Full Description
The year 2025 marked a watershed moment for digital
assets, transforming from a landscape of regulatory uncertainty to one of
unprecedented clarity and institutional adoption. The shift in U.S. political leadership
brought a fundamental restructuring of cryptocurrency regulation, while global
developments in blockchain technology and digital currencies created both
opportunities and challenges for legal practitioners. Now in its eighth edition, this publication
continues to guide legal professionals through this rapidly evolving ecosystem.
The past year witnessed transformative developments:
1. A revolutionary shift in U.S. regulatory approach
The Trump administration's return to the presidency on
January 20, 2025 initiated what Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent called "America's
Hard Fork on digital assets." Gary
Gensler's immediate resignation as SEC Chair and Mark Uyeda's elevation as
Acting Chair signaled the end of regulation by enforcement. By April, Paul Atkins assumed the permanent
role, bringing crypto-friendly leadership.
The SEC's dismissal of enforcement actions against Coinbase and Binance,
both with prejudice, marked a complete departure from the previous adversarial
stance. The Department of Justice
disbanded its National Cryptocurrency Enforcement Team, requiring evidence of
knowing, willful violations for regulatory charges.
2. Historic legislative achievements
The GENIUS Act, signed into law on July 18, 2025,
established the first comprehensive federal cryptocurrency framework in U.S.
history. This bipartisan legislation,
which passed 68-30 in the Senate and 308-122 in the House, created a regulatory
structure for the $260 billion stablecoin market, mandating 100% reserve
backing and establishing federal and state licensing pathways. Combined with the House passage of the
CLARITY Act defining SEC and CFTC jurisdictional boundaries, these legislative
achievements provided the legal certainty the industry had sought for over a
decade.
3. Unprecedented institutional adoption
Regulatory clarity helped unlock significant
institutional growth. Following the SEC's
rescission of SAB 121 in January 2025, accounting barriers to bank custody of
digital assets were eased, setting the stage for renewed institutional activity. By late September 2025, U.S. spot bitcoin
ETFs collectively managed between $150-170 billion in assets - an enormous
increase from their early-2024 levels. BlackRock's
iShares Bitcoin Trust (IBIT) alone had amassed roughly $86.2 billion in assets
under management.
At the corporate level, bitcoin adoption has
broadened: trackers now show well over 90 public companies holding bitcoin on
their balance sheets. Leading them is
MicroStrategy (rebranded Strategy Inc.), which holds approximately 639,000 BTC,
worth more than $70 billion at recent prices.
4. Global regulatory divergence
The EU's Markets in Crypto-Assets Regulation (MiCA)
achieved full implementation, creating the world's most comprehensive crypto
framework, though stringent requirements led to significant market disruption. The UK took a measured approach, developing
regulations for late 2026 implementation.
Asian jurisdictions varied widely: Singapore extended oversight to all
local crypto firms; Hong Kong unveiled its A-S-P-I-Re framework to become a
digital asset hub; and the UAE created a unified national framework positioning
Dubai as a global crypto center.
5. DeFi growth amid security challenges
Real-world asset tokenization surged in 2025 with the
RWA market having grown significantly over the past year. Meanwhile, the broader crypto/Web3 sector
continues to fend off both "off-chain attacks" and technical/smart contract
vulnerabilities.
As 2025 concludes, the digital asset space has matured
from experimental technology to mainstream financial infrastructure. While significant challenges remain - from
DeFi security to quantum threats - the regulatory frameworks established this
year provide the foundation for continued innovation. Notwithstanding all of the change over the
last year, one thing has remained constant - legal practitioners must continue
to adapt traditional concepts to decentralized, programmable systems while
navigating the complex interplay between technological advancement and
regulatory evolution.
Contents
Preface
Josias N. Dewey
Holland & Knight LLP
Glossary
The Contributing Editor shares key concepts and definitions of blockchain
Industry Viewpoint
1 From headwinds to horizons: the changing U.S. crypto landscape
Ron Quaranta
Wall Street Blockchain Alliance
Expert Analysis Chapters
7 Blockchain and intellectual property: a case study
Ieuan G. Mahony, Brian J. Colandreo & Jacob Schneider
Holland & Knight LLP
23 Cryptocurrency and other digital asset funds for U.S. investors
Gregory S. Rowland & Trevor Kiviat
Davis Polk & Wardwell LLP
38 From paper to protocol: how trust companies became the backbone of RWA tokenization
Tom Momberg, Angela Angelovska-Wilson & Diana Stern
DLx Law PLLC
68 Stablecoin use cases and regulations
Stuart D. Levi, Mark Chorazak, Geoffrey Chan & Sebastian J. Barling
Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP
81 Stranger things have happened: the evolving regulation of staking
Richard B. Levin, Bobby Wenner, Jorge Castiblanco & Taylor Hill John
Taft Stettinius & Hollister LLP
99 CLARITY Act and portfolio margining: lessons and opportunities
Brandon M. Hammer, Wankun (Charles) Wang & Alec Mitchell
Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton LLP
109 Trends in the derivatives market and how recent fintech developments are reshaping this space
Jonathan Gilmour & Tom Purkiss
Travers Smith LLP
119 Blockchain taxation in the United States
David L. Forst & Sean P. McElroy
Fenwick & West LLP
129 OFAC sanctions and digital assets: regulation, compliance, and recent developments
Evan T. Abrams, Andrew C. Adams & Sophia Breggia
Steptoe LLP
144 Dark patterns leading to the dark forest - the next frontier of crypto enforcement?
Sarah Chen, Gregory Strong & Frank Weigand
Cahill Gordon & Reindel LLP
Jurisdiction Chapters
154 Australia
Peter Reeves, Emily Shen & Amiinah Dulull
Gilbert + Tobin
172 Austria
Dr. Oliver Völkel & Jara Erhard
CERHA HEMPEL
177 Bermuda
Steven Rees Davies, Charissa Ball, Alexandra Fox & Matthew Perriment
Carey Olsen
190 Brazil
Rodrigo Caldas de Carvalho Borges & Gabriel Abreu
Carvalho Borges Araújo Advogados
196 British Virgin Islands
Chris Duncan & Katrina Lindsay
Carey Olsen
204 Canada
Alix d'Anglejan-Chatillon, Ramandeep K. Grewal, Éric Lévesque & Antonin Lapointe
Stikeman Elliott LLP
217 Cayman Islands
Richard Munden & Chris Duncan
Carey Olsen
225 France
Hubert de Vauplane & Hugo Bordet
Morgan Lewis & Bockius LLP
236 Germany
Finn Niklas Nitz & André Schenk
SBS Legal Rechtsanwälte
246 Gibraltar
Jay Gomez, Javi Triay, Rupert Moffatt & Johnluis Pitto
Triay Lawyers Limited
254 Greece
Dr. Anastasia Mallerou
Bernitsas Law
264 India
Reddy Pawan Kumar, Athif Ahmed, Aabha Dixit & Armaan Mistry
Hash Legal
276 Japan
Takeshi Nagase, Takato Fukui, Keisuke Hatano & Huan Lee (Henry) Tan
Anderson Mori & Tomotsune
286 Liechtenstein
Matthias Niedermüller, Giuseppina Epicoco & Sophie Seliansky
Niedermüller Attorneys at Law
294 Lithuania
Vladimiras Kokorevas
Gofaizen & Sherle UAB
303 Luxembourg
Harry Lars Ghillemyn, Tristan Husson, Loïck Kabongo & Joffrey Sarmadi
Woud Law
314 Mexico
Diego Alonso Ramos Castillo, José Antonio Casas Vessi & Frida Sofía Rojas Cuéllar
Ramos, Ripoll & Schuster
322 Norway
Philip Heyden, Rasmus Jørgensen, Gjert Melsom & Axel Naustdal Cooper
Ernst & Young Advokatfirma AS
333 Portugal
Filipe Lowndes Marques, Vera Esteves Cardoso & Ashick Remetula
Morais Leitão, Galvão Teles, Soares da Silva & Associados
348 Serbia
Pavle N. Stavretović
STAV | LAW
357 Singapore
Kenneth Pereire & Lin YingXin
KGP Legal LLC
367 Slovakia
Peter Varga, Roman Baranec & Vladimir Gaduš
Highgate Law & Tax s. r. o.
375 Spain
Alfonso López-Ibor Aliño, Olivia López-Ibor Jaume, Victoria Moreno Motilva & Santiago Alsina Gil
López-Ibor Abogados, S.L.P.
385 Switzerland
Daniel Haeberli, Stefan Oesterhelt & Alexander Wherlock
Homburger
401 Taiwan
Robin Chang, Dennis Yu & Eddie Hsiung
Lee and Li, Attorneys-at-Law
408 Thailand
Dr. Jason Corbett
Silk Legal Co., Ltd.
420 Ukraine
Peter Bilyk & Daniil Voloshcuk
Juscutum
432 United Kingdom
Charles Kerrigan & Erica Stanford
CMS LLP
450 USA
Josias N. Dewey & Samir Patel
Holland & Knight LLP
