As crypto losses hit investors, litigation picks up

livemint.com:

Lawsuits over cryptocurrency losses are mounting across the country, as investing in digital tokens and coins has become mainstream and the money at stake has increased significantly.

Even before the recent plunge in crypto prices, the industry already was seeing an uptick in lawsuits, which have come in several forms. Many of the cases have been fueled by investors who allege some digital coins were hyped and sold under false pretenses. Some proposed class-action suits allege pump-and-dump schemes involving celebrity promoters. Others allege that some digital tokens are unregistered securities or that cryptocurrency issuers were deceitful in their marketing.

Collectively, the lawsuits speak to both the troubles and successes of a maturing industry.

“We’re seeing all of the normal kinds of litigation that you would see in more traditional companies," said Jason Gottlieb, a partner at Morrison Cohen LLP who tracks cryptocurrency litigation.

Mr. Gottlieb said the industry also was attracting an influx of plaintiff and defense lawyers who realize the crypto market is no longer “some obscure backwater for a small gaggle of techno-libertarian nerds. It’s a real business."

Among recent lawsuits is a case filed in a California federal court over losses in the stablecoin GYEN. The suit accuses GMO-Z.com Trust Co., the issuer of GYEN, and crypto exchange Coinbase Global Inc. of advertising the stablecoin as being pegged to the Japanese yen, thereby providing a safer investment than more volatile cryptocurrencies. But when GYEN began trading on Coinbase in November, it immediately became untethered from the yen, leading the coin to spike in value and then drop 80% in one day, the lawsuit alleges. A similar peg break occurred in