‘Hawk Tuah Girl,’ responded to the lawsuit filed against the shady foundation behind the launch of her crypto token, which cratered by over 90 percent just hours after reaching a $490 million market cap.
According to the agency, the regulation is in place to prevent people from falling victim to fraudsters. If the violation is prosecuted criminally, selling unregistered securities is punishable by a maximum of five years in federal prison.
Cryptocurrency
An initial coin offering (ICO) is a controversial means of raising funds for a new cryptocurrency venture. An ICO may be used by startups with the intention of avoiding regulation. However, securities regulators in many jurisdictions, including in the U.S. and Canada, have indicated that if a coin or token is an “investment contract” (e.g., under the Howey test, i.e., an investment of money with a reasonable expectation of profit based significantly on the entrepreneurial or managerial efforts of others), it is a security and is subject to securities regulation. In an ICO campaign, a percentage of the cryptocurrency (usually in the form of “tokens”) is sold to early backers of the project in exchange for legal tender or other cryptocurrencies, often bitcoin or Ether.
The EU defines crypto assets as “a digital representation of a value or of a right that is able to be transferred and stored electronically using distributed ledger technology or similar technology.” The EU regulation Markets in Crypto-Assets (MiCA) covering asset-referenced tokens (ARTs) and electronic money tokens (EMTs) (also known as stablecoins) came into force on 30 June 2024. As of 17 January 2025, the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) issued guidance to crypto-asset service providers (CASPs) allowing them to maintain crypto-asset services for non-compliant ARTs and EMTs until the end of March 2025.
On 13 September 2018, Homero Josh Garza was sentenced to 21 months of imprisonment, followed by three years of supervised release. Garza had founded the cryptocurrency startups GAW Miners and ZenMiner in 2014, acknowledged in a plea agreement that the companies were part of a pyramid scheme, and pleaded guilty to wire fraud in 2015. The SEC separately brought a civil enforcement action in the US against Garza, who was eventually ordered to pay a judgment of $9.1 million plus $700,000 in interest. The SEC’s complaint stated that Garza, through his companies, had fraudulently sold “investment contracts representing shares in the profits they claimed would be generated” from mining.
The method by which Bitcoin adds new blocks to the blockchain through the computational power exerted by its users is called “proof of work,” which is used by the majority of cryptocurrencies. Another method of adding valid blocks to the blockchain is “proof of stake,” in which the ability to validate a block is based on a user’s already existing stake in the cryptocurrency. Proof of stake has the advantage over proof of work of being much less energy-intensive. Indeed, Ethereum, the second largest cryptocurrency after Bitcoin, changed in 2022 from proof of work to proof of stake.