Court Grants Coinbase's Motion to Seek Interlocutory Appeal, Stays SEC Litigation

Coinbase Granted Significant Advance in Court Dispute With Gensler’s SEC

Coinbase Inc. has been given an unusual chance to skip ahead in a U.S. federal court dispute with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) when a judge granted the company’s request to chase a narrow appeal of the regulator’s accusations about trading crypto securities.

If the U.S. digital assets exchange can get the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit to take its appeal and agree that the SEC was wrong about its accusations that Coinbase improperly handled the trading of unregistered securities, such a decision would echo throughout the wider crypto industry.

Judge Katherine Polk Failla of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York decided on Tuesday to approve a request from Coinbase to ask the higher court to consider one core question in the dispute, in a process known as an interlocutory appeal. And while Coinbase is chasing that matter, the rest of the case will sit idle.

Bitcoin Is Luring More Companies and Their Cash

A couple of weeks after the presidential election, Joe Davy, chief executive of the marketing firm Banzai, sent an email to the company’s board of directors: He wanted Banzai to start buying Bitcoin.

On the face of it, a plunge into the freewheeling world of cryptocurrencies was a strange move for Banzai, a Nasdaq-listed company known for its corporate webinar product. But the election of Donald J. Trump, who embraced Bitcoin on the campaign trail, had galvanized the crypto industry and sent prices skyrocketing. Mr. Davy argued that the investment would protect the company’s finances in case inflation devalued the U.S. dollar, a common but widely contested claim made by crypto enthusiasts.

On Nov. 26, Banzai announced that it would spend up to 10 percent of the funds it held in its corporate treasury on Bitcoin. (The company reported $4.3 million in cash in its latest quarterly report.) “It ended up being a pretty straightforward conversation,” Mr. Davy said in an interview. “It makes sense to own this thing.”

Meet the Long Island Judge Tapped to Be US Attorney for Eastern District of New York

President-elect Donald Trump said he plans on making a Long Island judge the U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of New York.

The nomination marks a potential return to the office for Joseph Nocella Jr., who served as an assistant U.S. attorney in the Brooklyn-based EDNY between 1991 and 1995.

“Judge Nocella has a strong record of bringing law and order to the incredible people of New York,” Trump wrote on his social media platform, Truth Social.

Nocella’s legal career kicked off in 1989 when he graduated from Columbia Law School. From there, he went on to serve in the U.S. attorney’s office and to clerk for U.S. District Judge Lawrence McKenna of the Southern District of New York.

Nocella’s career is also marked by his various posts in Long Island, including serving as the town attorney for Oyster Bay and as a judge at the Nassau County District Court.

Blackstone Enters CPA Industry Through Stake in Citrin Cooperman

Blackstone, the world’s largest alternative asset manager, will enter the accounting market with a deal to acquire an equity stake in Citrin Cooperman Advisors LLC, a top 20 US accounting and consulting firm.

An investor group led by Blackstone announced Tuesday it will acquire a majority ownership in the firm, which serves privately held mid-market businesses and high net worth individuals. Blackstone will acquire its equity from New Mountain Capital, a smaller competitor that has backed Citrin Cooperman since 2022.

Now Citrin is poised to become the first US accounting firm to swap one private investor for another.

JPMorgan to Bring Workers Back to Office 5 Days a Week, End Hybrid Option

JPMorgan Chase & Co. is preparing to tell all its employees to return to the office five days a week, ending a hybrid-work option for thousands of staff and returning to the attendance policy that was in place before the pandemic.

The largest US bank, which employs more than 300,000 people globally, is expected to announce the change in coming weeks, replacing an existing three-day mandate for many of its workers, according to people familiar with the matter, who asked not to be named discussing unannounced plans.