The founder of Silk Road, the black market website where illegal goods were bought with bitcoin, was found guilty on all 7 counts, including money laundering, drug trafficking and computer hacking. While this is an unfortunate result for Ross Ulbricht, who faces life in prison, the enforcement against illegal uses…
On January 8, 2015, New Hampshire House Bill 356 was introduced, proposing to exempt persons using private virtual currencies for internet commerce from the licensing requirements for money transmitters. H.B. 356 would define “virtual currency” to mean ” any type of digital unit that is used as a medium of…
According to a recent study, more than 100,000 mHealth apps have already been published on Apple’s iOS and Google’s Android platforms. Market revenue is expected to skyrocket to $26 billion by 2017. mHealth app providers and all of the players in the mHealth ecosystem must be aware of the potential…
Coinbase, the self-proclaimed world’s most popular bitcoin wallet provider, announced on January 20th that it raised $75 million in a Series C financing, which brings Coinbase’s total capital raised to $106 million. The round was led by DFJ Growth, but also included three mainstream financial institutions: The New York Stock…
FinCEN issued an alert indicating that certain organizations and individuals have been circumventing various laws related to sports betting, including by permitting “third-party betting” and reminding the industry about the importance of applying a risk-based approach with respect to this issue and the need to implement reasonably designed AML programs…
In denying a motion for summary judgment of invalidity under Section 101, the court stated: “An inability to articulate an abstract idea to which claims are directed may be a clue that those claims satisfy Section 101.” The patent claims at issue related to management of online poker. Defendant challenged…
Too many companies/lawyers treat website Terms of Service (TOS) as boilerplate agreements that no one reads. Many companies simply put a link at the bottom of the homepage. This approach continues to prove ineffective, as courts are more frequently refusing to enforce TOS absent properly drafted terms and a requirement…
In comments on October 14, 2014, Ben Lawsky commented on changes to the proposed bitlicense regulations. The main points he made were these: Regarding who will be required to obtain a bitlicense, he said the focus will be financial intermediaries, not software developers or individual users. To the extent that…
On August 1, 2014, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) released draft guidance that would exempt from premarket 510(k) review many low-risk medical devices–including certain mobile applications that can convert a cell phone into a medical device, such as a thermometer or a stethoscope. Although the guidance is not yet…
On Friday, Michael Dell, CEO of Austin-based Dell Inc., announced on twitter that Dell.com is now accepting Bitcoin as a direct payment option for consumers and small businesses in the U.S. Other major companies, such as Overstock and Expedia, began accepting Bitcoin earlier this year and have reported favorable results,…